While touting power of U.S. military, president suggests negotiated solution can be reached.
The United States is still leaning toward diplomacy with Iran even as it readies one of the largest military buildups in the Middle East in years, President Donald Trump said.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump touted the power of the U.S. military but suggested that a negotiated solution could be reached.
Iran’s uranium enrichment program has been the subject of fitful talks for months, and Trump has made it clear that he’s willing to use force if Iran doesn’t give in to American demands for an end to its uranium enrichment efforts.
“(Iranians) want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’ ” Trump said. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror … to have a nuclear weapon.”
The U.S. has deployed a host of warships and fighter jets to the Middle East in recent weeks. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which is in the Arabian Sea.
In all, the U.S. has deployed some 16 warships to the region and shifted more than 150 aircraft to bases in Europe and the Middle East, according to publicly available flight tracking data and satellite images reviewed by The Washington Post.
During his speech, the president touted previous military operations against Iran, including the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in early 2020 and last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump also emphasized the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose. Iranian missiles already can reach Europe and U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf, and Tehran is working to build missiles that can reach the continental United States, Trump said.
“After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program in a particular area: nuclear weapons,” he said.
“Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
It is still unclear whether and to what extent Trump is willing to strike Iran. Leaders in Tehran have also indicated that they are interested in making a deal but said they will not hesitate to retaliate should the U.S. attack.
The next round of bilateral nuclear talks about Iran’s nuclear program is slated to start Thursday in Geneva.
- Security