Trump rules out attacking Iran with nuclear weapon

US President Donald Trump has ruled out striking Iran with a nuclear weapon, while also suggesting that Iran may have reloaded during the two-week truce. (Photo/Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has ruled out striking Iran with a nuclear weapon, while also suggesting that Iran may have reloaded during the two-week truce.

"No", Trump responded to a reporter's question at the White House on Thursday. "Why would l use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally decimated Iran without it?"

"A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody," he added.

Trump also said Iran may have reloaded their weaponry during the two-week ceasefire "a little bit", but added the US could knock that out quickly.

"Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone ...maybe they loaded up a little bit during the two-week hiatus, but we'll knock that out about one day, if they did," Trump added.

"I want to make the best deal. I could make a deal right now ... but I don't want to do that. I want to have it everlasting," Trump said.

Trump on April 7 issued a threat to Iran that a "whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back," but within hours agreed to a ceasefire that he has since extended in the war launched by the United States and Israel.

Strait of Hormuz

Trump also said the US has "total control" of the Strait of Hormuz, saying they kept it closed until the talks are settled.

"They came to us, and they said, 'We will agree to open the strait.' And all my people were happy, except me," Trump said.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, if we open the strait, that means they're going to make $500 million a day.' I don't want them to make $500 million a day until they settle this thing. So I'm the one who kept it closed."

On gas prices, Trump told reporters that Americans should expect to pay higher prices "for a little while."

The US-Israeli war on Iran has driven up energy prices around the world.

Trump told reporters that he was seeking an Iran "without a nuclear weapon that's going to try and blow up one of our cities or blow up the entire Middle East."

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and the UN nuclear watchdog says that an atomic bomb was not imminent before the war.

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat, obliterating the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2, killing some 214,000 people.

US ally Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but does not publicly acknowledge them.

Source: TRT