Trump Says Iran War Will End 'Soon,' but Sees No Hurry to a Deal
Seven Lights
President Trump said on Saturday night that the war with Iran will end “soon” and that the United States is not “in that much of a hurry” to sign a negotiated settlement, as Washington and the Gulf states opened a renewed diplomatic effort to keep the ceasefire from collapsing.
Asked whether there was a “timeframe for the Qatari-mediated negotiations,” Trump told reporters at a Halloween event at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, that there was no rush to strike a deal because Iran’s navy, air force and anti-aircraft equipment had been “knocked out.” The Washington Examiner reported the remarks. The president is weighing the launch of a fresh wave of strikes after the midterm elections.
The diplomatic track moved in parallel. The United States and Gulf states launched a renewed effort to ward off a resumption of conflict, though officials cautioned that the push remained fraught with challenges, Semafor reported. The American vice president reportedly wrote to the head of Iran’s top security body to restart truce talks. Gulf states are driving an agreement to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping channel at the centre of the Gulf oil trade. Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran would “give diplomacy a chance.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met officials from the Mecca Defense Pact during the week, Iranian state media reported.
The signals from Washington were mixed. A Trump administration official warned that the United States would resume fighting if negotiations failed. Several members of the White House are skeptical of further strikes, and the president is “the one most open” to them, the official told Semafor. Oil prices fell on the diplomatic news but remain far above pre-war levels.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a “maximum” response to any new American attack last week. Gulf governments have pressed for terms both sides can accept.
Qatari mediation continues, and the decision on a further wave of American strikes falls after the midterm elections on Tuesday.