Shafaqna Pakistan: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that negotiations aimed at securing peace in the Middle East were in their final stages, expressing optimism about the prospects of an agreement.
Speaking to reporters upon returning from an NBA Finals game, Trump said, “We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” indicating that discussions had made significant progress.
When asked about the likely timeline for reaching an agreement, and whether it would take days or weeks, the US president replied that he expected the process to conclude within “two or three days.”
His remarks come amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to ease tensions and secure a broader peace arrangement in the Middle East.
IRAN CASTS DOUBT
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official has raised doubts about the possibility of an imminent agreement between the United States and Iran, saying “major” obstacles remain over key issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme and uranium enrichment.
Ebrahim Azizi, who chairs the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, in an interview with CNN said that a “lack of trust” continues to define relations between the two sides.
He added that Tehran has yet to observe any “serious will” from Washington to complete the framework of a potential deal.
President Trump said that Israel and Iran will leave each other alone for at least a week after he had a “very good conversation” with Israel’s Netanyahu.
“He [Netanyahu] was hit, and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” Trump said while speaking to reporters.
“But he was hit, he hit back, and now they’ve called it quits. So they’re going to just leave each other alone for another week or something,” Trump said.
The resumption of the tenuous ceasefire comes as Washington tries to reach an agreement with Tehran to end their more than three-month-old war.
Trump also told reporters he could have “an idea” for an Iran deal within a few days, without elaborating. The Republican president, struggling with record low approval ratings ahead of November midterm elections, has often hinted at an imminent deal with Tehran, but none has yet eventuated.
The weekend saw the most direct confrontation between Iran and Israel since a ceasefire in April.
Tehran had fired missiles towards Israeli territory late on Sunday, calling the strikes retaliation for attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia on the outskirts of Beirut.
Israel then hit Iranian air defence systems and a petrochemical plant that it said was used to produce ballistic missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it retaliated with a strike aimed at a similar Israeli plant in the city of Haifa.
No deaths were reported by authorities on either side.
Source: Dunya News
