Trump says Israel will lead military strike against Iran if nuclear program persists
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel would be the “leader” of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the comments ahead of this weekend’s scheduled talks involving US and Iranian officials in the Middle East sultanate of Oman. Trump earlier this week said the talks would be “direct” while Iran has described the engagement as “indirect” talks with the US
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said. “Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us, but we do what we want to do.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week said he supports Trump’s diplomatic efforts to reach a settlement with Iran. He added that Israel and the US share the same goal of ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu, however, led efforts to persuade Trump to pull out of a US-brokered deal with Iran in 2018.
The Israeli leader, known for his hawkish views on Iran and past calls for military pressure, said he would welcome a diplomatic agreement along the lines of Libya’s deal with the international community in 2003. But that deal saw Libya’s late dictator Moammar Gadhafi give up all of his clandestine nuclear program. Iran has insisted its program, acknowledged to the International Atomic Energy Agency, should continue.
“I think that would be a good thing,” Netanyahu said. “But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.”
The United States is increasingly concerned as Tehran is closer than ever to a workable weapon. But Trump said on Wednesday that he doesn’t have a definitive timeline for the talks to come to a resolution.
“When you start talks, you know, if they’re going along well or not,” Trump said. “And I would say the conclusion would be what I think they’re not going along well. So that’s just a feeling.”
The US and other world powers in 2015 reached a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
