Trump official says ‘there may not be a nuclear agreement’ with Iran

As the United States and Iran resume trading attacks, a top US official has publicly downplayed the chances of one of President Donald Trump’s initial key objectives in the US and Israel’s war on Iran: getting a signed nuclear agreement. During an interview on Sunday with US channel ABC News, the US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, said “there may not” be a nuclear deal, signalling that the US may pivot instead to launching strikes against any Iranian efforts to build nuclear infrastructure. The US has previously targeted facilities it said had been used to support Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran has always maintained that it is developing a nuclear power programme only and does not have plans to build a nuclear weapon. Later, when pressed by the show’s co-host, Martha Raddatz, on whether the US would resort to continued bombing instead of diplomacy, Wright defended US actions in Iran. After the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran collapsed in July, attacks paused, then resumed, coupled with Iranian closures of the Strait of Hormuz and US naval blockade.

Despite recent exchanges of intense fire between US and Iranian forces, the White House has attempted to minimise the conflict in public remarks. On Friday, Trump sought to downplay the war in Iran, calling it “small potatoes”. While at a White House news briefing on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance appeared to suggest that the conflict had cooled and to shrug off an alleged US attack on a wedding in southern Iran, saying “sometimes things happen“.

At a White House briefing this week, Vance said of the conflict that he “wouldn’t call it a war” and there was “no active shooting right now”. Without offering specifics, Wright on Sunday said the US would “get the job done” in Iran and other nations would be offering their help to bring an end to the war.