US President Donald Trump has said Iran has “an interest in reaching an agreement” as negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme and the ongoing conflict continue without resolution.
However, insiders say chances of a deal in the short-term are very slim, with reports in US media suggesting a major strike on Iran has been planned by the Pentagon. Trump is reportedly considering whether to give the go-ahead for a return to open hostilities.
In a telephone interview with French broadcaster BFMTV on Saturday, Trump said he was uncertain whether a deal would soon be reached.
“I have no idea. If they don’t, they’re going to have a very bad time. They have an interest in reaching an agreement,” the American president told the BFMTV correspondent in the US.
Meanwhile fuel prices in the US are at an all-time high. Currently prices are around $1,19 per litre, hitting Americans very hard in their pockets. And with mid-terms looming, the Trump administration is polling really poorly.
Analysts say support for the Iran war is somewhere between 30 to 40 percent.
In a recent interview, Trump said: “I’m not thinking about Americans’ finances, what I’m thinking is that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
According to several media reports, Trump is expected to decide in the coming hours whether or not to resume strikes against the Iranian regime, as talks aimed at ending the conflict and addressing Iran’s nuclear programme have so far failed to produce results.
However, in an interview with Fox News, as reported by RT, Trump said recovering Iran’s highly enriched uranium is “more for public relations” than anything else, downplaying what remains one of the key sticking points in negotiations aimed at ending the Middle East war.
Trump claimed the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities and severely limited Tehran’s ability to continue enrichment. However, an estimated 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60% purity – a short technical step from weapons-grade level – is believed to be buried beneath the rubble of bombed nuclear sites.
“We have nine cameras on that site, on those three sites, 24 hours a day. We know exactly what’s happening. Nobody’s even gotten close to it,” he said. “I think it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else. The other thing we could do is bomb it again, just make it absolute. But I just, I would just feel better getting it,” Trump told Fox News.
Regional tensions have remained high since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran against Israel and US allies in Gulf countries, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. Trump later extended the truce indefinitely while maintaining a blockade on vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports through the strategic waterway.
