United States President Donald Trump on Friday spoke about the ceasefire between US and Iran, saying he was not really “in favour of it” and had agreed “at the request” of other countries.
Trump, onboard the Air Force One, said America had agreed to the ceasefire “as a favour” to Pakistan, while praising Field Marshal Asim Munir and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“We really did the ceasefire at the request of other nations. I wouldn’t have really been in favor of it, but we did it as a favor to Pakistan — terrific people, the field marshal and the prime minister,” the US President said.
Trump also ruled out any further bombing of Iran. The US-Israel attacked Iran on February 28, following which Tehran also carried out retaliatory attacks on Gulf nations and effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Both US and Iran agreed to a temporary truce last month, but have still not been able to come to a permanent agreement to end the conflict.
‘They came with a terrible secret’: Trump claims Iran can’t retrieve nuclear fuel
Meanwhile, Trump further claimed that Iran’s nuclear facilities were damaged, adding that Tehran was not in any position to retrieve the nuclear fuel.
“They came up with a terrible secret. They said that they can’t remove it because they don’t have the technology to remove it. They don’t have the time and the practice,” Trump said in response to questions on Iran, PTI news agency reported.
The US President reiterated his resolve to not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and to make them give up their nuclear enrichment programme. Trump had, earlier today, said that Chinese leader Xi also agreed to and “felt strongly” about Iran not having any nuclear weapons.
Iran FM Araghchi flags lack of trust in America
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has, however, flagged a lack of trust in America as the reason that negotiations were stalling. He said that Tehran has “no trust” in Washington and is only interested in talks if the US is serious.
“Iran has every reason not to trust US while Americans have every reason to trust us,” Araghchi said. He further said that while the mediation process by Pakistan had not failed, it was facing difficulties.
While talking to reporters during his visit to New Delhi for the BRICS foreign ministers’ summit, Araghchi said that contradictory messages from the Americans had made Iran reluctant regarding the real intentions of the US.
