War on Iran 'can be over very soon' Trump says, as backchannel diplomacy resumes

Summary

War on Iran 'can be over very soon' Trump says, as backchannel diplomacy resumes US President Donald Trump now says his joint war with Israel on Iran may be ending soon, as the US weighs extending the ceasefire window beyond two weeks to make room for further negotiations. Pakistan's army chief of staff and its interior minister arrived in Tehran on Wednesday, following the collapse on Saturday morning of direct US-Iran talks that they had mediated in Islamabad. "I think it can be over very soon," Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview taped at the White House on Tuesday, as she asked him about the American public's concerns about petrol prices. "They have no navy, they have no air force. Everything's been wiped out," he said of Iran, but the Iranians deny that it is the case. "They have no anti-aircraft equipment. They have no radar. They have no leaders. The leaders they have now, it's a new regime, okay? And we find them pretty reasonable, to be honest with you, by comparison, pretty reasonable. It really is a new regime, and I think we're doing very well, but it only matters what the end result is," Trump insisted. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Trump ordered a US military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, in a bid to deny Iran funds from exporting its oil. He indicated to Bartiromo that his strategy is working. "This almost seems to be more of a reaction than we had before... We have the greatest military in the world. Not even a contest." "Did you get any pushback, like from the Chinese or the Saudis about blocking the Strait of Hormuz?" she asked. "No, I had none," Trump responded. He called the war and its devastating global economic impact "worthwhile" because he expected energy prices to be much higher. "No president had the guts to do it, and they should have done it," he said of the war that he launched on 28 February. "I think all of them that are living are sitting back watching this and saying we should have done it. This should have been done long before me." The trade-off The trade-off, he explained, is Iran never being able to acquire a nuclear weapon - an assertion he made last year after he took the unprecedented step of bombing Iran's three main nuclear sites, and an assertion that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated last week after Trump agreed to the initial two-week ceasefire. Yet as of Tuesday, Trump was still talking about Iran trying to build a nuclear weapon. The Iranians have rejected that premise, maintaining their programme is for civilian energy and research. "If they don't" agree to stop enriching uranium, "we're not making a deal", Trump told Bartiromo, echoing the maximalist position his negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, assumed during Friday's talks. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said his country could not give up its right to enrich uranium, adding that the 2015 agreement with the US and European powers did not require it to do so. "They cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if they have a new nuclear weapon, we'll be living with them for a little while. But I don't know how much longer they can survive," Trump warned. "We could take out every one of their bridges in one hour. We could take out every one of their power plants, electric power plants, in one hour. We don't want to do that, because someday you're gonna have to rebuild, and it takes you 10 years to rebuild the bridge, even if you're Trump." Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.