US President Donald Trump claimed that the US and Iran had made multiple deals, which Iran then refused to acknowledge, in an interview with Fox News on Friday.
“We really had the confines of a deal….every time they make a deal, the next day it’s like we didn’t have that conversation,” Trump said.
The deal included Iran giving the US its enriched uranium, Trump claimed, adding that only the US and China have the required equipment needed to extract the uranium from where it is buried beneath rubble as a result of US-Israeli strikes.
To ensure the uranium is not extracted before a deal is reached, the US has the site under surveillance, with nine cameras focused on it from the US Space Force, the president said.
Internal conflict within Iranian leadership
Trump attributed the troubles with negotiation to internal conflicts and uncertainties within the Iranian leadership.
“In a way, we’ve eliminated so many leaders that it’s almost, I’m trying to figure out who the hell we are dealing with, all right?” Trump said.
The president has expressed this sentiment repeatedly in the past weeks, telling reporters there is “tremendous discord,” and that “the leadership is very disjointed.” In one speech, Trump called Iran “the only country in the world [where] no one wants to be a leader.”
While talking to the press later, Trump said that he would accept a deal in which Iran agreed to cease uranium enrichment for 20 years, on Friday.
“Twenty years is enough…it’s got to be a real 20 years, not a fake 20,” Trump said, adding that all the nuclear material would need to be extracted.
When questioned whether the US would launch an operation to go into Iran to extract the uranium, Trump said that Iran would be “totally defeated,” and therefore, there would be no risk if the US were to go in.
“At the right time, we’ll either go in, or we’ll get it,” he said.