‘Who they are,’ Trump declines to make release of Americans a condition of Iran deal

WASHINGTON, DC: In his latest television interview, Trump talked about the Iran deal to a great extent, revealing how the negotiation is going, offering help to Iran in destroying enriched uranium, and asserting that he will use military power to destroy uranium if the deal is not secured.

Besides, Trump also took questions on the Americans held by Iran.

While Trump said he will see what he can do about the American prisoners in Iran, if any, he also clarified that he will not make Iranian detainees a negotiating red line.

Trump urges release of Americans in Iran

Appearing on NBC's ‘Meet the Press’ with Kristen Welker, Trump responded to the question about whether the deal with Iran will include the release of Americans who are held by Iran.

While the conversation indicated that Americans are held by Iran, it also underscored that there is no specific information about their identities and number of people.

“We'll see. Nobody has an accurate list of who they are or if they're being held,” Trump said in reply to the question about the Iran detainees.

During the discussion, the host asked if Trump had asked for a list of American prisoners in Iran. Trump responded by saying nobody has a list.

He then inquired if the host had a list of those held by Iran, suggesting that if she did, she should provide him with the names so he could discuss the matter further. 

Welker then asked if the president had talked about detainees with Iran. Trump confirmed that he did not address the topic but added that no one seems to have any information about “who they are.”

US would destroy Iranian uranium militarily

President Trump, during the interview, also talked about his plans for Iran’s enriched uranium and expressed his willingness to help Iran retrieve and destroy it.

He asserted that if the deal is not locked, he will further degrade the Iranian military to an extent that the American army could easily access and destroy the enriched uranium.

“If we make a deal that now we’re friendly, we’ll all go together. It’ll be our equipment. We’ll take it out and destroy it, whether it’s on-site or whether we take it off-site,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“And we will go with them, or without them. But we won’t have people shooting at us, OK?” Trump said.

“Now, if we don’t make a deal, then we’re going to take them out militarily very harshly. And we’ll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we’ll have safety either way.”