President Donald Trump has announced that the US has begun direct negotiations with Iran on the nuclear program after Tehran rejected Washington’s call for talks.
“We discussed in person with Iran and they started. It’s going on Saturday. We’ll have a really big meeting and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told White House reporters on Monday.
“And I think everyone agrees that it’s desirable to do a transaction,” he added without providing further details.
Trump also warned that Iran is in a “great danger” if diplomatic efforts to curb nuclear ambitions fail, adding that Tehran “cannot have nuclear weapons.”
Earlier this month, Trump told NBC News: “If they (Iran) don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.” He added that the bombing would be “something they’ve never seen before.”
Since Israeli leaders have long wanted to bomb Iran, Trump’s announcement of a face-to-face meeting with Tehran would not be in Netanyahu’s “like” , said Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.
“Trump has wanted a deal for a long time,” Vishara said. However, “Netanyahu certainly believes Iran’s defense was weakened by Israeli air forces in Iran last year, and he sees this as a great opportunity with the US support of Israel to end Iran.”
“The truth is, Trump doesn’t want to take part in the war with Iran while he’s in the middle of a trade war with other parts of the world,” Vishara added.
“Meaningless”
Over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragci described the outlook for direct negotiations with the US over the nuclear program as “meaningless.”
Araguchi’s remarks came after Trump said he wanted negotiations between the countries in a letter sent to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month.
Tehran, who claims it does not seek nuclear weapons, has rejected the Washington overture until now, but says it is open to indirect diplomacy.
In 2018, during his first presidency, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, which had placed a strict curb on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran says its nuclear activities are for private purposes only. Israel, the region’s top US ally, is widely believed to have unproclaimed nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu asks Palestinians to leave Gaza
Trump suggested that the war in Gaza could soon end next to Netanyahu, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is wanted on suspicion of war crimes in Gaza.
“I want to see the war halt. I think the war will stop at some point, but he didn’t provide details on how or when to reach the ceasefire.
Netanyahu claimed that Israel was working on a new agreement following the temporary ceasefire in January. He broke unilaterally in March and then bombed Gaza further, killing hundreds more Palestinians. “We promise to drive out all hostages, but we will eliminate the evil tyranny of Hamas in Gaza, allowing the people of Gaza to freely choose to go wherever they please,” he said.
Israeli leaders also said he discussed Trump and what he called the US president’s “bold vision” of Gaza, referring to a controversial proposal for American rule over the enclave.
The program has been widely criticized as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing and has elicited sharp international criticism.
Luciano Zakkara, an assistant professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University, said the comments did not reveal changes in Gaza’s policy.
“Both share the belief that fewer people in Gaza are better. For the US and Israel,” Zakkara told Al Jazeera.
The word “ceasefire” barely came up at press conferences, Zakkara said, “Trump’s main focus was on business, trade deficits and business transactions, including Israel.
Turning to Syria, Trump has held position as a potential mediator between Israel and Torkie despite tensions between Netanyahu and Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan. “I think we can solve the problems you have in Turkey (Turkie) as long as you’re reasonable,” Trump told Netanyahu.
“I have a very good relationship with Turkey and their leaders. I think we can solve that. So I hope it doesn’t become an issue. I don’t think it will become an issue,” Trump added.
Describing Erdogan as “very smart,” Trump praised Torkier’s role in Syria, referring to the overthrow of Al-Assad’s regime in December. “We have never done anything Turkey has done in Syria within two,000 years,” he said.
Israel, which has carried out extensive airstrikes on Syrian military targets, remains wary of the growing influence of Torkiye in Syria.
Israeli officials fear that the permanent Turkish military presence in Syria could limit the freedom of operation of the air forces attacking Syria.