President Trump promised to become Iran’s “best friend” if Tehran agreed to his terms and renounced nuclear weapons.
Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House about the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran on Saturday while preparing to leave for Camp David, following up on how he called off a military strike against Iran.
“They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country,” Trump said. “They’re going to be so happy, and I’m going to be their best friend. I hope that happens.”
An escalating standoff between Washington and Tehran began with the renewal of U.S. sanctions after Trump’s exit from the 2015 nuclear deal and Iran’s frustration that European leaders have not defied those sanctions. Iran has increased uranium enrichment since Trump abandoned the deal, which could be used to make nuclear weapons, and Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently said “America could not do anything” to stop Iran if it actually sought them.
Over the past two weeks the U.S. has blamed Iran for becoming increasingly aggressive, first accusing it of damaging two Japanese oil tankers with bombs and then shooting down a U.S. drone flying over the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping lane. Iran denied carrying out the attack on the oil tankers and asserted that the drone was flying in Iranian airspace.
On Thursday, Trump ordered a military strike planned in retaliation for the drone, but Trump called it off in the final minutes, saying later the potential death count was not “proportional” to Tehran downing an unmanned drone.
“We are putting additional sanctions on [Iran]. They are going on slowly, and in some cases actually pretty rapidly,” Trump said, adding that military action is “always on the table until we get this solved.”
