US President Donald Trump described Iranians as “crazy” and “crazy people” during an interview with NBC News on Sunday, while defending his hard-line approach to Tehran and insisting that Washington must prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.While speaking in an interview with NBC News Learn about journalismTrump said that the United States is moving to prevent a global catastrophe.“I had to prevent a very powerful, very dangerous country from having a nuclear weapon because they were going to use it,” Trump said. “They’re going to blow up the world. They’re going to blow up the Middle East. They’re going to blow up Israel. They came here. They’re going to blow up Europe.”“They’re crazy, okay? They’re crazy people. I’m dealing with them,” he added.
And people with very high stress. A bit crazy.”Despite these statements, Trump also said that he personally “loves” the Iranians and described the US policy as a preventive measure.“And live with them,” he said. “I love them. But you don’t want to let them have a nuclear weapon.” “And I’m doing the world a service, but I’m doing our country a service, you know? It’s America first. I’m doing our country a service.”
The United States is pressing for Iranian nuclear agreement
These statements came at a time when Trump explained what he described as progress towards a possible agreement with Tehran regarding its nuclear program.
Trump said the United States could work with Iran to recover and destroy highly enriched uranium if an agreement is reached, or act unilaterally to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities.“If we make a deal where we’re friends now, we’ll all go together. It’ll be our equipment. We’ll take it out and destroy it,” Trump said in the interview.He added that if the talks failed, the United States would respond “very harshly” through military action.Trump also said that Iran has already ceded key ground in the negotiations.“They have acknowledged the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons,” he added, adding that the two sides were “very close” to reaching an agreement.
Trump compares diplomacy to military pressure
Trump described a dual-track approach that combines negotiations with military deterrence, saying that US forces could remain in the region until the issue is resolved.He also repeated his claim that Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities have been significantly weakened.“We have completely destroyed their army,” he added, acknowledging that Iran still retains missiles and drones.Trump said US surveillance capabilities, including “cameras in space,” are being used to monitor developments in Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.The interview comes amid ongoing conflict-related tensions in the region, including ongoing hostilities between the United States and Iran and broader instability in West Asia following strikes and counter-strikes between Iran, Israel and US forces.Trump has consistently claimed that Iran should never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, linking the issue to regional security concerns involving Israel, Europe and the United States.Despite the harsh tone, Trump said he still saw a diplomatic path forward and noted that the agreement could bring broader stability and economic benefits.He said: “We cannot allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon. We cannot do that. We will not do that.”
