The United States may pursue military action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, US President Donald Trump told Time magazine on Monday but said going to war to protect international oil supplies was unlikely.
"I would certainly go [to war] over nuclear weapons … and I would keep the other a question mark," he said.
Iran on Monday announced it was stepping up its nuclear program, saying that it will breach the limit the 2015 nuclear deal set on its stockpile of enriched uranium within 10 days.
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Tehran further threatened to suspend its compliance with the NPT, or Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, unless European powers save the accord, which Washington abandoned last year.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Monday to step up sanctions against Iran swiftly should it go through with its threats.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have spiked since Trump withdrew from the international nuclear deal between Iran and major powers last year. The pact saw Iran agree to curb its nuclear work in exchange for some sanctions relief.
Last week, US officials blamed Iran for attacks against Norwegian and Japanese oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Tensions in the region prompted the US to bolster its military presence in the Persian Gulf.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the US is "considering a full range of options" in response to the recent events in the Gulf. When asked on CBS Sunday if that included a military response, he responded, "Of course." On Tuesday, Pompeo is going to visit U.S. Central Command, the Tampa-based headquarters which oversees all military operations in the Middle East.
Speaking with Time, Trump argued that the Gulf of Oman is less strategically important for the United States now than it used to be, citing China and Japan as nations that still rely on the region for significant proportions of their oil.
Trump said he agrees with the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Iran was behind the attacks, saying, "I don't think too many people don't believe it."
The president also downplayed Iran's aggression: "If you look at the rhetoric now compared to the days when they were signing that agreement [the 2015 nuclear deal], where it was always 'death to America, death to America, we will destroy America, we will kill America,' I'm not hearing that too much anymore," Trump said. "And I don't expect to."
