The United States’ destruction of Iran’s nuclear facility prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon just months before the Gaza peace deal, US President Donald Trump said Sunday, calling it key to achieving the current ceasefire framework.
“Had we not taken out Iran’s nuclear facility… it would have a really dark cloud over" the Gaza peace deal, "because in two months they would have had a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East.
He recalled that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pleaded with former President Barack Obama and then–Vice President Joe Biden not to move forward with their Iran policy.
“Remember when Netanyahu came and he begged that Obama and Biden not do what they were doing with Iran? Begged him and they wouldn’t even listen to him. Everything they did was the opposite of what you should have done. Biden and Obama backed Iran,” Trump told reporters.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has declined Egypt’s invitation to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh peace summit on Monday, where more than twenty world leaders are expected to discuss Gaza’s post-war future.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also announced he would not attend, citing continuing US sanctions and what he called “threats against the Iranian people.”
The summit, co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, includes leaders or top diplomats from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
“Iran wants to work on peace now,” Trump said earlier this month. “They’ve informed us they are totally in favor of this deal. We appreciate that, and we’ll work with Iran.”
