New York, March 23 (IANS) President Donald Trump on Monday sounded optimistic about an imminent settlement of the Iran War with major points of agreement in talks, while Tehran was signalling that there were no negotiations.
Trump told reporters that “we have points, major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement”, especially on the three major points on eliminating nuclear development.
The remarks were greeted by a slump in oil prices and a rise in stock markets.
The Strait of Hormuz has moved to the centre of the conflict and the global economy, and Trump said its opening could be imminent.
Trump has demanded that Iran allow free navigation across the 40-kilometre-wide strait that is a chokepoint for 20 per cent of global fossil fuel flows.
He said that it could open immediately and be controlled by “maybe me and the ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is.”
Trump said that his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, held talks with Iran on Sunday and would continue on Monday.
He did not identify the Iranian negotiators, only saying, “We’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader.”
He added that it was not Ayatollah Mojtaba Khameini, who succeeded his slain father.
But Iran’s Parliament Speaker, M. B. Ghalibaf, denied that there were talks.
He said on X that “no negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped”.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, according to the news agency IRNA, said that Tehran had not asked to speak to Washington, as Trump had claimed.
Baghaei was quoted as saying that messages had, however, been received through “friendly countries”.
Oman may be one of them because its Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that his country “is working intensively to put in place safe passage arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz”.
In a placatory gesture to Tehran, he said, “Whatever your view of Iran, this war is not of their making. This is already causing widespread economic problems, and I fear they promise to get much worse if the war continues.”
Trump’s statement on Truth Social and remarks to reporters did not bring clarity to the talks he said were taking place.
Last week, he had ruled out a ceasefire with Iran, saying that it was already vanquished.
He has also said that there were no credible leaders to negotiate with.
On Truth Social on Monday morning, he said, “I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”
Because of “the tenor and the tone of these in-depth, detailed, and constructive conversations”, he was postponing for five days an attack on Iran’s power system that he had threatened to carry out on Monday if Iran did not allow free navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.
Later, he told reporters in Florida, “They want very much to make a deal. We’d like to make you a deal, too.”
He said there were agreements on 15 points, three of which concerned keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
After claiming that it would be short, swift action with the decapitating of Iran’s leadership and destroying its missile and remaining nuclear infrastructure, Trump is facing a prolonged conflict that has led to attacks on his Gulf allies and a global energy crisis, with the Strait closed to most shipping.
With mid-term elections that would determine the control of Congress, Trump now seems to be seeking an off-ramp to keep the conflict from spiralling out of his control.
Among his contradictory statements was one last week that he was getting down to “winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the terrorist regime of Iran”.
Trump faces mid-term elections in eight months that would determine if his party or the Democrats gain control of Congress.
Rising prices of petrol and diesel, and the rolling effects on other everyday products, have loomed as a threat to his party, putting pressure on Trump to end the conflict that he had claimed would be a short, swift operation, with the decapitation of Iran’s leadership and destroying its missile and remaining nuclear infrastructure.
But it has spiralled into a wider conflict with Iranian attacks on US allies in the Gulf, and a threat to the global economy due to the closure of the strait, making Trump reconsider the Iran conflict and find an off-ramp.
–IANS
al/dan
