US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Iran was “dying to make a deal” to end the now-paused conflict, while indicating there was little urgency to restart US air strikes amid a fragile ceasefire.
Speaking during a media interaction at the Oval Office, Trump’s remarks came even as Iran warned of fresh strikes if hostilities resumed following the April 8 ceasefire.
“I don’t know that we need it,” Trump said to a question on whether he was getting “antsy to break the ceasefire”.
The US president claimed the military campaign had significantly weakened Iran’s capabilities. “Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone… their drone factories are about 82 per cent down. Their missile production had also been hit. Their missile factories are almost 90 per cent down,” he said.
“We obliterated that nuclear capacity of theirs,” Trump said, adding that the Iranian economy was under strain due to US actions in the Strait of Hormuz.
“They're not getting any money from oil. And hopefully, it can be worked out very soon," he added.
“Iran is dying to make a deal,” Trump claimed, noting that only a select few were privy to the status of negotiations. “Nobody knows what the talks are except for myself and a couple of other people,” he said.
Trump also reiterated his claim of having stopped multiple global conflicts, including tensions between India and Pakistan, by leveraging tariff threats.
“But I settled eight wars. And in every case, the people, the prime ministers or presidents wrote letters thanking me,” Trump said.
“And in the case of India, the biggest one would have been Pakistan, India. And the prime minister of Pakistan said, I saved 30 to 50 million lives. But it could have been more than that,” the US president said.
Referring to the conflict, Trump said two nuclear-armed nations were on the brink of a prolonged war and that multiple aircraft had been downed. “They were in the first week of what would have been a very bad war. And I got it solved. You know how I got it solved? By the use of tariffs. I said, "I'm going to charge you tariffs if you guys keep fighting,” the US president said.
Trump has repeatedly asserted since May 10 last year that Washington mediated a “full and immediate” ceasefire between the two neighbours, a claim that India has consistently rejected, maintaining there was no third-party intervention.
