US President Donald Trump said yesterday that an Israeli strike on Iran “could very well happen” but he would not call it imminent and prefers to avoid conflict with Tehran and reach a peaceful solution over its nuclear programme.
Trump’s comments came after the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations and Tehran announced counter-measures.
US and Iranian officials are scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s escalating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from both countries and their Omani mediators.
Washington is concerned that Israel could take military action against Iran in the coming days, US officials said, despite Trump’s recent warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against such a strike while US diplomacy continues with Tehran.
US intelligence indicates that Israel has been making preparations to hit Iran’s nuclear installations. But one US official said there was no sign that Israel had made a final decision.
“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” Trump told reporters at a White House event, adding Iran could not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
“I’d love to avoid the conflict,” he said. “Iran’s going to have to negotiate a little bit tougher, meaning they’re going to have to give us something they’re not willing to give us right now.”
Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if the nuclear talks do not yield a deal and said he has become less confident Tehran will agree to stop enriching uranium. The Islamic Republic wants a lifting of US sanctions imposed on it since 2018.
With Washington offering little explanation for its security concerns, some foreign diplomats suggested that the evacuation of personnel and US officials anonymously raising the spectre of an Israeli attack could be a ploy to ratchet up pressure on Tehran for concessions at the negotiating table.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that even if the country’s nuclear facilities were destroyed by bombs they would be rebuilt, state media reported yesterday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years, raising the prospect of reporting it to the UN Security Council.
The step is the culmination of a series of stand-offs between the IAEA and Iran since Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in 2018 during his first term, after which that accord unravelled.
An IAEA official said Iran had responded to the 35-nation board’s declaration by informing the UN watchdog that it plans to open a third uranium enrichment plant.
Enrichment can be used to produce uranium for reactor fuel or, at higher levels of refinement, for atomic bombs. Iran says its nuclear energy programme is only for peaceful purposes.
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