Trump: Iran Sites Can Be Hit In 10 Minutes
Trump says the US is not in a hurry on Iran but can hit its remaining nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, “in 10 minutes.” He won’t say whether war resumes, and expects the Russia-Ukraine war to end “in the not too distant future.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States is not in a hurry to resume strikes on Iran because it has already knocked out much of Iran's military and nuclear capabilities, but that one or two sites remain and can be dealt with "in 10 minutes." He spoke to reporters at a Halloween event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Trump said the US has destroyed Iran's navy, air force and anti-aircraft systems, almost every piece of military equipment it had, and much of its manufacturing capability, as well as its nuclear capacity. "We still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites," he said. He named Pickaxe Mountain, known in Arabic as Jabal al-Fas, a suspected underground nuclear complex next to Natanz, as one that must be addressed and said it could be done very quickly. Iran has denied that any nuclear work is carried out there, according to AFP.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the site sits under hundreds of feet of rock, and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that inspectors have no access to confirm what is inside damaged facilities.
Asked whether the war with Iran would resume next week, Trump called the question stupid and declined to answer, saying he would not announce such a decision. "Let's say I did, would I tell you?" he said.
He repeated that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and said negotiations with Tehran were "going fine" but that the Iranians are "not very reliable," adding that they make a deal and then back out. Iran, he said, is ready to make an agreement, and the US will see what develops.
The remarks followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio's comments earlier on Saturday in Atlanta that Trump has not made a decision on new strikes and prefers a diplomatic solution. In a statement reported on Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told military commanders that any threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response, Reuters reported. Trump has said he is weighing whether to "finish them off" after the 11/3 midterms, and Washington has warned Gulf states to prepare for a short, intense campaign.
On Ukraine, a reporter noted that Ukraine had struck two large Russian refineries in the previous day or two. Trump said he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and believes the war with Russia will come to an end "in the not too distant future," according to a transcript of the exchange.
On Wednesday, Trump said a Putin-Zelensky meeting would be arranged very soon, and Rubio said on Saturday that the US is reviewing Turkish and Indian proposals for a limited Black Sea ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said piecemeal arrangements cannot bring a settlement closer.
A reporter also said Russia claims it was warned by the US about a potential terrorist attack and asked whether the US gave Moscow intelligence and who the suspects are. Trump did not answer directly and said he expects a report on the matter on Sunday morning.