President Donald Trump signaled on Wednesday that he will seek a “Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement” with Iran that will prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons while allowing it to “grow and prosper.”
Trump posted about his goal on Truth Social after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and saying at a press conference that the U.S. would take control of Gaza. The president also said in his social media post that he has no intention of taking extreme military action against Iran.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote. “Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED. I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!”
With his post, Trump appears to be opening the door for Iran to come to the negotiating table after he signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on Tuesday to apply “maximum pressure” on the U.S. nemesis and deny “Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon.”
On Tuesday, Trump also told reporters in the Oval Office that he “left instructions” for how the U.S. should respond if Iran assassinates him. Trump said it “would be a terrible thing for them to do” because “they would be obliterated.” The president also shot back at a reporter who claimed that Netanyahu “wants” the U.S. to “strike Iran.”
“You don’t know what he wants,” Trump replied. “What do you know about anything?”
While the president said he wants to pursue peaceful negotiations with Iran, he suggested that he might use U.S. troops to take control of Gaza, adding that long-term ownership of Gaza is a possibility.
“I think we will be a great keeper of something that is very, very strong, very powerful, and very, very good for the area, not just for Israel, for the entire Middle East,” Trump said. “There will be jobs for everyone.”
“Everyone I have spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent,” he added.
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday came after he campaigned on ending America’s foreign entanglements. Trump also said during his inaugural address that his foreign policy success will be measured “perhaps most importantly [by] the wars we never get into.”
