US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that Washington remains committed to a diplomatic resolution to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons but warned if that failed the military was ready to go “deep” and “big”.
US and Iranian diplomats opened indirect talks on Saturday in Oman in an effort to resolve western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme.
Mr Hegseth on Sunday described the first, tentative contacts involving US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman as “productive”.
“These were productive talks yesterday. I don’t want to get ahead of our skis – Steve Witkoff does a fantastic job – but it was a good step, and they’re going to go at it again on Saturday,” Mr Hegseth said in an interview with Fox News.
“But he’s also dead serious that if we can’t figure this out at the negotiating table, then there are other options – to include my department – to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb.”
He told CBS that while Mr Trump hoped to never have to resort to a military option, “We've shown a capability to go far, to go deep and to go big”.
“Again, we don't want to do that, but if we have to, we will, to prevent the nuclear bomb in Iran's hands.”
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that military action was “absolutely” possible, in conjunction with Israel, if the talks in Oman failed.
The talks began on Saturday with delegations from the US and Iran meeting in Oman. The teams were led respectively by US Middle East envoy Mr Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“If it requires military, we're going to have military,” Mr Trump told reporters. “Israel will obviously be very much involved in that, be the leader of that.”
That followed a blunt warning in late March that “if they don't make a deal, there will be bombing”.
Iran had agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China. It enabled sanctions against Tehran to be lifted in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme.
However, in 2018, during Mr Trump's first term as president, Washington withdrew from the agreement, prompting Iran to gradually withdraw from its nuclear commitments.
Iran has always claimed that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, despite officials increasingly hinting at the possibility of developing nuclear weapons amid escalating tension with the US over sanctions.
Analysts say Iran may now be just weeks away from producing a deliverable nuclear weapon though Tehran denies it is building such arms.
