NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the spiralling global energy markets and a shadow looming over his ratings ahead of the November midterms, US President Donald Trump on Saturday walked out of a two-hour White House Situation Room meeting without any decision on a potential deal to end the Iran war.
A senior administration official told the New York Times that though a deal is close, matters including unfreezing of funds for the Iranians are being deliberated upon. “The Situation Room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said in a statement.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump had said that he was walking into the meeting to make a “final determination” on how to proceed with the potential ceasefire, though a stand-off with Tehran sees no signs of easing amid disagreements of the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program, among other issues.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Iran will clear mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz, US will lift its naval blockade and ships will start moving. He added that Iran’s highly enriched uranium, will be unearthed and destroyed. “No money will be exchanged, until further notice,” he said, referring reports that Tehran was demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets” before moving to the next phase of negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that no agreement has been finalised with the United States yet and the exchange of messages between the two sides is continuing. Baghaei made the remarks in a telephone interview with state-run IRIB TV that Iran’s current focus in the negotiations “is on ending the war”. “We have no talk on details of the issues pertaining to Iran’s uranium enrichment or enriched uranium at this stage,” he said.
Speaking about the possible re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei said future management of the strait “concerns only Iran and Oman”. He said the Islamic republic “said goodbye to the language of ‘must’ 47 years ago.”
