"We're not looking for long-term war": Trump reiterates Iran cannot have nuclear weapon

Washington DC [US], June 19 : US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he was not looking for a long-term war with Iran.

When Trump walked out on the South Lawn to meet the men installing the new flagpole at the White House, he told the media that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

"We're not looking for long-term war. I only want one thing Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That's it," he said.

When asked if he had a message for the Supreme Leader of Iran who says that they will not surrender, he said, "I say, 'Good luck.'"

"For 40 years, they've been saying 'death to America,'" Trump said on Iran.

"If you go back 15 years, I was saying we CANNOT let Iran have a nuclear weapon," he said.

On being asked about striking Iran, US President Donald Trump says "You seriously think I am going to answer that?... I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you that Iran has got a lot of troubles and they want to negotiate. Why didn't they negotiate with me 2 weeks ago?"

Meanwhile earlier in the day, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday warned Israel and said that the "Zionist regime made a grave mistake" and "will face the consequences of its actions".

"Our nation will not forsake the blood of their martyrs, nor will they remain silent in the face of violations of their airspace," Iran's First International News Network reported Khamenei's statement.

Iran "will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace", the supreme leader said in a televised address reported by the Tasnim news agency.

"This nation will not surrender to anyone in the face of imposition," he said.

"....And the Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable consequences," he stated.

Earlier in the day, he also said that Tehran will harshly retaliate against Israel's attacks as aerial attacks between the two nations continued overnight, marking the sixth day of the war.

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