Washington DC [US], March 30 (ANI): US President Donald Trump said indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making “positive progress”, the Financial Times reported.
Speaking about the backchannel diplomacy, Trump said talks are underway through Pakistani “emissaries” but declined to provide specific details when asked whether a ceasefire deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached soon, the Financial Times said on Sunday (local time).
“We’ve got about 3,000 targets left — we’ve bombed 13,000 targets — and another couple of thousand targets to go,” Trump said, underscoring continued military pressure. He added, “A deal could be made fairly quickly.”
Trump referenced earlier comments suggesting Iran had allowed 10 Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to the White House, and said Iran had doubled the number, attributing the move to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian Parliament Speaker. “He’s the one who authorised the ships to me,” Trump said.
“Remember, I said they’re giving me a present? And everyone said, ‘What’s the present? Bullshit.’ When they heard about that, they kept their mouth shut, and the negotiations are going very well,” he added.
On Sunday aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said he was optimistic about a deal with Iran, citing “very good negotiations” and Iran allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “sign of respect.” He said, “I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon.”
“So we’ve had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. See how it works out, but they’re very good, moving along very nicely. And they’ve destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The Navy’s gone, the Air Force’s gone, we know that. We’ve destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly,” he said.
From Tehran, Iran’s Acting Defence Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza held a key telephone conversation with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler amid the wider West Asia conflict involving the United States and Israel, Iranian state media Press TV reported. During the call on Sunday evening, General Reza strongly condemned what he called “brutal military aggression” against Iran, calling it a clear violation of international law and fundamental principles of the global system, according to Press TV.
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