The US unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, reinstating sanctions against Iran and imposing additional restrictions since then.
Speaking at NBC News on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that either a bilateral or a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran would do.
“I don’t care what kind of a deal. It can be separate or it can be total. Anything that gets to the result – they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he replied to a question whether he wanted to get China or Russia involved in it.
Trump said he wanted to talk with Iran with no preconditions. He claimed that Iran’s economy was “shattered” and the inflation was going “through the roof.”
“I’m not looking for war. And if there is, it will be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. No preconditions,” he said.
The US president also said that he didn’t send a message to Tehran warning the country of a US attack.
A simmering confrontation between Washington and Tehran reached a new level earlier this week after Iran downed a US Global Hawk spy drone. Commenting on the incident, Trump claimed that he cancelled a retaliatory strike with just 10 minutes’ notice.
Following the incident, media reports appeared claiming that Trump allegedly passed a message about Washington’s planned attack on Iran to Tehran via an Omani channel. The US State Department, however, denied the reports.
Earlier in the month, the US decided to reinforce its military in the region with 1,000 additional US troops, an aircraft carrier strike group, Patriot missiles, B-52 bombers, and F-15 fighters. The move came in response to Iran’s alleged threat after Washington blamed for an attack on two oil tankers.
On 13 June, two oil tankers, the Panama-registered Kokuka Courageous, operated by Japan’s Kokuka Sangyo Co, and Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair, owned by Norway’s Frontline, were hit by blasts in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US and several other countries, namely Saudi Arabia and the UK, immediately put the blame on Iran.
WATCH: President Trump tells Chuck Todd that he wants to talk with Iran with “no pre-conditions.” #MTP #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/rahOnNk4I6
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 23, 2019
