US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the deal announced with Iran this week is a “Memorandum of Understanding” and remains subject to change.
“If I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.
He warned that if Iranian leaders “don’t behave,” the US will resume “dropping bombs” on their territory.
Washington and Tehran reached a temporary truce in April through Pakistani mediation before announcing a framework agreement Monday to end the war. The accord is expected to be formally signed Friday in Switzerland.
Trump said the core objective of the deal is to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weaponry.
“It’s a great deal for a lot of reasons, but number one, by far, 99.9% is they will never have a nuclear weapon,” he said, characterizing the pact as “very strong.”
The US president also rejected reports of a $300 billion development fund accessible to Iran involving American taxpayers, calling it a “false story.”
“We’re not investing. We’re not putting up 10 cents,” Trump said, adding that others may choose to invest. “I would say they won’t be doing it for a while, until they find out (about) the behavior (by Iran),” he added.
On the global economic effect of the war, Trump said oil prices have “come tumbling down” as markets react to the de-escalation.
The US president added that the Strait of Hormuz is “already partially opened” and he expects the vital waterway to be fully operational within the next two days.He argued that without a deal, the world would have faced a “depression” because the strait would have remained closed due to the risk of rockets and mines.
Later, alongside with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit, Trump said the Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) with Iran is “very strong” one.
“This isn’t just like a two-paragraph. This is a long, pretty detailed memorandum that goes into a regular contract. I would think they would do it. If they don’t, then that’s, you know, that’s OK, then have to start the process again,” Trump told reporters.
Trump claimed that a US naval blockade in the strait was “100% effective.”
“They want to make a deal. They are so ready to make a deal,” he added.
