President Trump offered a new reason Tuesday for the U.S. strikes on Iran, saying it was his opinion that the country was going to strike first.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump answered questions publicly for the first time Tuesday about the ongoing U.S. strikes in Iran.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
He claimed that if the U.S. had not attacked Iran, there would have been a nuclear war.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But if we didn’t do what we’re doing right now, you would have had a nuclear war, and they would have taken out many countries.
MARTIN: It’s one of several shifting answers the president has given on why the U.S. attacked Iran in the first place and what his ultimate goals are.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now to discuss. So we’ve heard differing takes from the president, also from the secretary of state, over the last few days. So what’s the latest that the White House is saying for why the U.S. struck Iran over the weekend?
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Yeah. You know, there has been a lot of mixed messaging here, A. And just to put this into context for a second, Trump said on Monday that the U.S. attacked Iran because Iran was developing nuclear capabilities and missile capabilities that would soon be able to hit the U.S., though previous government analysis says those capabilities were not imminent. But that seemed to counter what his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said – that the U.S. believed Israel was going to strike Iran, and Iranian counterattacks would have put the U.S. at risk, so the U.S. struck Iran first.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, so two different answers there. And then yesterday from Trump, another different answer.
SHIVARAM: Right. So Trump was asked yesterday if Israel forced the U.S.’ hand. And the president said he might have forced Israel in attacking Iran after negotiations fizzled.
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TRUMP: You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.
SHIVARAM: And I want to emphasize that Trump didn’t cite any U.S. intelligence that Iran was going to strike. He said it was his opinion and that he felt Iran was going to strike the U.S. or Israel.
MARTÍNEZ: What do people think about this nonalignment on answers from the administration?
SHIVARAM: I mean, the public polling that’s been conducted so far shows that Americans are not in favor of this war, and a majority think the U.S. will now be in a long-term conflict with Iran. In response to all this, the White House in the last few days has been trying to realign their messaging here. Senior administration officials tried to explain in detail yesterday why the negotiations with Iran were breaking down. Later today, the Pentagon and the White House are holding more briefings.
But five days into this war, I mean, questions remain, and a big one is timeline, and what’s the end goal? Trump has said that he expects these strikes to last several more weeks, but what will define success here for the Trump administration? And what does the U.S. want for Iran after these strikes end?
MARTÍNEZ: And I guess one more thing a lot of people are worried about is the price of oil. That’s aside from just the horrible things that happen when there are missile strikes. I mean, has the president addressed that at all?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, Trump said yesterday that oil prices might be high for a, quote, “little while,” but he said as soon as this conflict ends – and again, didn’t provide a timeline there – he said oil prices would be even lower than before. No real clarity on how the president plans to facilitate that. I will say the global price of crude oil has risen since this war began. And, of course, you know, to put this into domestic context, it comes as Americans at home are still really worried about affordability and the economy. There’s a midterm election coming up later this year. Trump seems to have an eye on oil prices, though, because yesterday he announced efforts to try and guarantee the safety of oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz that can pass to deliver the 20% of the world’s oil that comes through that route.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that’s NPR’s Deepa Shivaram. Thanks a lot.
SHIVARAM: Thanks.
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