President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are set to discuss the state of Iran’s nuclear program when the Israeli prime minister visits the White House Monday.
Iran is continuing its uranium enrichment program, one of Tehran’s top officials said this week, despite US airstrikes having devastated the country’s nuclear facilities and assassinted at least a dozen of its leading nuclear scientists, one of Tehran’s top officials said.
“Our policy has not changed on enrichment,” Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said in an interview with NBC on Thursday.
Takht-Ravanchi said Iran is still open to diplomacy, but needs assurances the US would not conduct military strikes while talks are ongoing.
In an act of defiance, Tehran has officially suspended its decades-long collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The UN nuclear watchdog said Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from the Islamic Republic.
President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently — although he admitted Iran could restart it at a different location.
“I would say it’s set back permanently,” Trump said, adding that Iranian officials did want to meet with him. “I would think they’d have to start at a different location.
“And if they did start, it would be a problem.”
The Pentagon meanwhile said Iran’s nuclear program has been set back “closer to two years.”
Israel launched its military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites three weeks ago. A fragile cease-fire stands between the two countries following the 12-day war.
Israel also decimated Iran with its own military strikes on June 13, and a fragile US-brokered cease-fire remains intact between the two countries following the 12-day war.
Besides the debate over how badly the US and Israeli military strikes damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites – it remains unclear whether their 880 pounds of enriched uranium had been relocated during the 12-day war.
The uranium had been enriched to 60%, nearing the 90% weapons grade needed to develop an atomic bomb.
For Netanyahu, Monday’s visit to Washington will mark his third since Trump returned to the White House in January.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss Gaza, as Trump hopes to reach a cease-fire deal next week in the Israel-Hamas war.
