(AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was not yet satisfied with Iran’s offers to make a deal, after Iranian state television reported details of what it claimed was a draft agreement. Speaking at a cabinet meeting in the White House, Trump added that he was in no rush to reach an accord to end the Middle East war, despite saying at the weekend that one was close.
“Iran is very much intent, they want very much to make a deal. So far they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,” Trump said. “Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” he said, referring to threats to resume the military operations that the United States and Israel launched on February 28 and paused in April. Trump added that the Iranians were “negotiating on fumes.”
Iranian state TV said earlier Wednesday that a draft outline of a memorandum of understanding with Washington included a commitment to lift the naval blockade on Iran, restore traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, and withdraw US forces from the Gulf. The White House called the report a “complete fabrication.”
Trump insisted that he was not in a hurry to reach a deal, despite the Iran war causing the cost of living to spike for Americans ahead of midterm elections in November. The Republican has record low approval ratings with less than six months until the vote that will determine whether his party keeps control of Congress. “They thought they were going to outwait me, you know, ‘we’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms,'” Trump said, referring to Iran. “I don’t care about the midterms.”
– ‘Blow them up’ –
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting next to Trump, said there had been “some progress and some interest” in the talks with Iran. “We’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress can be made,” said Rubio. Trump did not respond directly to the Iranian state TV report of a draft agreement and gave sometimes contradictory accounts about how the negotiations were going.
He said that “nobody” including Iran would control the Strait of Hormuz and rejected reports that Iran and the Gulf state of Oman could control a toll system for the waterway. The US leader, who turns 80 next month, even said that “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we will have to blow them up,” in a comment that was apparently meant to be directed at Iran.
Trump then suggested that an Iran deal may be contingent on his push for Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries to sign the Abraham accords normalizing ties with Israel. “I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly said that he launched the Iran war to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon. But he appeared to confirm reports that the deal under discussion could push the issue of Iran’s enriched uranium stocks until later, while opening the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for oil traffic.
“Well, I would for some of it,” Trump said when asked whether he would accept a deal for now that just calls for further talks on the uranium. “Because it’s a memorandum of understanding for speed.” But Trump said he would not be comfortable with Russia or China taking Iran’s uranium, another solution that has been suggested.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
