President Donald Trump requested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week not to take certain actions against Iran as the United States engages in talks with Iran about its nuclear program.
However, circumstances “could change at any moment,” Trump said.
Trump reluctantly shared the information in response to a reporter’s question after the Oval Office swearing-in ceremony for interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro.
The reporter asked if Trump had requested that Netanyahu refrain from taking certain “actions that could disrupt the talks” with Iran.
“Well, I’d like to be honest. Yes, I did. Next question, please,” Trump said matter-of-factly.
After some cross-talk among reporters, Trump expanded on the conversation he had with Netanyahu, emphasizing he did not issue the prime minister “a warning” and things could change with a phone call.
“I just said, ‘I don’t think it’s appropriate.’ We’re having very good discussions with them, and I said, ‘I don’t think it’s appropriate right now,’” Trump recalled, adding that he hopes to lock in “a very strong document” with Iran, “with inspections and no trust.”
“I don’t trust anybody, so no trust. I want it very strong, where we can go in with inspectors. We can take whatever we want, we can blow up whatever we want, but nobody getting killed,” he continued.
“We can blow up a lab, but nobody’s going to be in the lab, as opposed to everybody being in the lab and blowing it up. Right? Two ways of doing it,” he emphasized.
He then noted that dynamics could change at a moment’s notice.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution,” Trump said of his conversation with Netanyahu. “Now, that could change at any moment — it could change with a phone call — but right now, I think they want to make a deal, and if we can make a deal, it’ll save a lot of lives.”
Trump and Netanyahu said last month they are both committed to preventing Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger. And I hate to say it — great danger — because they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during the Oval Office meeting with Netanyahu.
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