President Trump said at his Wednesday G7 press conference and to reporters after that, he believes he doesn’t have the right to ban Iran from having ballistic missiles, or even civilian use of nuclear power. “We’ll be working on a parallel effort with the Gulf nations to address non-nuclear issues, such as the conventional ballistic missiles, which we’ll be talking about,” the president said. He said the Iran deal must be guided by common sense, arguing that Iran cannot realistically be barred from every conventional military capability if neighboring countries are allowed to have them. When asked later, he clarified: “I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some.” “A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we’re talking about when we talk nuclear,” Trump said. “But if Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion, I think it’s OK — that’s what I mean.” About civilian nuclear power, Trump added, “You know, it is a little hard though when you say that somebody wants it, other people have it, other adjoining states have it, and you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. You have to use a little common sense, please.” “Somebody said you shouldn’t give them one,” he said. “I have guys — I like some of these guys, but I don’t think they’re smart. ‘Sir, you shouldn’t let them have any missiles.’ I said, ‘Well, what am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can’t have them?’ ‘Yes, sir!’ It doesn’t work that way — and missiles aren’t the problem.” “Missiles hurt a little location, but they don’t blow up the planet.”
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