US President Donald Trump addressed a series of Middle East issues on Tuesday, chief among them the emerging agreement with Iran, saying the understandings between Washington and Tehran had been "successful" and were now moving to the "second stage" of the process.
Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, Trump said, "We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful, it goes to a second stage, which I think would be actually easier." He described it as a "fair agreement" and stressed that the United States would not invest money in Iran as part of the understandings.
Trump reiterated that the most important issue for him was preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. "The only thing that really matters to me is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," he said.
He also said the United States wanted to take possession of Iran's enriched uranium. "Psychologically, we want to get Iran's enriched uranium," he said, without elaborating on how this was expected to be carried out under the agreement.
The US president warned that if Iran tried to obtain nuclear weapons in the future, "all hell will break loose on it." He said the agreement ensured that Tehran would not be able to develop or possess nuclear weapons.
Trump later addressed the fighting on the northern front, saying he viewed the war in Lebanon as a "relatively small" conflict and assessing that even if the fighting continued, it would not prevent the implementation of the agreement with Iran.
Trump revealed that he had conveyed messages to Israel regarding its operations against Hezbollah. He said he had suggested that "Syria handle Hezbollah," and said he had made clear to Israel that he did not like the strike carried out in Beirut. "If Israel can't do the job without killing everyone else, Syria should do the job," he said.
Trump added that, in his view, Iran is currently led by a "rational leadership," and voiced confidence in the ability to advance the agreement to the next stage. Asked about his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said he was not frustrated with him. "We have an excellent relationship," he replied. However, Trump said he believed Netanyahu now needed to act "with much greater responsibility" regarding Lebanon.
