Donald Trump has said he is increasingly doubtful that Iran will agree to halt uranium enrichment as part of a nuclear deal with the US.
In an interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast, released on Wednesday, the US president admitted his confidence was waning when asked if he believed he could convince Iran to shut down its nuclear programme.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I did think so, and I’m getting more and more — less confident about it.”
Trump has been pushing for a revised nuclear agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear operations, and has warned Tehran of potential military action if no accord is reached.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, he mentioned discussing Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing negotiations with the Iranians as “tough.”
During the podcast, Trump suggested that the Iranians were employing delaying strategies in the talks.
“I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” he said.
Trump repeated that the US would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, whether or not a deal is reached.
“But it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying, it’s so much nicer to do it. But I don’t think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal,” he said.
Iran says it has no plans to build a nuclear weapon and is only interested in power generation and other peaceful projects.
During his first White House term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed limits on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
