US President Donald Trump said 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.
Earlier this week he 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 on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
“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.”
The US 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.”
Earlier this week, Trump warned Iranians they would be in “great danger” if the talks don’t succeed in persuading them to abandon their nuclear weapons program.
“If the talks aren’t successful, I think it’s going to be a very bad day for Iran,” Trump said.
Trump has consistently called on Iran, which is the chief sponsor of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi militants in Yemen, to abandon its nuclear program or face a reckoning.
