U.S. President Donald Trump issued fresh threats for Iran as the U.S. military is preparing to deploy its second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
The deployment is in addition to the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier which is already standing by in the Gulf.
And when asked by reporters about the timeline for the Iran negotiations, Trump said a deal could be reached anywhere within the next month.
“We have to make a deal. Otherwise, it’s going to be very traumatic. Very traumatic,” he said.
“I don’t want that to happen, but we have to make a deal. They should have made a deal the first time, and they got a midnight hammer instead. And this will be very traumatic for Iran,” Trump added.
Trump ordered the U.S. “Midnight Hammer” military operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites last June after the United Nations’ nuclear watch group said in early May that Iran had sufficient stockpile to enrich uranium to 90% to make a bomb in a matter of days.
Since Trump’s presidency in January last year, his administration has been talking to the Iranian leaders but failed to reach an agreement with Iran not to produce nuclear weapons.
Trump’s announcement of the second aircraft carrier deployment came after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week at the White House to discuss Iran’s negotiations.
Trump said he insisted to Netanyahu that Iran negotiations must continue.
Netanyahu expressed skepticism about any deal with Iran and is lobbying the Trump administration to press the Iranian leaders to scale back its ballistic missile programme and end its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“The president believes that the Iranians have already learned who they are dealing with,” he said.
“He believes that the conditions he is creating, combined with the fact that they surely understand that they made a mistake last time by not reaching an agreement, may create the conditions for achieving a good deal,” Netanyahu added.
