WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said the United States could end its military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks and Tehran did not have to make a deal as a prerequisite for the conflict to wind down.
The remarks underscored the shifting and at times contradictory statements from Washington about how the war, now in its fifth week, might end.
“We’ll be leaving very soon,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, saying the exit could take place “within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three.” Asked if successful diplomacy with Iran was a prerequisite for the US to conclude what it has dubbed “Operation Epic Fury”, Trump said it was not.
“Iran doesn’t have to make a deal, no,” he said. “No, they don’t have to make a deal with me.”
Earlier on Tuesday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump was willing to make a deal with Iran to end the war that has killed thousands, spread across the region, disrupted energy supplies and threatened to send the global economy into a tailspin.
The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the US and allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday, in an effort to end the effective closure of the shipping lane through which about a fifth of the world’s daily oil and liquefied natural gas supply usually passes.
The UAE is seeking a UN Security Council resolution for the action and suggested the US occupy strategic islands, according to the report.
While the United States has said talks with Iran were ongoing, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that he has been receiving direct messages from US special envoy Steve Witkoff but they do not constitute “negotiations”, Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV cited him as saying.
The messages include threats or exchanged views delivered through “friends,” he added.