About a month after Donald Trump launched the war with Iran, he did something unexpected: The president suggested he was largely indifferent to one of the foundational reasons for the conflict.
After countless comments about the importance of addressing Iran’s nuclear program, when asked about the country’s enriched uranium, he told Reuters, “That’s so far underground, I don’t care about that.” He went on to say Iran was “incapable” of developing a nuclear weapon in light of the damage it has suffered, fueling his passive attitude about its stockpiles.
In the days and weeks since that April 1 interview, the president has not just shifted his focus back to the purported Iranian nuclear threat, he has also raised the possibility of some kind of invasion to seize the enriched uranium that he claimed not to “care about,” creating uncertainty about whether Trump was confused or has changed his mind.
During his latest interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, however, the Republican once again made it sound as if Iran’s enriched uranium just isn’t that important.
“I don’t think it’s necessary except from a public relations standpoint,” Trump said about Iran’s stockpiles. He added that the issue is only important “for the fake news.”
To be sure, it’s difficult to know whether the president believed what he said, whether he will change his mind at any given moment or whether he might pretend that he didn’t say what he clearly said.
But if his on-air comments reflect his actual position, it has the potential to be quite important: After months of bold assertions about the importance of Iran’s enriched uranium, Trump appears to have told the world that he sees this as little more than a public relations annoyance, not a foundational priority for his administration’s national security policy.
With this in mind, it’s an open question where Trump’s red lines are, or whether they exist at all. For that matter, there’s also new uncertainty about how and to what extent he’s undermined his administration’s own negotiating position, which continues to shift in erratic ways. Watch this space.
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