US Energy Secretary Chris Wright downplays chances of nuclear deal with Iran, hints at continued strikes

As the United States and Iran resume trading attacks, a top US official has publicly downplayed the chances of one of President Donald Trump’s initial key objectives in the US and Israel’s war on Iran: getting a signed nuclear agreement.

During an interview on Sunday with US channel ABC News, the US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, said “there may not” be a nuclear deal, signalling that the US may pivot instead to launching strikes against any Iranian efforts to build nuclear infrastructure.

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“It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it,” Wright said on ‘ABC This Week’ about Iran’s ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.

The US has previously targeted facilities it said had been used to support Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran has always maintained that it is developing a nuclear power programme only and does not have plans to build a nuclear weapon.

Later, when pressed by the show’s co-host, Martha Raddatz, on whether the US would resort to continued bombing instead of diplomacy, Wright defended US actions in Iran.

“They don’t have the capability to build more missiles,” Wright said. “We’re degrading their capacity to develop nuclear weapons and, ultimately, to deliver them if they develop them.”

However, the former oil executive whose agency oversees the US stockpile of nuclear weapons said that a deal with Iran could be possible under new leadership.

“An agreement may await the next administration in Iran,” he said. “We simply don’t know that.”

The Trump administration official’s comments could signal that US hopes for a nuclear deal are dimming and slipping further out of reach.

After the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran collapsed in July, attacks paused, then resumed, coupled with Iranian closures of the Strait of Hormuz and US naval blockade.

Despite recent exchanges of intense fire between US and Iranian forces, the White House has attempted to minimise the conflict in public remarks.

On Friday, Trump sought to downplay the war in Iran, calling it “small potatoes”. While at a White House news briefing on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance appeared to suggest that the conflict had cooled and to shrug off an alleged US attack on a wedding in southern Iran, saying “sometimes things happen“.

At a White House briefing this week, Vance said of the conflict that he “wouldn’t call it a war” and there was “no active shooting right now”.

Without offering specifics, Wright on Sunday said the US would “get the job done” in Iran and other nations would be offering their help to bring an end to the war.

“We will work in cooperation with our allies in the region,” Wright said. “I think you’ll see countries from around the world joining this effort as well.”

Al Jazeera has reached out to the White House for comment.