US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Iran's nuclear program is "gonzo" after air attacks he ordered in June and that it faced "obliteration" if restarted, telling Tehran they could avoid more destruction with a nuclear deal.
His speech on Iran was his most extensive in months and indicated efforts had stalled on resuming talks after a 12-day military campaign started by Israel and joined by US forces.
"The Atomic Energy Commission said it's like 'gonzo,' one person actually used the term obliterated, but Iran actually said that they probably can never go there again," he told reporters. "They can probably never start there again. If they ever started, they'd probably choose a new site."
"They can try, but it's going to take them a long time to come back. But if they do want to come back, and they want to come back without a deal, then we're going to obliterate that one, too," Trump said.
Trump’s remarks came hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed speculations about a possible fresh round of war on Iran, calling it part of “enemy propaganda”.
“Today, beyond these military confrontations — which have existed, as you have seen, and whose likelihood is constantly being talked up, with some even deliberately fanning the flames to create anxiety, though they will not succeed, God willing — we are facing a propaganda and media confrontation,” Khamenei said.
“We are confronted with a broad front in a propaganda war; we are in a spiritual war. The enemy has realized that seizing this land, this soil, this divine and spiritual territory, is not possible through pressure or military tools.”
Trump has long said the June 22 missile and bunker-buster bomb attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites took out Iran's nuclear capabilities. Still, Tehran and Washington do not appear set on resuming two months of talks they had before the war.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but the United States and Western countries want Iran to end uranium enrichment, curb its missile power and rein it aid for armed groups in the region like Hamas and Hezbollah. Tehran has rejected the conditions.
"Their nuclear capability would have been there in about two months," he said of Iran's timeline to build a nuclear weapon before the war. "I think it looked like it was—some people say two weeks. I don't know if it's two weeks, but a very short period of time."
Iran's Supreme Leader has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic and that the US approach to talks amounted to dictation.
Trump insisted on Thursday that Iran could have been spared the attacks if it came to a deal through talks, and that it must.
"Forget about the nuclear. The nuclear is gone. But look at the damage they've suffered, the death that they've suffered. They could have had a deal where nobody would have died."
"They missed that opportunity. But they would like to make a deal right now," Trump said. "Yes, please."
