The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has assured this Thursday that Iran has accepted "practically everything" that Washington considers necessary, while emphasizing that talks with Tehran are currently ongoing.
"I think they have accepted practically everything we need," Trump stated in an interview with CNBC, adding that both countries continue "negotiating" after the preliminary agreement reached on June 18, designed to boost progress in dialogue.
The US leader stressed that the standoff with Iran "is not a war per se" but a process aimed at "nuclearly disarming" the Islamic Republic, as, he reiterated in line with his usual messages, "they cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon." In this context, the Republican leader boasted of having "dismantled" Iranian military capabilities, highlighting that, in his opinion, they currently "have no Navy, no air force, no radar."
Likewise, after stating that "all" the leaders of the Asian country "are dead" and remarking that he is not pursuing "a regime change" but rather preventing "that they cannot have nuclear weapons," the occupant of the White House maintained that Washington has a "well" managed relationship with the Iranian leadership, alleging that he considers them "much more rational."
When questioned about the possibility of a "total blockade" by the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, the head of the US executive defended that the siege previously applied to Iranian ports —lifted after the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on June 18— "was not a blockade" but "a steel wall" that would have prevented "not a single ship from reaching Iran."
"They have 300% inflation, they are not making money. So we are going to take some of that money and we are going to buy it from them. They need food, corn, wheat, and soybeans, and we are going to make sure that it is exclusively our American farmers who provide it. Assuming we reach the position we should reach. I think we will achieve it," predicted the president, who maintained that Iran has "lost its strength and bravado."
Regarding the aforementioned preliminary agreement, during the past week Iranian authorities have insisted on the need to respect the commitments contained in the text, while the Trump Administration has pushed for new meetings between representatives of Tehran and Washington in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
In parallel, the situation in Lebanon has become the most fragile element of the understanding, after Israel reiterated that it will not withdraw from the south of the country nor halt its military operations against the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah. All this while Iran maintains that the pact reached with the United States also extends to Lebanon and guarantees respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.