Trump Says Iran Deal Could Come Within a Week — Huffington Post
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he thinks he will have an agreement with Iran over the next week, telling ABC News that talks are continuing at a rapid pace. He said the deal would extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. blockade would remain in place until negotiations are resolved.
Trump’s Monday call
Trump told News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl that things were “Looking good, looking good,” and added that “There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” after what he described as Iranian anger over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
He also said, “So, I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], and said, no shooting, and they both stopped shooting each other.” Trump said a peace agreement with Iran could be “even better than a military victory.”
Feb. 28 strikes
The talks come after Trump announced major combat operations against Iran on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel carried out massive joint strikes on military, government and infrastructure sites. A two-week ceasefire followed, and initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced an open-ended extension of the ceasefire and said the U.S. blockade would continue until negotiations are concluded one way or the other. That leaves the next week as the first stated window for a possible deal since the April talks failed.
Lebanon and northern Israel
On Tuesday, fighting continued on the ground. Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported three Israeli strikes in separate areas in southern Lebanon, and one person was killed. The Lebanese Armed Forces said two of their soldiers were wounded after an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon, and later said two soldiers sustained moderate injuries after being targeted by a hostile Israeli drone on a road near Nabatiyeh.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued new evacuation warnings for residents of Nabatiyeh and said the army planned forceful action against alleged Hezbollah targets there. The IDF also said air alert sirens sounded in northern Israel on Tuesday morning because of rocket and drone attacks, while Hezbollah said it hit an Israeli tank in Hadatha in southern Lebanon in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
For people watching the ceasefire, the immediate test is whether the talks produce a deal before the fighting widens again. Trump has tied the diplomatic track to the blockade and the Strait of Hormuz, while the battlefield reports from Lebanon and northern Israel show both remain active as he presses for an agreement.
