WASHINGTON (CN) – Responding to Iran’s retaliatory strike on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would invoke more sanctions on Iran so long as it continues to pursue development of nuclear power.
“As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said at the top of his remarks before confirming that no Americans were harmed in the Tuesday afternoon strike on two bases.
The bases hit were Ain al-Asad in the Anbar province west of Baghdad and in Irbil, close to the U.S. consulate located further north in the nation. The U.S. consulate was not damaged nor was it directly targeted, according to multiple reports circulating Wednesday morning, citing insight from anonymous State and Defense Department officials, respectively.
Tuesday’s strike by Iranian forces was made in retaliation for the Jan. 3 airstrike by U.S. forces killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Thanks to early warnings by the Pentagon, U.S. troops in Iraq were able to escape the incoming fire. President Trump said the damage wrought on the facilities was also minimal.
“Our great American forces are prepared for anything, Iran appears to be standing down, a good thing for all parties concerned and a good thing for the world,” Trump said.
Trump also called on NATO and U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Germany and France, to get more involved in combatting terrorism in the Middle East and to do so by breaking away from the remnants of the 2015 Iran deal established by former President Barack Obama.
Another agreement must be sought, Trump said, adding that Russia and China also need to take a tougher stance.
“We must make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential,” Trump said during his brief remarks from the White House.
Trump yanked the U.S. out of the hard-fought Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, sparking widespread criticism for over a year, particularly by those in national-security and foreign-policy circles.
Iran and U.S. allies in Europe had still observed the agreement to limit uranium enrichment and stockpiling up until Sunday when Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif announced, with the recent exchange of fire, that all bets were off.
A willingness for negotiation by the Iranian leadership is difficult to gauge due to mixed public messages coming from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khahmenei, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif and Hesameddin Ashena, the senior adviser to Khahmenei.
As the airstrikes from Iran into Iraq unfolded, Zarif took to Twitter to say that the airstrike was not indicative of Iran seeking escalation to full-blown war with the U.S.