Trump derides report about U.S. potentially helping Iran build civilian energy nuclear sites

President Trump railed against a report that he was considering giving billions of dollars to help Iran build nonmilitary nuclear facilities.

“Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that ‘President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.’” he wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “It’s just another HOAX put out by the Fake News in order to demean. These people are SICK!!!”

CNN had a report earlier this week citing four sources familiar with the matter that said ideas were discussed to get Iran back to the negotiating table over the country’s nuclear program. The ideas included $30 billion to build a civilian nuclear energy program, easing sanctions and freeing up other money.

The report said the ideas were thrown around in an hours-long meeting between Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Gulf partners at the White House the day before the U.S. bombed Iranian nuke sites last weekend.

The B-2 bunker-buster bombing came after Israel and Iran traded airstrikes over the Iranians’ unwillingness to give up their nuclear program.

The president in a social media post earlier Friday said he was considering lifting sanctions on Iran, but changed his mind after Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared victory over Israel and the U.S.

“Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war torn Country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the War with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie, it is not so,” Mr. Trump wrote.

“As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie. His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED, and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life,” he said. “I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!’”

The president said he was working on removing sanctions on Iran, “but, no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more.”

He has attacked news outlets, including CNN, for their reports surrounding the nuke bombing. Some reports questioned just how successful the strikes were after Mr. Trump touted the result as “total obliteration.”

He has called for the firings of reporters from The New York Times and CNN over reports using a leaked intelligence report saying the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear programs by only a few months. The White House has said the reports demean the B-2 pilots.