President Trump said Thursday he will not let Iran keep highly enriched uranium, raising a possible sticking point in negotiations as Pakistani mediators prodded Iran to advance a peace deal.
Mr. Trump drew a firm line on the uranium, declaring “we will get it,” during remarks in the Oval Office.
“We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump, who insists Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, repeated his demand about the uranium hours after a Reuters report said Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei wants the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium to remain in the country.
The back-and-forth underscored the tenuous nature of diplomatic talks to end the war.
Pakistani mediators are working feverishly to strike a deal that extends a ceasefire in the region and paves the way for a lasting peace.
“I believe the Pakistanis will be traveling to Tehran today, so hopefully that will advance this further,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday. “If we can get a good deal done, that would be great.”
At the same time, he declined to be “overly optimistic.”
“If we can’t get a good deal, the president’s been clear, we have other options,” Mr. Rubio said.
Mr. Trump said Iran needs to meet his terms in the coming days or face renewed military strikes.
“We’re going to either make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon or we’re going to have to do something very drastic,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. “When it’s put to the people of our country, they would all agree that we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with top Iranian military leaders to discuss readiness.
Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said they are “fully prepared to provide a decisive, regrettable response befitting the authority of the Islamic republic of Iran against any threat, aggression, or adventurous act against the country,” according to an official statement.
The U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 with airstrikes that killed Iran’s top leaders and decimated its military infrastructure. Iran retaliated by clamping down on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil chokepoint.
U.S. allies have been reluctant to send in troops to unclog the strait. They say they were not consulted before the war began, and they are leery of getting involved in another thorny Middle East conflict.
Mr. Rubio said Mr. Trump is disappointed with NATO allies for their lack of cooperation.
“There are many countries in NATO that agree with us that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that Iran is a threat to the world. So the president said, ’Fine, I’m going to do something about it,’” Mr. Rubio said. “He’s not asking them to commit troops, He’s not asking them to send their fighter jets in, but they refuse to do anything.”
Back home, Democrats and other critics say Americans are losing patience with the war as they see higher gas prices and accelerating price inflation.
The U.S. average price of a gallon of gas stood at $4.56 on Thursday, up 53% from when the war started, according to the AAA motor club.
Democrats are using the war as a wedge issue ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“Democrats want to end the chaos threatening our communities at home and abroad. We want to put an end to this reckless Iran war,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “Trump and Republicans are fueling the unrest and keeping your gas prices high.”
Mr. Trump, after signing a measure Thursday designed to lower grocery costs, said gas prices would sink “lower than they were before” once the war ends.
He says economic pain is worth the goal of keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands.
“This is the nuclearization of a country that some people would say is somewhat crazy,” Mr. Trump said.
The U.S. is trying to squeeze Iran economically with a maritime blockade that is making it hard for Iran to export oil and get revenue.
U.S. Central Command on Thursday said American forces have redirected 94 commercial vessels and disabled four while enforcing the blockade.
Mr. Trump insisted the U.S. maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz through his blockade, though Iran and Oman are working to formalize control of the waterway and possibly charge tolls.
“We’re looking at it,” Mr. Trump said of the nations’ planning. “We want it free, we don’t want tolls.”
The fast-moving situation is spilling into the president’s personal life.
Mr. Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is to be married to Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas this weekend, but the commander in chief is not sure he can attend.
“I’m gonna try and make it,” Mr. Trump said. “I said, ’You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’”
Mr. Trump said he would be criticized in the media, no matter what he decides.
“That’s one I can’t win on,” he said. “If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed.”
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