Iran International
US President-elect Donald Trump declined to answer reporters who asked him on Monday whether he was considering a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities during a press conference at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
“Is that a serious question?” asked the president-elect in his first formal press conference since winning the election last month.
“I can’t tell you that,” said Trump, “Am I going to do preemptive strikes, why would I say that? Can you imagine if I said yes or no? You would say that was strange that he answered that question”
Another reporter followed up by asking if Trump would support Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program.
“How could I tell you a thing like that now? You don’t talk about that before something may or may not happen,” Trump responded.
A recent Wall Street Journal report, citing U.S. transition officials, said Trump is weighing the idea of preemptive strikes to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, and discussed concerns over Iran's nuclear program with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call.
Throughout the lengthy press conference, the soon-to-be 47th president confirmed his phone conversation but would not provide details other than to say the Middle East will be easier to resolve than the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“We just had a very good conversation. The real conversations will start on the 20th,” said Trump. “I think we're going to be in a good place in the Middle East. I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia Ukraine situation.”
Members of Trump’s transition team are reviewing a military option, according to the Wall Street Journal report, following the collapse of Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad and the weakening of Iran’s allies Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build four nuclear bombs, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The president-elect was similarly non-committal in an interview last week with Time magazine, which named him 2024 “Person of the Year”.
"Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It's a very volatile situation," he said.
