US to leave Iran ‘pretty quickly’ and return if needed, says Trump
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US President Donald Trump expressed hope for a deal with the new leaders in Iran after air strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “spot hits” if needed, US President Donald Trump told Reuters on April 1, hours before he was scheduled to make a prime-time address to the nation.
With the war in its fifth week and Mr Trump under pressure for an off-ramp amid rising petrol prices, the President scheduled a 9pm Eastern Daylight Time (9am Singapore time on April 2) speech to discuss the way forward.
His address will bookend a day that begins with Mr Trump making a historic visit to the Supreme Court.
Mr Trump, in a phone interview with Reuters, said one element of his speech would be to express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance’s lack of support for US objectives in Iran.
He said he is “absolutely” considering an attempt to withdraw the United States from NATO, a treaty organisation ratified by the US Senate in 1949.
“They haven’t been friends when we needed them,” Mr Trump said. “We’ve never asked them for much... it’s a one-way street.”
Asked when the United States would consider the Iran war over, he said: “I can’t tell you exactly... we’re going to be out pretty quickly.”
He said US action has ensured that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
“They won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have, to we’ll come back to do spot hits,” Mr Trump said.
He also expressed hope for a deal with the new leaders in Iran after air strikes killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We have had full regime change,” he said. “I’m dealing with a very good chance that we’ll make a deal because they don’t want to be blasted any more.
“I didn’t need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change and the big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. Nor do they want one.”
As for the enriched uranium still possessed by Iran, Mr Trump said: “That’s so far underground, I don’t care about that.”
“We’ll always be watching it by satellite,” he added. REUTERS
