WASHINGTON/DUBAI: US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that talks with Iran are going “very well” and could yield results over the coming weekend.
“I hear the negotiation itself is going very well actually,” Trump told reporters, adding of a potential deal: “It could happen... over the weekend.”
And US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday stood by his claim that the war with Iran was over, even as deadly strikes continued.
“We’re no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over," Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asserting that the United States had secured victory.
Trump’s assessment differed sharply from that of Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who said that lines of communication with the United States were still open, but “no tangible progress” had been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.
Trump also said he wants to separate the US-Iran talks from those on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“I’d like to separate it, I’d like to have a separate thing, because it is, it is separate,” Trump said.
“We actually spoke with Hezbollah for the first time, ever,” the US president said of efforts to halt the fighting in Lebanon.
“They agreed yesterday they’re not going to shoot, Israel’s not going to shoot, we’re just going to see,” Trump said.
Ceasefire semantics
Overnight, the US said it shot down Iranian drones and carried out a strike on an Iranian ground control station, while Tehran’s forces launched drones and missiles at several Gulf neighbors.
Trump downplayed the exchange of fire, saying: “It’s a different part of the world, you know. I’d say in that part of the world, ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.”
“There’s a reason for everything, and we hit them pretty hard the night before, and actually last night,” Trump said of the Iranians, adding: “When it was explained to me, I said, ‘all right’.”
A ceasefire has been in place between the US and Iran since early April, while one in Lebanon took effect in the middle of that month.
Despite this, clashes between the various parties to the conflicts have continued.
The question of what is deemed a ceasefire or the end of the war remain up for much discussion.
Victory definition
“We define victory as destroying their defense industrial base, significantly reducing the number of missile launchers that they possess, significantly reducing their stockpile of drones,” Rubio said.
“And we achieved all those, in addition to destroying what they had left of an air force and wiping out their entire conventional navy.”
Rubio faced strong pushback from Democrats, who argued the conflict is still raging, with Iran striking Kuwait's airport on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding 63 in a major escalation of the conflict.
Bahrain, which like Kuwait hosts a significant US military presence, also saw overnight drone strikes from Iran.
“You can change the name of the operation. It doesn’t change the fact that the Strait’s still closed, and my service members, and all of our service members, are still in harm's way," Representative Sara Jacobs of California told Rubio.
Iran might take a different view
Rubio updated legislators on negotiations with Iran, saying the Islamic republic's highly enriched uranium stockpiles were at the center of discussions and that Tehran has not yet agreed to a peace deal.
Washington insists Iran must turn over its near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, agree to curb its nuclear activities and re-open the Strait of Hormuz for any peace agreement to take hold.
“I think now, in some of the papers that have been exchanged back and forth, it’s clearly addressed, but we...still don't have final sign off from their system as of this morning," Rubio told the House committee.
Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear program, and dismissed earlier comments by US President Donald Trump who suggested that its stockpile of enriched uranium would ultimately be destroyed.
But Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a message on Thursday that Iran’s enemies, having been defeated on the battlefield, were now seeking to undermine public resilience and sow internal divisions.
Khamenei called for national unity in the face of those threats and said any action that created pessimism or frustration among the public amounted to helping the enemy.
The message was read on his behalf during ceremonies marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as a major Shiite holiday.
(With Agencies)
