Washington, Aug 18 (IANS) US President Donald Trump said that Tehran wants to reach an agreement with Washington but is unwilling to accept the kind of deal he considers necessary, as a 60-day negotiating period between the two sides came to an end.
“They want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday (US local time).
Trump offered no details on the state of the negotiations, reiterating that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained Washington’s objective, reports Xinhua news agency.
“You understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “It’s very simple. They can’t have a nuclear war.”
Trump also claimed that the United States had “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz through its naval blockade against all Iranian ports, repeatedly musing about making it a territory of the United States.
“We control it (the strait) with the blockade. And I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” Trump said. “We have total control over the Strait now.”
As for his earlier warning against Oman, which is reported to be working with Iran on a plan to open the strait and keep the waterway under the control of the two nations, Trump said: “I don’t think they behaved very well, but we’d handle them very easily, just like we do others.”
Trump’s remarks came as a 60-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran ended Monday with both sides standing firm on their positions over Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday rejected Trump’s claim that there is a backchannel for talks between Washington and the IRGC.
In an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi called Trump’s claim a “delusion,” saying no dialogue is going on between the IRGC officials and the Americans.
Mohebbi added that Iran’s diplomatic apparatus is not currently negotiating with the United States because of Washington’s “breach of promises”.
–IANS
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