Trump: Iran can’t have nuclear weapons because ‘they’re crazy’

Tehran’s erratic conduct in negotiations with Washington demonstrates why the Islamic Republic cannot possess nuclear weapons, U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Friday.

“We really had the confines of a deal; no nuclear, they were going to give us the nuclear dust ..., everything we wanted—and every time they’d make a deal, the next day it’s like we didn’t have that conversation. ... And that’s taken place about five times. There’s something wrong with them. Actually, they’re crazy, and you know what? Because of that, they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

Asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier whether Washington had underestimated Iran’s “pain tolerance,” Trump replied, “I didn’t underestimate anything. We hit them unbelievably hard. Look. We left their bridges. We left their electric capacity. We can knock that all out in two days. Two days, everything. We left Kharg Island [the site of the Islamic Republic’s main oil export facilities] other than …, we hit it except for the valves, where the oil comes out. Because when you hit that means you’re gonna lose a little oil.”

The Iranian regime is “afraid to make a deal” since it has never been in such a position before, Trump said.

“I’m going to do what’s right. I have to do what’s right,” he said.

“The Strait [of Hormuz] will be opened, they will not have a nuclear weapon, and the world will go on,” Trump continued, adding that energy prices will drop when the conflict comes to a conclusion, “and I think it’s going to end fast.”

Aboard Air Force One on his return from a trip to China, Trump told reporters that he would agree to a 20-year freeze of Iran’s nuclear program.

“Twenty years is enough, but the level of guarantee from them—it’s gotta be a real 20 years,” he said.

The president further said that he was told directly that the Iranians lack the technological means to remove the enriched uranium material, reportedly buried deep in the ground after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, and that only the U.S. or China could do it.

“With that said, I want to get it. And they agreed to it but then they took it back, but they’ll agree to it eventually,” he added.

Speaking about Tehran’s counter-proposal to end the conflict, Trump disclosed that he rejected it after reading the first sentence.

It was “an unacceptable sentence,” he said.