Washington, July 8 . Amid his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the US capital, President Donald Trump said that he has no wish to hurt Iran any further and wants to make peace, even expressing a willingness to lift the sanctions from Tehran “at the right time”.
“I would love to be able to take those sanctions off and give them a chance,” Trump said during his White House dinner with Netanyahu. “They want to meet and make peace. We have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk,” reports Iran International.
Meanwhile, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has said that nuclear negotiations between the two countries are expected to take place “in the next week or so”, in what would mark the first official diplomatic engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel.
This was however refuted by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei today, who denied Tehran had requested a meeting with the American side. “No meeting request has been made to the American side from our end.”
When asked for a specific date for the talks, Trump had declined to provide details. “I’d rather not say, but you’ll be reading about it tomorrow or seeing it tomorrow,” he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week that he believes Iran can resolve its differences with the United States through dialogue, but trust would be an issue after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Responding to whether the Israel-Iran conflict had truly ended, Trump said “I hope it’s over”, adding: “I think (the Iranians) want to make peace and I’m all for it. Now, if that’s not the case, we are ready, willing, and able. But I don’t think we’re going to have to be.”
Netanyahu, answering the same question, said the Israeli and US strikes last month “set back the two tumours that were threatening the life of Israel: The nuclear tumour and the ballistic missile tumour,” reported the Times of Israel.
“But when you remove a tumour, that doesn’t mean it can’t come back. You have to constantly monitor the situation to make sure there’s no attempt to bring it back,” he added.
The Israeli PM stated that the situation had to be carefully monitored to ensure that no hostilities resumed, with both him and Trump discussing the issue.
“I’d like to believe that Iran would not test our fortitude, because it would be a mistake,” Netanyahu added.
The US President also lauded the Iranian people, and commented on their potential. “They have the oil power. They have great people, smart people, energetic people—amazing,” he said.
“I would like to see Iran build itself in a peaceful manner. They were the bully of the Middle East and now they are not anymore.”
. . .
