Iran must not resume its nuclear program: Trump

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran must not resume its nuclear program, warning that if it does, it could trigger military action.

“It’s a rough place. It’s a place that we hit very hard (last June)…ending the nuclear (program). They would have had a nuclear weapon long ago, actually already. They would have had a nuclear weapon probably a month after we hit, had we not hit. And we hit them hard, the B-2 bombers.”

“So we’re going to find out where they are now, about what they’re going to do with nuclear. They can’t do the nuclear. The one thing I have been strong on, they can’t do the nuclear," he said during an interview with CNBC in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump also said that Iran had stopped killing protesters after he issued a warning last week about potential military action.

“They were gonna hang 837 people on Thursday,” he said. “I told them, ‘You can’t do that.’"

Protests erupted in Iran on Dec. 28 amid worsening economic conditions, particularly the sharp depreciation of the national currency and soaring inflation.

Officials have accused the US and Israel of backing what they describe as “armed rioters” who have carried out several attacks in public places nationwide.

Trump repeatedly threatened to "hit hard" if protesters were killed but later commended Tehran for canceling hundreds of scheduled executions.

The president told CNBC that he hoped the US would not need to take any additional military action against Iran.

“We hope there’s not going to be further action,” he said.