WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Monday said the ceasefire with Iran was “on life support,” a day after he rejected the proposalsubmitted by Iran over the weekend for a permanent truce. “It’s unbelievably weak,” Trump said of the truce, while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it.” The US president claimed that Iranian negotiators told their American counterparts that they were prepared for the US to retrieve Tehran’s stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium, but then refrained from putting that concession in the response paper submitted over the weekend. Iran has shown no public indication that it is prepared to make such a concession.
“Two days ago, they said, ‘You’re going to have to take it.’ We were going to go with them. But they changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” Trump told reporters. Trump also asserted that Iran’s negotiators said that the uranium stockpiles are difficult to retrieve due to Washington’s strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites last year, and that only the US or China have the tools capable of pulling it out from underground.
He also claimed that Iranian negotiators had also “guaranteed that they wouldn’t obtain] nuclear weapons for a very long period of time,” only to leave that out of Tehran’s official proposal as well. The fact that Trump indicated he would have accepted such a guarantee, even though it was not indefinite, appears to be out of step with his longstanding insistence that he intends to ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Asked whether he still thinks he can make a deal with the current regime, Trump responded in the affirmative, while adding that it is comprised of moderates who desperately want to reach an agreement and “lunatics” who want to keep fighting. (Read More)
He also claimed that Iranian negotiators had also “guaranteed that they wouldn’t obtain] nuclear weapons for a very long period of time,” only to leave that out of Tehran’s official proposal as well. The fact that Trump indicated he would have accepted such a guarantee, even though it was not indefinite, appears to be out of step with his longstanding insistence that he intends to ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Asked whether he still thinks he can make a deal with the current regime, Trump responded in the affirmative, while adding that it is comprised of moderates who desperately want to reach an agreement and “lunatics” who want to keep fighting. (Read More)
