U.S. President Donald Trump said that the ceasefire agreement with Iran last summer had been nothing more than a “waste of time”; at the same time, he stressed that the current confrontations and tensions would end very soon.
Trump made the remarks during a rally of Republican supporters in the city of Corinth, Mississippi, ahead of the 3 November elections.
Speaking about the military confrontation with Iran, Trump said: “The United States had no other option; this should have been done years ago. What is happening now will end very quickly.”
Regarding previous efforts to calm the situation, he said: “We agreed to a short-term ceasefire that I myself did not have much faith in, because I knew it was a waste of time. We even allowed several ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a show of goodwill, but that action too was only a waste of time.”
Trump’s harsh remarks come as diplomatic efforts continue across the region to avoid a wider war. In this context, Tehran has hosted talks with senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey aimed at reducing tensions and laying the groundwork for negotiations.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed the continuation of indirect communications with Washington through mediating countries, and noted that Washington was seeking to impose new conditions on Tehran’s proposal for a ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
