President Donald Trump's preference for Iran is to resolve the issue of its nuclear ambitions peacefully, not start a new war, Fred Fleitz, a former National Security Council chief of staff and senior fellow for the American First Policy Institute, told Newsmax Saturday.
"He does not want to go to war with Iran or use military force if he does not have to," Fleitz said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "Unfortunately, during talks in Geneva yesterday, the Iranians didn't show any willingness to put together an agreement that would basically end their nuclear program."
He added that Trump has decided that Iran's uranium enrichment program's purpose is "a weapons program."
"I've always believed that our intelligence community has gotten this wrong for a long time, but I think Trump has made the right move here," said Fleitz.
Still, Trump must reassure his base that he is exploring all possible options before resorting to military force, he added.
"They're nervous about us getting into a new war, and he has to reassure them that he's going the final distance to make sure that all peaceful efforts to end this are addressed," said Fleitz.
He said there is real concern about the United States being involved in another endless war, particularly after the "erroneous intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program" during former President George W. Bush's administration.
However, Flietz said, Iran is "very different."
"As CIA Director John Ratcliffe said, basically Iran is 99 yards down the field with billions of dollars of weapons-related activity, and it's ridiculous to argue that they don't intend to go in for a touchdown," Fleitz said.
Trump, meanwhile, may order Iran's Fordo nuclear facility to be destroyed with "bunker-buster" bombs. But Fleitz said the structure, built inside a mountain, was constructed in secret without informing the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is a violation of nuclear treaty obligations.
"It was built deeply in a mountain so Iran could make weapons fuel, and it would be difficult to destroy," he said.
"Trump isn't trying to get us into an endless war or send troops on the ground. He wants to destroy one facility that poses a serious threat to global security, because that is the place where Iran will finish its nuclear weapons."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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