WASHINGTON — President Trump told The Post on Monday that he’s “nowhere near” ordering US troops into Iran to safeguard nuclear material at Isfahan — as he kept his cards close on how he plans to handle the country’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump played down a possible mission to retrieve highly enriched uranium from an underground facility near the historic Persian capital after a flurry of news reports said the option was on the table.
“We haven’t made any decision on that. We’re nowhere near it,” Trump said.
Trump also said he is “not happy with” Khamenei, 56, replacing his father, Ali Khamenei, as leader of the theocracy over the weekend, but didn’t repeat his earlier threat to kill any successor who assumed power without his input.
“Not going to tell you,” Trump said about his plans for the younger Khamenei. “Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him.”
Trump, who spoke by phone from his Trump National Golf Club in Doral, Fla., as a TV played in the background, tamped down speculation about possible ground troops at Isfahan after telling reporters on Air Force One Saturday afternoon that “we haven’t talked about” the possibility.
But news outlets, including Semafor, NBC News, and Axios, reported the same day that the scenario was under consideration.
The New York Times reported Saturday that satellite imagery revealed excavation equipment last year after Trump ordered the site to be bombed with Tomahawk cruise missiles in June — with two other sites flattened with more powerful bombs dropped by B-2s.
The uranium is enriched to 60% purity — a relatively short jump to the 90% needed for nuclear weapons.
Trump told The Post last Monday that he would not rule out deploying ground troops into Iran “if they were necessary.”
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” he said.
Trump’s coy response to Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, followed overt threats ahead of his election.
Mojtaba, a former gatekeeper to his father, is considered a hardliner with strong links to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The new supreme leader’s wife, mother, and son were killed in the same airstrike that killed his father on Feb. 28, according to reports.
Shortly before the late ayatollah’s son was named as his replacement, Trump on Sunday told ABC News that the new leader is “not going to last long” if “he doesn’t get approval from us.”
Trump told Axios last week that “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight” and “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.”
