Sometimes you have to use force
Steve Holland And Andrea Shalal
President Donald Trump expressed frustration with U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and warned that “sometimes you may have to use force” in an environment where a massive military presence in the region could herald attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“I’m not happy with the negotiations,” Trump said. “I say no enrichment.”
Trump has stepped up diplomatic and military pressure on Iran in the weeks since Iran’s crackdown on protesters, trying to force the country’s rulers to abandon their nuclear program and other activities Washington sees as destabilizing.
After the latest round of talks in Geneva on Thursday failed to produce a deal, Trump appeared to be running out of patience, although he said he had not made a final decision on the use of force.
As he left the White House for Texas, Trump told reporters: “They can’t have nuclear weapons. And we’re not happy with the way they’re negotiating. We’ll see how it all turns out.”
Iran denies it aims to develop nuclear weapons and wants any deal that includes the lifting of US sanctions against it.
Trump spoke a day after talks in Geneva between U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Iranian officials ended without an agreement, but Omani Foreign Minister Sayyed Badr Albusaidi, who acted as a mediator, said the talks were making significant progress.
A large US military force, including two aircraft carrier groups, is waiting for Trump’s orders in the Middle East. American refueling tankers and F-22 fighter jets also flew to the region.
Although Trump’s timing for a final decision is unclear, the State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on March 1 and 2.
The United States joined Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran in June, striking major nuclear facilities.
When asked about the potential to use force, Trump said the United States has the largest military in the world.
“I wish I didn’t use it, but sometimes you have to,” he said.
More meetings will be held
Trump said further discussions on Iran would take place later in the day. He did not say with whom, but Oman, which acts as a mediator between the two countries, sent its secretary of state to Washington on Friday to meet with US Vice President J.D. Vance, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Senior US defense officials were at the White House for talks on Thursday.
“We don’t want Iran to use nuclear weapons, and they’re not saying those golden words,” Trump said. This appeared to refer to Washington’s insistence that Tehran commit not to develop nuclear weapons; This is something the US president made clear in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
The source said there is an internal recognition that fighting Iran will be more difficult than the US capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and there is also internal pessimism about whether the talks will bear fruit.
“No one is overly optimistic about the negotiations,” the source said.
Meanwhile, countries including the US, UK, Australia and China have evacuated embassy staff in the Middle East and issued travel warnings due to concerns about a regional conflict.
The United States told non-emergency personnel at its embassy in Jerusalem on Friday that it had been given permission to leave Israel, saying the country would be vulnerable to retaliation from Iran if it joined the US attack.
Washington issued a similar evacuation order for its diplomatic mission in Beirut on Monday. Britain, China, India and others have also advised citizens or diplomats to leave parts of the Middle East.
Poland, Finland, Sweden and Singapore also advised citizens to leave the region, while Britain said it had temporarily withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Iran.
