US President Donald Trump has said Iran must surrender, insisting Tehran is unwilling to accept the deal he considers necessary to end the war between the two countries.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said the US military campaign against Iran was focused on preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“They’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we’re in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Asked whether Washington was seeking to extend an interim agreement with Iran, Trump replied, “No.”
The interim agreement reached in June called for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”. However, the arrangement quickly unravelled, with Trump declaring it “over” on July 7, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry said a week later that it had been “suspended”.
Under the memorandum of understanding, Iran and the US agreed to negotiate a final agreement covering wider issues, including the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme, within a maximum of 60 days, unless both sides agreed to an extension.
Monday marked 60 days since the memorandum was signed, with negotiations still stalled.
Earlier on Monday, Trump told a Fox News reporter during a phone interview that Iran “should put up the white flag of surrender”.
The standoff has also intensified over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy route that carried about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before US-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February.
Oman and Iran have separately been holding talks aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the strategic waterway.
Trump, however, warned Oman against interfering with US objectives, telling Fox News: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”
Asked later in the Oval Office whether he had lost patience with Oman, Trump said the country had not behaved well but insisted the US could deal with the situation easily.
The disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel prices and increased pressure on Trump to bring the conflict to an end, amid growing domestic opposition ahead of the November midterm elections, which will determine control of the US Congress.
Trump dismissed suggestions that the elections were influencing his Iran strategy.
“Midterms have nothing to do with my thinking,” he said.
Earlier, Trump reiterated his position on his Truth Social platform, saying his “number one Goal” remained ensuring that Iran could not acquire a nuclear weapon, repeating one of his stated justifications for the war.
Boluwatife Enome
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