USA01 May, 20263 min read
Donald Trump Warns Iran Deal Failure Could Trigger Military Escalation at White House Cabinet Meeting
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Iran negotiations are progressing positively. Failure to reach an Iran deal could trigger greater military escalation.
Trump presses for deal
U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations between the United States and Iran are moving in a positive direction, while warning that failing to reach an agreement would lead to a military escalation greater than at any time before.
“We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it.”
Trump told reporters that talks with Tehran were progressing “nicely” but warned that military action could resume if a deal is not reached, insisting Iran was “negotiating on fumes”.
At a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump ruled out any arrangement allowing Iran or Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz, saying, “We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it.”
Trump also said, “Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” as he warned of renewed military action if negotiations collapse.
During the same Cabinet meeting, Trump said Iranian leaders believed they could delay negotiations until after the US midterm elections to gain leverage over him politically, adding, “They thought they were going to outwait me, you know.”
Strait of Hormuz and escalation
Trump warned that not signing an agreement would mean returning to fighting in a manner stronger than ever, and he urged several countries to join the Abraham Accords after resolving the Iranian file.
In the Cabinet meeting coverage, Trump said he would not support Russia or China taking custody of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile as part of any future agreement with Tehran, adding, “That would not make me comfortable.”
The Times of India also quoted Trump saying, “They want very much to make a deal,” and that “So far, they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be.”
Trump further warned that the U.S. could resume military action if negotiations collapse, framing the choice as either a deal or renewed strikes.
In the same reporting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration was intensifying efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Africa and prevent infected individuals from entering the US, saying, “We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola into the United States.”
Rubio on Ebola, Trump on detention
Rubio said the administration was coordinating with agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services to contain the outbreak in affected countries and monitor travellers entering the US. The Times of India reported that officials expanded enhanced Ebola screening measures for passengers arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Uganda, and that travellers who had visited those countries within the past 21 days were routed through designated airports including Washington Dulles International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Trump defended conditions at a New Jersey immigration detention centre where protests and hunger strikes were reported, saying, “We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world — of their type — but we have some horrible killers.”
“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola into the United States.”
In the same Cabinet meeting account, Trump also highlighted his administration’s anti-fraud crackdown and discussed renovation projects at Washington landmarks, including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump said he “cleaned it” and “fumigated it,” describing work on the reflecting pool that he said would be resurfaced in “American flag blue.”