On the afternoon of June 14, on the eve of the alleged signing of the MOU with Iran, President Donald Trump spoke to the New York Times over a phone interview to discuss the status of the negotiations. Notably, Trump was complimentary of Presidents Putin and Xi. Regarding President Xi, Trump said, “He was a total gentleman. He didn’t send a tanker, along with 20 destroyers on each side of it, to try and break up the blockade.”
His tone was a little different regarding Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. “He’s a very difficult guy, and to be honest with you, he should be very thankful to us for doing this. Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” Trump said.
Trump apparently suggested the US might become the guardian of the Middle East, in exchange for 20% of the region’s oil revenues. But he would only do this if Iran remained an adversary, he claimed.
As with many of his comments about the particulars of the agreement, Trump was non-descript. When discussing length of time which Iran will suspend uranium enrichment, he fluctuated from 20-15 years, but reiterated that whatever enrichment they do, “They can never go beyond a certain amount.” The new agreement guarantees that “they can only enrich for nonmilitary purposes. Forever.” He said the United States would work with Iran in “down-blending” the enriched nuclear material at some point, which would bring it to reactor-grade. But he offered no deadline and sounded vague about the timing.
