US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a joint operation between the US and Israel had caused regime change in Iran. At the same time, he assured that he would “make a deal” with the Iranians, writes TASR based on the AFP report.
- Donald Trump declared that the joint operation of the US and Israel changed the Iranian regime.
- Trump expects a deal with Iran and refers to the slain leaders.
- The American president claims that he is currently negotiating with the completely new Iranian leadership.
“I think we’re going to get a deal with them (the Iranians), I’m pretty sure … but we’ve already got regime change,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, citing the number of Iranian leaders killed in the month-long war.
Negotiations with Iran
“We’re dealing with a completely different set of people than anyone’s ever dealt with. It’s a completely different group of people. So I would consider it a regime change,” Trump added.
At the same time, he claims that the indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, mediated by Pakistani envoys, are yielding positive results. But he declined to give specifics when asked if a ceasefire deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached in the coming days, according to the Financial Times. “We have about 3,000 targets left – we’ve bombed 13,000 targets – and we’ve got a few thousand more,” he said.
Strait of Hormuz and oil
He also referred to his comments last week when he said Iran had allowed 10 Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through Hormuz as a “gift” to the White House. Trump said Tehran has now doubled that number. “They gave us, I think as a sign of respect, 20 oil ships, big, big oil ships that will go through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, adding that the shipment would start “tomorrow morning and continue for the next few days.”
Negotiations between the United States and Iran could take place in Pakistan in the coming days. According to the AP agency, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said this on Sunday. He did not specify whether these would be indirect or direct talks, but said that both Iran and the US expressed confidence in their mediation by Pakistan.
Efforts to end the war
Dar said this after meeting his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey in Islamabad. According to him, the ministers discussed possible ways to end the war in the Middle East, which was triggered by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Since then, Tehran has retaliated by attacking Israel and the Gulf states where the US has its bases. At the same time, he practically closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass.
