US President Donald Trump has said he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again.
Responding to a question from the BBC’s Nomia Iqbal at a White House press briefing, he said he would “without question” attack the country if intelligence concluded Iran could enrich uranium to concerning levels.
The US became directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran last weekend, striking key nuclear sites with “bunker buster” bombs before Trump rapidly sought a ceasefire.
In a speech on Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes had achieved nothing significant, but on Friday Trump repeated his claim that the country’s nuclear sites had been “obliterated”.
Posting on his social media platform Truth Social later on Friday, Trump said he knew “EXACTLY” where the ayatollah had been sheltering and that he had personally stopped Israeli and US armed forces from targeting him.
It is understood the Iranian leader was forced into hiding during his country’s two-week war with Israel.
All parties in the conflict have claimed victory, with the ayatollah telling Iranians that Israel and Iran had failed to disrupt the country’s nuclear programme.
However, the country’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi later admitted “excessive and serious” damage was done to the country’s nuclear sites by the recent US and Israeli bombings.
Reacting to the ayatollah’s comments, Trump repeated his assertions that Iran was “decimated”.
“Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war-torn country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the war with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie,” Trump added.
Trump claimed he had been “working on the possible removal of sanctions” against Iran, but had decided to “immediately” drop all work on sanction relief after the ayatollah released his statement of “anger, hatred and disgust”.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is only intended for civilian purposes.
The latest conflict between Israel and Iran started when Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure, with a number of nuclear scientists and military commanders killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time”.
CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported the White House had been considering a range of options to entice Iran back to the negotiating table, including facilitating funding for a civilian, non-enrichment, nuclear programme.
But Iran has denied it is set to resume nuclear talks with the US, after Trump said at a Nato summit in the Hague on Wednesday that negotiations were set to begin again next week.
Iran’s health ministry said 610 people were killed during the 12 days of air attacks, while Israeli authorities said 28 were killed in Israel.