Trump says Iran pursues 'sinister ambitions,' hasn't told US that Tehran 'will never have a nuclear program'
President Donald Trump warned in his State of the Union address that Iran has "sinister ambitions" with its nuclear program and that the U.S. has not yet heard from Tehran that it will "never have a nuclear weapon."
The remarks come as the U.S. and Iran are gearing up for another round of negotiations on Thursday.
"After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program and, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions," Trump said Tuesday, referencing the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer.
"We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’" Trump added. "My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen."
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"For decades it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate," Trump also said during his speech. "They've killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what's called roadside bombs. They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out [Iranian Gen. Qassim] Soleimani. I did that during my first term. Had a huge impact. He was the father of the roadside bomb."
"And just over the last couple of months with the protests, they've killed, at least, it looks like 32,000 protesters in their own country. They shot them and hung them. We stopped them from hanging a lot of them, with the threat of serious violence. But this is some terrible people. They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America," Trump said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said following Trump’s address that, "No one should be fooled by these prominent untruths."
"Whatever they're alleging in regards to Iran's nuclear program, Iran's ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January's unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,’" Baghaei claimed on X.