National security adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday that all options are “on the table” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” anchor Martha Raddatz asked the president’s top adviser to elaborate on President Trump’s warning to Iran a week ago that they would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and that something would happen very soon “that will solve the problem if there is no peace deal,” Raddatz said, referring to nuclear weapons.
“So, what is he talking about? Is he talking about a possible strike on the nuclear facilities by Israel, and would the U.S. join in that?” Raddatz asked.
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“Well, what the president has… repeatedly said is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Waltz said.
“All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one. And that’s all aspects of Iran’s program. That’s the missiles, the weaponization, the enrichment. They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences,” he continued.
“But, either way, we cannot have a world with the ayatollahs with their finger on the nuclear button,” he added. “We cannot have a situation that would result in an arms race across the Middle East in terms of nuclear proliferation. And President Trump is determined, one way or another.”
In 2018, Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement that was brokered during former President Obama’s administration and also ordered the U.S.-led strike on Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Trump has indicated he is looking to restart negotiations on a fresh nuclear deal with Tehran. Earlier this month, he said he wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, “I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,” according to Trump, who described the letter in an interview on Fox News earlier this month.
The Iranian supreme leader subsequently rejected that push, arguing it would only be a way for Washington to impose new demands and limit Tehran’s military capabilities.
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“Some coercive governments insist on negotiations. Such negotiations aren’t aimed at solving issues. Their aim is to exert their dominance and impose what they want,” Iran’s supreme leader said in a statement last week. “For coercive governments, negotiations are a means to impose new demands. Iran will definitely not fulfill these new demands.”
The U.S. and Israel have previously said that Iran should not be able to get a nuclear weapon. Tehran has been working on enriching its uranium to levels near capable of a nuclear weapon.
Iran has said the program is being developed for peaceful purposes, although some of its officials have threatened to develop the atomic bomb if the country is “threatened.”
