KEY POINTS
- Trump expresses preference for a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Iran.
- Trump reinstates his “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.
- The US President urges immediate work on a peace agreement with Tehran.
- Iran reiterates its commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and denies pursuing nuclear weapons.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and added that instead, he would prefer a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Tehran, after reinstating a “maximum pressure” policy on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, ahead of a meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump signed an order reinstating the “maximum pressure” policy against Iran over allegations the country is seeking a nuclear weapons capability.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said early Wednesday in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper.”
The post echoed a similar message in his press conference a day earlier with Netanyahu, who also said Tehran could never have a nuclear weapon.
Trump on Wednesday dismissed reports that the United States was working with Israel “to blow Iran into smithereens” as “GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”
“We should start working on it (the agreement) immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed,” he said. “God Bless the Middle East,” Trump posted.
During his first term that ended in 2021, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, and reimposed biting sanctions.
The deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)– imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
Tehran adhered to the deal until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began rolling back its commitments. Efforts to revive the 2015 deal have since faltered.
Iran denies seeking to build nuclear weapons, insisting its programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters Wednesday he believed Trump’s maximum pressure policy “is a failed experiment and trying it again will turn into another failure.”
He also reiterated that Tehran was not pursuing nuclear weapons. He said Iran is a committed member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its positions are completely clear in that regard.
“If the main issue is that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons, it is achievable and is not much of a problem,” Araghchi said.
A longstanding religious decree, or fatwa, issued by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, prohibits Iran from possessing a nuclear arsenal.
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On Wednesday, Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami insisted that his country remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying “Iran does not have, and will not have a nuclear weapons programme.”
Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said Wednesday that meeting and negotiating with Trump, though not “impossible,” is not on Iran’s agenda at the moment, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Noting Iran’s strategies, especially in the defence sector, are “stable and permanent,” Aref told reporters.
Efforts to revive the JCPOA commenced in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria, but despite multiple rounds of negotiations, no substantial progress has been reported since the last talks in August 2022.
