US President Donald Trump wants the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran to end with Tehran’s “complete surrender” of its nuclear weapons, rejecting suggestions that he might be interested in talks on a temporary truce in the Middle East, according to Politico.
After abruptly leaving the G7 summit in Canada on Monday, Trump, speaking to reporters on his way to Washington, praised Israel’s offensive and insisted that Iran’s nuclear capabilities must be destroyed.
“Complete surrender [of nuclear weapons], it is possible,” Trump said of how he wants to see the conflict end, adding that he wants “not a ceasefire, but a real end to the conflict.”
“I’M IN NO MOOD TO NEGOTIATE.”
Trump’s comments came shortly after he sharply criticised French President Emmanuel Macron on his social media platform Truth Social for saying that Trump was returning to Washington early to try to broker a ceasfire between Israel and Iran.
‘I’m not looking for a truce, we’re looking for something better than a truce,’ Trump said, repeating his criticism of Macron as a ‘nice guy’ who ‘doesn’t get things right very often.’
However, Trump did not provide any specific information about what the final solution might be. He indicated that his approach would be determined by events in the coming days.
Trump said he plans to convene his advisers in the Situation Room on Tuesday morning and confirmed that he has considered sending Vice President JD Vance and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Iranian officials.
He also continued to criticise Iran for failing to reach a nuclear deal in time to prevent the Israeli attack.
“I hope their programme is destroyed,” he said. “They should have made a deal. Their cities are being destroyed and they have lost a lot of people.”
As for why he decided to cut short his visit to the G7 summit, Trump said he wanted to “be at the centre of events” as the US monitors the escalating conflict and that he had already achieved what he set out to do at the meeting of world economic powers.
IN RECENT DAYS, TRUMP HAS SENT MIXED SIGNALS ABOUT WHETHER THE US COULD GIVE IN TO ISRAELI PRESSURE AND JOIN ITS MILITARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to convince Trump to join the military campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities, as military experts believe that Israel cannot reach the deep underground Fordow facility without US military support.
Only the US has 30 000-pound “bunker buste” bombs capable of reaching deep underground facilities, and these can only be carried by American B-2 stealyh bombers because they are so heavy.
The US has sent tankers and warships to the Middle East in preparation to protect American troops and assets from any attacks.
Israel launched its first attack on Iran on Friday, claiming that Tehran’s nuclear programme had crossed the red line. This move disrupted weeks of US diplomatic efforts to find a diplomatic solution.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that they had killed Iran’s new military chief of staff, Major General Ali Shademani, who headed Iran’s central command Khatam al-Anbiya, in an air strike just days after his predecessor was killed.
The IDF described him as the country’s “highest military commander” and a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
His death is the latest success in Israel’s Rising Lion operation, which since Friday has been targeting most of Iran’s top military leadership. Israel’s initial attacks killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Hossein Salami and Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri.