Trump warns of possible military action if Iran enriches more uranium: ‘We're going to have no choice'
'They won't be enriching. If they enrich, then we're going to have to do it the other way,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
'And I don't really want to do it the other way but we're going to have no choice,' he added. 'There's not going to be enrichment.'
5 'They won't be enriching. If they enrich, then we're going to have to do it the other way,' President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
AP
Israel also reassured the White House earlier this week that it won't launch an attack on Iranian nuclear sites unless Trump signals that ongoing talks with Tehran about its nuclear program have failed, Axios reported.
'He may go into a war. But we're not getting dragged in,' Trump had said of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Time magazine interview in April to mark his first 100 days in office. 'I may go in very willingly if we can't get a deal. If we don't make a deal, I'll be leading the pack.'
In May, the president said he'd warned Netanyahu not to bomb Tehran's nuclear facilities because the US had been 'having very good discussions with' Iranian negotiators.
But Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that ending uranium enrichment was '100%' against his country's interests — and lashed out at the US for being 'arrogant' in its proposal for a revamped nuclear deal.
That drafted agreement, submitted by Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff on May 31, permitted low-level uranium enrichment for civilian use.
5 Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that ending uranium enrichment was '100%' against his country's interests.
KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images
'Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?' Khamenei said in a televised speech. 'If we had 100 nuclear power plants while not having enrichment, they are not usable for us.'
On Tuesday, the State Department clarified that the US did not support Iran enriching uranium at any level.
5 Levels of 90% uranium enrichment are considered weapons-grade.
REUTERS
'The fact is, President Trump tweeted that there is going to be no uranium enrichment,' spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
The US and Iran have already gone through five rounds of talks over the nuclear issue — without any breakthroughs.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency last week reportedly disclosed that, in the background, Tehran had been upping its 60%-enriched uranium stockpile — from 274.8 kilograms to 408.6 kilograms between February and May — a roughly 50% jump between February and May.
5 A nuclear deal proposal, submitted by Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff on May 31, would permit low-level uranium enrichment for civilian use.
Getty Images
Levels of 90% are considered weapons-grade, and US officials have warned that Iran could convert their stockpile to reach that threshold needed for a single weapon in two weeks' time.
That prompted Netanyahu to call on international allies 'to stop Iran,' sounding the alarm about the uranium enrichment levels being only appropriate for 'countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons.'
Trump previously revived a 'maximum pressure' of sanctions on Iran after returning to the White House — and European nations privy to the UN nuclear report's findings may also be considering further snapback sanctions previously lifted under former President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Tehran.
5 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week called on international allies 'to stop Iran,' sounding the alarm about the uranium enrichment levels being only appropriate for 'countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons.'
AP
That 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was supposed to reduce Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium by 98%, though the UN findings have undercut that.
Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
20 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Ukraine's Zelenskyy to meet Trump on Monday after US-Russia summit secured no peace agreement
'It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,' he said. 'We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security.' Advertisement Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total the conversations lasted an hour and a half. Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska, but Friday's summit appeared to end without concrete progress on bringing an end to the war. Trump said that 'there's no deal until there's a deal,' after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an 'understanding' on Ukraine and warned Europe not to 'torpedo the nascent progress.' During an interview with Fox News Channel before leaving Alaska, Trump insisted that the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy 'to get it done,' but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. Trump did not speak to reporters on his flight back to Washington. When his plane landed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was on the phone with NATO leaders after a lengthy call with Zelenskyy. Advertisement Trump then disembarked Air Force One without speaking to reporters. He didn't respond to shouted questions about the phone calls as he climbed into his limousine. Trump spoke with Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said. She gave no details of the conversation. There was no immediate comment Saturday from European leaders who, like Zelenskyy, didn't have a place at the table at Friday's summit. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that a potential trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy has not been raised in U.S.-Russia discussions. 'The topic has not been touched upon yet,' Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraine's Air Force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked.
