"If we made the deal, Israel wouldn’t bomb them”: Donald Trump's threat to Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, has expressed optimism about a nuclear agreement with Iran, threatening that if he does not reach an agreement with the Islamic Republic, Israel will attack the country.

In an interview he gave this morning (Sunday), the US president was quoted as saying: “I would like a deal done with Iran on non-nuclear. I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of it. . . . They don’t want to die. Nobody wants to die...If we made the deal, Israel wouldn’t bomb them.”

But he would not reveal details of any potential negotiations with Iran: “In a way, I don’t like telling you what I’m going to tell them. You know, it’s not nice...I could tell what I have to tell them, and I hope they decide that they’re not going to do what they’re currently thinking of doing. And I think they’ll really be happy.”

On February 4, President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) restoring maximum pressure on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran’s malign influence abroad.

The NSPM establishes that Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles; Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralized; and Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.