US President Donald Trump has said the war with Iran will end very quickly and said most people understand his efforts to stop Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, the BBC reports.
Trump’s comments came after Iran said it was still considering a US offer to end the war. The American media outlet Axios reported that the White House believes a 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran is possible, which could pave the way for further talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, a senior Iranian parliamentarian described the US conditions as a wish list, while a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tehran would express its views to Pakistan, the mediator in the talks. Pakistan’s foreign minister said his country was trying to turn the ceasefire into a permanent peace.
The 14 points proposed by the US include suspending Iran’s nuclear program, lifting sanctions and restoring free shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a virtual address to Republican representatives in Georgia on the evening of May 6, Trump said that he was optimistic about the chances of ending the war soon. He added that most people understand that he was right to deny Iran the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons. The US president had previously indicated that the Americans had had very good talks with Iran over the previous 24 hours, and he stressed that any inconvenience caused to Americans by high fuel prices would be temporary.
Trump has threatened Iran with renewed attacks if it does not agree to the conditions.
He wrote on his social network Truth Social that the bombing will resume, and it will be much heavier than before. Trump indicated that the war will end if Iran agrees to give what was agreed. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously said that the initial US-Israeli operation has ended because its objectives have been achieved.
Trump has also said that Iran has agreed never to build nuclear weapons, a claim that Tehran has not confirmed. Iran’s nuclear program is one of the main issues between the two sides. On the 5th of May, the US president announced that he had temporarily suspended Project Freedom just days after it was launched. The operation was aimed at removing ships stranded in the Persian Gulf in an effort to restore international economic balance. Iran has not yet publicly responded to the suspension of the operation, but Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has alleged that it could reopen the strait to traffic if the threat posed by the aggressor is eliminated.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, has been virtually closed since the 28th of February, when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran. In early April, the US and Iran announced a ceasefire, but only a few ships have passed through the strait since then. The US has implemented its own naval blockade, preventing ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports.
On the 6th of May, the US Central Command reported that it had stopped an Iranian-flagged ship
that was trying to break the blockade in the Gulf of Oman.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the 6th of May that his and Trump’s actions on Iran were fully coordinated. He said there were no surprises and that Israel and the US had common goals, the most important of which was the removal of all enriched nuclear material from Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel has resumed strikes on Lebanon, and Netanyahu has said that the target was a high-ranking Hezbollah commander who is responsible for shelling Israeli settlements and attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Read also: Trump: Project Freedom is temporarily suspended