US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is involved with negotiations for a deal to end the war, and that the two “seem to be getting along quite well.”
“He’s involved, absolutely. Yeah, I think they have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Khamenei, adding that he would like to meet him “at some point.”
“I'd like to meet him. We'll probably meet at some point, depending on how it all works out,” he said in an interview with Pod Force One.
The US president said Iran has already agreed to not have a nuclear weapon, arguing “that was a big thing.”
“We can't let them have a nuclear weapon … they've already agreed they're not going to have a nuclear weapon, and they can change their mind, but that was one of the things they had to agree to have agreed to, and that was the big thing,” he said.
Origins of conflict
The US and Israel said Iran's nuclear programme and “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime” were the key reasons to launch the war on Feb. 28. Tehran retaliated with attacks targeting Israel and US allies in the Gulf, alongside the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict is currently on a halt and efforts for a permanent end continue under Pakistan's mediation.
Trump said talks with Iran are “rapidly evolving, and it's evolving good. It's going to be very good,” adding that “lots of really good things are going to happen.”
“We'll see what happens. We're going to be working on a deal, and that happens fine. Or if it doesn't happen, that's okay too. We'll do it the other way.”
Trump said the US blockade against Iranian ports could be maintained through Labor Day on September 7.
“I don’t know. I mean, I think it could be [closed through Labor Day], but I think it’s unlikely. I think that we’ll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” he said.
