Trump blames Obama for letting Iran have nuclear weapons, calls program a 'cancer'

US President Donald Trump

• Trump blames Obama for Iran's nuclear weapon progress
• Trump says he terminated Iran nuclear deal upon taking office
• Trump claims Iran is negotiating for a deal due to pressure

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Amid the ongoing tensions in West Asia arising out of the US-Israel war with Iran, President Donald Trump accused his predecessor Barrack Obama of letting Tehran have a nuclear weapon 'at the highest level within a very short period of time'.

Addressing the media on Wednesday, Trump said, "... When I went on to do something that for 47 years should have been done by any of the other Presidents, and you heard numerous of them said they wished they did it, they didn't have the guts to do it."

Stating that every President before him should have taken the steps to contain Iran, Trump said,  "... I said we are going to have to do something about Iran because they are going to have a nuclear weapon very soon and they are crazy...We have to stop them...Every President should have done it."

Taking a dig at former President Barrack Obama, he said, "Obama should have done it. Obama gave them the absolute right title and interest, gave everything to Iran. When Bibi Netanyahu came over and begged him not to do it, he gave Iran the right to have a nuclear weapon at the highest level within a very short period of time. I terminated that agreement as soon as I came to office. If I didn't terminate it, that weapon would have been used a long time ago."

Calling Iran's nuclear programme a cancer, the US President said, "We had no choice, but I thought it would be much worse... In the short term, what we had to do was get rid of the cancer. We had to cut out the cancer. The cancer was Iran with a nuclear weapon. We have cut it out. Now we are going to finish it off."

Asked about whether the war with Iran is ending or not and about the talks of ceasefire, Trump said,  "We settled eight wars. We are winning another one... Nobody has seen anything like what we are doing in the Middle East with Iran. They are negotiating, by the way. They want to make a deal so badly, but they are afraid to say it because they figure they will be killed by their own people. They are also afraid they will be killed by us. There has never been a head of a country that wanted that job less than being the head of Iran..."

The US-Israel war entered its 27th day on Thursday with Washington currently firmly backing Israel and actively participating in the conflict, while also pushing for a settlement that would force Tehran to scale back these programs. Iran, on the other hand, has rejected US terms and insists on its own conditions, including an end to attacks and guarantees for its sovereignty.