Trump says killing Iranian leaders complicates US negotiations

President Donald Trump has said he needs to stop killing Iranian leaders to determine whom the US is negotiating with, while reiterating that Tehran must never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

“I gotta stop” killing Iranian leaders, Trump told a campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday, adding that he needed to establish “who the hell we’re negotiating with”.

“They don’t have any aeroplanes, no ships, no anything, no leaders. Level one leader is gone, level two leader is gone,” he said, describing what he portrayed as the destruction of Iran’s military capabilities and leadership.

Trump also defended his 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was negotiated under former president Barack Obama.

He described the agreement as a path for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, saying he had terminated it “just in time”.

“We obliterated Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity with Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury,” Trump said, referring to the US military operations in 2025 and from February to May this year.

“We defeated them militarily, financially, and otherwise. We have to make sure that they never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” he added.