Written by WILL WEISSERT
Washington (AP)President Donald Trump stated on Friday that it would be extremely difficult to halt Israel’s strikes on Iran in order to negotiate a potential ceasefire, and he said that his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was mistaken when she previously stated that the United States believed Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon.
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Trump has recently adopted a more assertive public posture toward Tehran, asking for extra time to consider whether to strike Iran’s heavily fortified Fordo nuclear enrichment site as part of an attack. The facility is thought to be hidden beneath a mountain and inaccessible to anyone but American bunker-buster bombs.
Trump was questioned over Gabbard’s remarks to Congress in March that U.S. spy services thought Iran was not developing nuclear bombs after arriving in New Jersey for an evening event for his super political action committee. “Well, my intelligence community is wrong,” the president retorted. Who stated that in the intelligence community?
Trump stated, “She’s wrong,” after learning that it had been Gabbard.
Gabbard said in a later post on X that her testimony was misrepresented in order to create divisiveness.
According to American intelligence, Iran can create a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks to months if they want to complete the assembly, she wrote. I agree with President Trump when he says that can’t happen.
However, rejecting Gabbard’s earlier analysis came the day after the White House announced that Trump will make a decision on whether the U.S. military would intervene directly in the Israeli-Iranian war within two weeks. It stated that the reason for requesting more time was the significant likelihood of negotiations with Iran, which could or might not occur soon.
However, Trump appeared to question if negotiations might result in a halt to Israel-Iran hostilities on Friday. He stated that although he might be in favor of a truce, it might be extremely difficult to stop Israel’s attacks on Iran.
Trump said, “I think it’s very hard to make that request right now,” in response to Iran’s suggestion that the United States should call on Israel to halt its strikes if it was serious about advancing negotiations.
According to Trump, it’s a little more difficult to accomplish if someone is winning than if someone is losing. However, we have been in communication with Iran and are prepared, willing, and able to see what transpires.
Later, the president said, “When you look at it, it’s very hard to stop.”
When it comes to conflict, Israel is performing well. You would also say that Iran is doing worse, I believe. Trump stated that it is quite difficult to persuade someone to stop.
Trump pledged to be an international mediator and ran on a platform of condemning unending conflicts. Because of this, some people—even conservatives—have argued that Trump’s more forceful current posture against Iran is inconsistent with his earlier condemnation of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which started in 2003.
However, Trump said that the two circumstances were quite different.
Weapons of mass destruction were absent. I didn’t believe there were. And it was pre-nuclear in a way. Regarding his previous criticism of President George W. Bush’s administration, Trump stated, “You know, it was, it was a nuclear age, but nothing like it is today.”
with Iran’s present nuclear program, he continued, “It appears that I am correct regarding the material that they have already gathered.” There is an enormous amount of content.
Trump also questioned Iran’s growing nuclear capability for use in electricity generating and other civilian applications.
He said, “You’re sitting on one of the biggest oil piles in the world.” It’s a little difficult to understand why you would require that.
