President Donald Trump says he "couldn't care less" if Iran wants to negotiate.
His comments follow White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien’s statement that despite recent aggression from Iran, a combination of sanctions and protests from its citizens will force officials back to the table for a nuclear deal.
"I think the maximum pressure campaign is working," O'Brien told "Fox News Sunday.”
"Iran is being choked off, and Iran is going to have no other choice but to come to the table."
Trump seized on the comment, tweeting: "National Security Adviser suggested today that sanctions & protests have Iran 'choked off,' will force them to negotiate. Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and 'don’t kill your protesters.'"
O’Brien said he thought the financial hurt will ultimately be too much for Iran.
"There's no other way for them to get the money they need," he said on Fox.
"What's going to cause them to negotiate is the pressure on the economy, and when you've got students out there chanting 'death to the dictator,' and when you have thousands of Iranians out protesting in the street, that's the sort of pressure that's going to bring them to the table," he said.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran reached a breaking point last week when the U.S. killed Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani in a drone attack on Jan. 3. One week later, Iran launched dozens of surface-to-surface missiles at Iraq’s Ain Assad air base housing U.S. troops.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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