Washington: US President Donald Trump said that there was “positive momentum” toward ending the US-Iran conflict after meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani at the White House.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and other regional countries favored maintaining the current US naval blockade of Iran alongside the newly launched Operation Iron Gate, which seeks to restrict Iran’s land-based supply routes, Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
All these countries “would prefer the status quo,” Trump wrote, adding that they all agree that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, which he called “non-negotiable.” Iran has repeatedly maintained that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, Trump warned that US forces remain ready for further military action though the possibility of renewed military strikes on Iran is low.
“Should there be any change with respect to developments in the Middle East, the United States of America is ‘locked and loaded’ and ready to go,” Trump said. “At this point, however, that seems to be quite unlikely.”
“We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this Conflict,” Trump said, offering no details.
In a White House press conference on Monday, Trump also said that “Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo.”
“At this point, taking the military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing,” he added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that diplomatic efforts had made little progress and that a breakthrough was not imminent.
Speaking to reporters at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Florida, before departing for a G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in France, Rubio offered a sharper assessment of Iran diplomacy than he had given a week earlier, when he declined to characterise the progress of talks.
“I don’t have any progress to report to you,” he said.
“I think you see some of these things that are out there; you have a number of countries that continue to engage them with different ideas. But I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough.”
Rubio said President Trump preferred to resolve the confrontation and other problems through diplomacy when possible.
“The President would always prefer to solve this and every problem diplomatically. Sometimes that’s not possible, unfortunately. But if there’s a chance to do it, we’ll explore it,” he said.
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