President Donald Trump said the United States would have to "verify times 10" that Iran wouldn't harbor a nuclear weapon if they made a deal with the country to denuclearize.
Trump said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that Iran "can't have a nuclear weapon" and that the U.S. would have to be "absolutely certain" the nation didn't have access to them to make a deal.
"I want them to have a great country," Trump said of Iran during the second part of his Hannity interview that aired on Thursday. "They have great potential. The people are amazing. The only thing I said about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon."
"There are ways that you can make it absolutely certain," Trump said when asked if he could trust them. "If you make a deal, you have to verify times 10 ... but they cannot have a nuclear weapon. And, you know, they get one, you're gonna have everyone else getting them, and then the whole thing is going to be a disaster."
Iran is growing closer to obtaining the materials needed to make nuclear weapons. The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that Iran is “pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium.
“Before it was [producing] more or less seven kilograms [of uranium enriched to up to 60%] per month, now it’s above 30 or more than that. So I think this is a clear indication of an acceleration. They are pressing the gas pedal,” Grossi told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
About 42 kilograms of uranium is enough to produce one nuclear bomb if it is enriched enough. Grossi said Iran currently had about 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60%.
Tehran has signaled that it is ready to negotiate with Trump again over nuclear weapons.
“I hope that this time around, [Trump 2.0] will be more serious, more focused, more realistic," Mohammad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, said. He pointed out that Trump had not brought on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, who convinced Trump to withdraw from former President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
In his first few days of office, Trump has revoked the security details for Pompeo and Bolton, despite threats against them from Iran.
Zarif said the withdrawal drew them closer to developing a nuclear weapon, but alleged that they weren't interested in doing so. He said the continuation of U.S. sanctions was hitting the most vulnerable in Iran hardest and insisted the country did not want to become a nuclear power. “If we wanted to build a nuclear weapon, we could have done so a long time ago,” Zarif said.
If Iran can successfully develop nuclear weapons, they could threaten to use them in their conflict against Israel. Such threats would likely prompt the U.S. to get involved and exacerbate tensions in the Middle East.
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Trump also spoke on Thursday about the denuclearization of Russia and China and that the "bad election" of 2020 interrupted him.
"I was dealing with Putin about the denuclearization of Russia and the United States. And then we were going to bring China along on that one because they have much less than we do," he said. "China, believe it or not, is much less. They will have an equal amount in five years, six years, you know, they're trying to get there, unfortunately, but right now they have much less in terms of nuclear. I was very close to having a deal. I would have made a deal with Putin on that de-nuclearization. It's very dangerous and very expensive."
