“Because they misbehaved for 47 years,” he said, referring to the government in Tehran post the Iranian Revolution, after the ousting of the Shah, a US ally, in 1979.
Washington and Tehran reached a temporary truce this April through Pakistani mediation before announcing a framework agreement this Monday to end the conflict.
Trump also said the core objective of the deal is to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weaponry.
“It’s a great deal for a lot of reasons, but number one, by far, 99.9 percent is they will never have a nuclear weapon,” he said, characterising the pact as “very strong”.
The US president also firmly rejected reports of a $300 billion development fund accessible to Iran involving American taxpayers, calling it a “false story”.
“We’re not investing. We’re not putting up 10 cents,” Trump said, adding that others may choose to invest. “I would say they won’t be doing it for a while until they find out (about) the behaviour (by Iran),” he added.
On the war’s global economic impact, Trump said oil prices have “come tumbling down” as markets react to the de-escalation.
Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz is “already partially opened” and that he expects the vital waterway to be fully operational within the next two days.
He argued that without a deal, the world would have faced a “depression” because the strait would have remained closed due to the risk of rockets and mines.
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