'Positive momentum' towards ending war with Iran, Trump says
Donald Trump has said there is "positive momentum" towards ending the war with Iran. In a post on Truth Social, the US president said America remained “locked and loaded” but suggested further military action now appeared “quite unlikely”. Mr Trump's post came as he conducted a press conference at the White House on the same issue, where he told reporters that US military action against Iran did not seem necessary “at this point”. "At this point [...] taking the military action doesn't seem to be a very necessary thing.
But we're locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes," Trump told reporters. "I think it's going to be ending fairly soon," he said, referring to the conflict against Tehran. Read more: Republican takes step to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Read more: Trump says he'd rather be turned away from heaven's gates than forgive James Comey and Nancy Pelosi He said he had held talks with Qatar’s prime minister, adding that several Gulf states supported continuing a naval blockade and Operation Iron Gate.
Mr Trump told reporters he believed the war was “effectively over” following the meeting. “Iran militarily is effectively over,” he said. “We’re just keeping it the status quo.” Mr Trump maintained his insistence that Iran must not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, calling this “non-negotiable”. The comments came after heavy Republican midterm losses, with the Iran war blamed as a factor in exit polls. Trump acknowledged that the war in Iran played a role in Republicans' losses.
"I think a part of it was Iran," Trump told Fox News in an interview; "Iran was a piece of it," he separately told The Wall Street Journal. Trump had hinted at renewing major attacks on Iran after last week's US midterm elections, but there has been no sign of a large-scale US military operation. Instead, speaking on Sunday about the possibility of further strikes on Iran, the US President said, "It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement".
He added that it is "highly unlikely" that strikes will be necessary.
Left out here: One side gets the space
Only Trump speaks in the article. Iran's response is absent. Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezai answered the same day, and Iranian authorities said strikes were continuing on the ground. A reader hears the US president's account of the war's state with nothing from the other party.
How we know
- Al Arabiya English reported“Iranian officials meanwhile expressed defiance at the continued pressure from Washington.”Trump sees ‘positive momentum’ on Iran after talks with Qatari PM (opens in a new tab)
- Al Arabiya English reported“On the ground in Iran, strikes – which have not been publicly acknowledged by the US military – are continuing, according to Iranian authorities.”Trump sees ‘positive momentum’ on Iran after talks with Qatari PM (opens in a new tab)