(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) On Wednesday, President Trump again threatened the possibility of the US taking military action against Iran and suggested Israel might “lead” the attack.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if the US would attack if a nuclear deal isn’t reached with Iran.
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that — it’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us. We do what we want to do,” he added.
Trump’s latest threat comes ahead of negotiations between the US and Iran that will be held in Oman this Saturday. The talks will be attended by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Trump has insisted the talks will be direct negotiations, while Aragchi has said they will be indirect, meaning Omani mediators will pass messages between the two sides. Reports have said that Iran would need a goodwill gesture from the US to hold direct talks, such as the removal of some sanctions. But the Trump administration continues to impose sanctions andadded new ones on Wednesday.
Trump has been increasing sanctions on Iran and threatening the country over its nuclear program even though US intelligence agencies recentlyreaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian restated Iran’s long-standing pledge in comments on Wednesday. “We are not after a nuclear bomb,” Pezeshkian added. “You have verified it 100 times. Do it 1,000 times again,” he said.
Pezeshkian also said that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not opposed to US investment in Iran. “His excellency has no opposition to investment by American investors in Iran,” he said. “American investors: Come and invest.”
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