Newsweek
21 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Zelensky Details Trump Phone Call, Confirms Washington Meeting
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has spoken with US President Donald Trump, as well as other world leaders, following Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Zelensky has also confirmed that he will meet with Trump in Washington on Monday. Posting on Telegram, Zelensky said he had spoken with Trump for about an hour one-on-one, before European leaders joined for another half hour. Writing on Telegram, he said, "We support President Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, America and Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and the trilateral format is suitable for this. "I am going to discuss all the details after the killings, after the war, with President Trump in Washington on Monday. I am grateful for the invitation." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at number 10 Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Picture date: Thursday August 14, 2025. 81250677 (Press Association via AP Images) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at number 10 Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Picture date: Thursday August 14, 2025. 81250677 (Press Association via AP Images) AP This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
U-turn as Trump administration agrees to keep Washington police chief in place
The Trump administration has reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington DC police chief in control of the department. Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi, in a new memo, directed the district's police to co-operate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law. The order came after officials in the nation's capital sued on Friday to block President Donald Trump's takeover of the capital's police. The night before, his administration had escalated its intervention into the city's law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department, essentially placing the police force under full control of the federal government. The attorney general's new order represents a partial retreat for the Trump administration in the face of intense scepticism from a judge over the legality of Ms Bondi's earlier directive, but she also signalled the administration would continue to pressure DC leaders to help federal authorities aggressively pursue immigrants in the country illegally, despite city laws that limit co-operation between police and immigration authorities. In a social media post on Friday evening, Ms Bondi criticised DC attorney general Brian Schwalb, saying he 'continues to oppose our efforts to improve public safety', but she added: 'We remain committed to working closely with Mayor Bowser.' Mayor Muriel Bowser's office said late on Friday that it was still evaluating how it can comply with the new Bondi order on immigration enforcement operations. The police department had already eased some restrictions on co-operating with federal officials facilitating Mr Trump's mass deportation campaign but reaffirmed that it would follow the district's sanctuary city laws. In a letter sent on Friday night to DC citizens, Ms Bowser wrote: 'It has been an unsettling and unprecedented week in our city. Over the course of a week, the surge in federal law enforcement across DC has created waves of anxiety.' She added that 'our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now', but added that if Washingtonians stick together, 'we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy – even when we don't have full access to it'. The legal battle was the latest evidence of the escalating tensions in a mostly Democratic city that now has its police department largely under the control of the Republican president's administration. Mr Trump's takeover is historic, yet it had played out with a slow ramp-up in federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to start the week. As the weekend approached, signs across the city — from the streets to the legal system — suggested a deepening crisis over who controls the city's immigration and policing policies, the district's right to govern itself and daily life for the millions of people who live and work in the metro area. The two sides sparred in court for hours Friday before US District Judge Ana Reyes, who is overseeing the district's lawsuit. She indicated the law is not likely to grant the Trump administration power to fully take over city police, but it probably gives the president more power than the city might like. 'The way I read the statute, the president can ask, the mayor must provide, but the president can't control,' said Judge Reyes, who was nominated to the bench by Joe Biden. The judge pushed the two sides to make a compromise. A lawyer for the Trump administration, Yaakov Roth, said the move to sideline Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith came after an immigration order that still held back some aid to federal authorities. He argued that the president has broad authority to determine what kind of help police in Washington must provide. The police takeover is the latest move by Trump to test the limits of his legal authorities to carry out his agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally. It also marks one of the most sweeping assertions of federal authority over a local government in modern times. While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city's homicide rate ranks below those of several other major US cities, and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the Trump administration has portrayed. The president has more power over the nation's capital than other cities, but DC has elected its own mayor and city council since the Home Rule Act was signed in 1973. Mr Trump is the first president to exert control over the city's police force since it was passed. The law limits that control to 30 days without congressional approval, though Mr Trump has suggested he would seek to extend it. Ms Bondi's Thursday night directive to place the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, in charge of the police department came after Ms Smith had told officers to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody, such as someone involved in a traffic stop. The Justice Department said Ms Bondi disagreed with the police chief's instructions because they allowed for continued practice of 'sanctuary policies', which generally limit co-operation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers.
