US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that Washington could strike Iran’s remaining suspected nuclear facilities in “10 minutes,” signaling the possibility of further military action despite ongoing diplomatic negotiations.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump claimed that US military operations had severely weakened Iran’s armed forces and nuclear infrastructure, leaving only a few sites to be targeted.
“We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes. So, we have that plan,” Trump said.
“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to a suspected Iranian nuclear facility.
Trump made the remarks when asked whether there was a timeline for ongoing Qatari-mediated negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
He said the US was not in a hurry to reach an agreement, claiming that American military operations had destroyed much of Iran’s navy, air force, air defenses, military equipment and nuclear infrastructure.
Asked whether Washington could resume military operations against Iran as soon as this week, Trump declined to provide a direct answer.
“Why would you ask such a stupid question?” he said, before adding: “I can’t tell you.”
– Trump says Iran will ‘never have a nuclear weapon’
Trump reiterated Washington’s opposition to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. They want to make a deal; we’ll find out about that,” he said.
Asked about the progress of negotiations, Trump expressed skepticism about Tehran’s reliability despite describing the talks as progressing.
“They’re going fine, but they’re not very reliable. I will tell you, they make a deal and then they back out. They want to make a deal. We’ll see if they make a deal,” he said.
His remarks came after Iranian negotiators met Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday, following talks in Tehran on Friday aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Tensions in the Middle East have remained high since the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian retaliation across the region.