President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that Iran essentially has two options when it comes to its nuclear ambitions—either dismantle its nuclear infrastructure in a controlled manner or risk a violent takedown.
Speaking with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked whether the United States had presented Iran with a stark ultimatum: surrender its centrifuges and enriched uranium or face military action. Trump responded bluntly, “It’s that simple.”
He elaborated, saying, “I would much prefer a strong, verified deal where we actually blow them up… or just de-nuke them,” seemingly alluding to Iran’s uranium enrichment machinery.
“There are only two alternatives there, blow them up nicely or blow them up viciously,” Trump said emphatically.
Recent weeks have seen the U.S. and Iran engage in three rounds of negotiations regarding the future of Tehran’s nuclear program. However, a scheduled fourth round of dialogue was delayed, with no rescheduled date announced so far.
Following the third session, a U.S. official told Axios, “The talks were positive and productive. There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal.”
Earlier this week, Trump spoke with NBC and made it clear that the only acceptable outcome from his perspective would be Iran completely abandoning its nuclear capabilities.
“Total dismantlement. Yes, that is all I would accept,” Trump said during the interview. He added, “I want Iran to be really successful, really great, really fantastic. The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon.”
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on the ongoing discussions with Tehran. “We’re on the right pathway. But this is going to end somewhere, and it will end either in Iran eliminating its nuclear weapons program,” he said on Wednesday.
Vance emphasized that while the U.S. does not oppose peaceful nuclear energy, the line must be drawn when it comes to weapons-grade enrichment. “Iran can have civil nuclear power, we don’t mind that, but which regime in the world has civil nuclear power and enrichment without having a nuclear weapon? The answer is no one. No one right now has a civil nuclear program, with their entire enrichment infrastructure, that could enrich to the 90% needed to get to missile material and a nuclear weapon. So our proposition is very simple, we don’t care if people want nuclear power, we’re fine with that, but you can’t have the kind of enrichment program that allows you to get to a nuclear weapon, and that’s where we draw the line.”

{Matzav.com}