Trump shifts stance on Iran’s uranium stockpile: ‘I don’t care about that’

WASHINGTON, DC: Over a month after the war between Iran and the joint forces of the United States and Israel began on February 28, the objectives remain unachievable or, more accurately, unclear. There is still uncertainty around why the US launched the military operation with Israel against Iran in the first place.

However, Iran’s aspiration to become a nuclear power surely had something to do with it.

Donald Trump appears ready to pull out of the war, as he said that the only objective of the war, keeping Iran from achieving nuclear weapons, has been achieved.

“I had one goal: They will have no nuclear weapon, and that goal has been attained,” Trump, at an unrelated White House event on Tuesday, March 31, said.

US to leave Iran ‘pretty quickly’

Hours before his address to the nation on the Iran war on Wednesday, April 1, Trump told news agency Reuters that the US will be out of Iran ‘pretty quickly’. Trump said that the US could end its military operation in Iran within two to three weeks.

He further said that once the exit is achieved, the US will return to ‘spit hits’ on Iranian targets as needed.

“The big thing we have is they're not going to have a nuclear weapon," said Trump, adding: "Nor do they want one."

Talking about the enriched uranium, Trump said, “That's so far underground, I ​don't care about that."

"We'll always be watching it by satellite," he added.

Nuclear weapon goal missing from Marco Rubio’s war objectives list

While Trump said that the goals of the war included stopping Iran from achieving nuclear weapons, his statement stood contrary to what Secretary of State Marco Rubio listed as the administration’s objectives in the conflict.

The four objectives listed by Rubio had nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.

Even the president’s own assessment reportedly said that Iran did not have a nuclear weapon before he decided to launch the war.

Iran maintains nuclear capacities: Report

On whether the Trump administration’s goal to keep Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities is achieved, The New York Post reported, “Unless something changes over the next two weeks — the target Mr Trump set to begin withdrawing from the conflict — he will have left the Iranians with 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium, enough for 10 to a dozen bombs.

“The country will retain control over an even larger inventory of medium-enriched uranium that, with further enrichment, could be turned into bomb fuel, if the Iranians can rebuild that capacity after a month of steady bombing.”