Did Trump ask Netanyahu not strike Iran? US President clarifies his position
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Monday said he did not ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from retaliating against Iran, but
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Monday said he did not ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from retaliating against Iran, but urged him to end hostilities as quickly as possible, while expressing confidence that a nuclear agreement with Tehran could be reached within days.Speaking to reporters amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure a deal with Iran, Trump said both Israel and Iran had agreed to halt their recent exchange of attacks and suggested a breakthrough in negotiations was imminent.Asked whether he had requested Netanyahu not to respond to Iranian strikes, Trump replied: "No. I said do what's right but I want you to stop as quickly as you can. Because they have to stop. It has to do with Lebanon. And it has to stop. We want to get it finished."The remarks came as Trump projected optimism about negotiations with Tehran, saying an agreement that would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons could be signed within days."Two or three days..
we have a very good chance of doing it," Trump said when asked about the prospects of a deal.The US president said discussions with Iran had advanced to the point where few obstacles remained."We should be able to do it in one hour. I don't think there are any sticking points. We're very close to having a very good, strong, powerful deal. If we go and bomb, which we can do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing, they'll have nothing left whatsoever. But you won't have this Strait open for months. If we do the bombing, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don't. And we'll have a signed document that's actually stronger than doing the bombing. What has proven to be a very powerful thing is the blockade. The blockades turned out to be much stronger than bombing... Their economy is really suffering, and they're going to make a deal..."Trump also suggested he had played a direct role in securing a halt to the recent Iran-Israel confrontation."He was hit (by Iran), and he hit back.
I can't blame him for that. Now they've called it quits. So they're gonna leave each other alone for another week or something... They both agreed, through me, to stop. We're in the final throes of a very good deal that will not allow in any way or form nuclear weapons. And the Strait will open up right away. It'll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days."The president's comments came days after Iran and Israel stepped back from a volatile round of retaliatory military strikes that had raised fears of a wider regional conflict and threatened maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes.Trump has repeatedly argued that diplomatic pressure and economic measures are bringing Tehran closer to accepting US demands on its nuclear programme.During a campaign tele-rally in support of Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump predicted the United States would soon secure what he described as a decisive outcome in its standoff with Iran."We're negotiating now, and they want to make a very good deal.
The BriefWire