On Thursday, President Trump said he was “not in a rush” to attack Iran when asked about a report from The New York Times that said he “waived off” an Israeli plan to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities that would require significant US support.
“I wouldn’t say waived off. I’m not in a rush to do it because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“If there’s a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk. I hope they’re wanting to talk, it’s going to be very good for them if they do. I’d like to see Iran thrive in the future,” the president added.
The Times report said that Trump declined to attack Iran with Israel in favor of pursuing diplomacy to reach a deal related to Iran’s nuclear program. The president has been threatening to bomb Iran over its nuclear program, even though US intelligence agencies have recently reaffirmed in their annual threat assessment that there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt anybody. I really don’t, but Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon … it’s really simple,” Trump said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also asked about that report and didn’t deny that Israel drew up plans to attack Iran. His office said in a statement that Netanyahu has led a “global campaign against Iran’s nuclear program.”
“The prime minister has led countless actions, overt and covert, in the campaign against Iran’s nuclear program — and only because of [those actions], Iran does not have a nuclear weapon in its arsenal today,” Netanyahu’s office added.
While the statement claims that pressure from Israel is what has prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Israeli covert attacks have actually led to increases in Iran’s nuclear activity.
Netanyahu was a major opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, which capped Iran’s nuclear enrichment at 3.67%, far below the 90% needed for weapons-grade, and made its nuclear program subject to the most stringent inspection in the world. Netanyahu played a role in convincing Trump to abandon the deal, which he did in 2018.
In 2020, Israel assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and Tehran responded by bringing its uranium enrichment to 20%. In 2021, Israel conducted a sabotage attack against Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, and Iran responded by taking the step to enrich some uranium to 60%.
Iran hawks in the US and Israel now point to that 60% enrichment as evidence that Tehran is racing toward a bomb, even though it’s still below weapons-grade uranium.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy leading the negotiations with Iran, recently suggested the Trump administration would be happy with getting Iran’s enrichment levels back to 3.67%, but he later appeared to walk that back, saying any deal must “eliminate” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
Netanyahu is also calling for the full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran has made clear is a non-starter. In response to Witkoff’s comments about eliminating enrichment, Iran warned the US against “shifting the goalposts.” US and Iranian officials will hold more negotiations this Saturday in Rome.
