Trump on Iran Negotiations
On Thursday, President Donald Trump revealed that Iran has requested some aspects of the ongoing negotiations to remain confidential, which, he suggested, allows the country extra time to respond.
According to state media, Iran rejected the Trump administration’s proposal aimed at resolving its ongoing conflict with the U.S. The White House, however, indicated that discussions are still underway, as noted by spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt.
“They have nuclear power facilities, and they’re quite wealthy. They built not only nuclear plants but also conventional power plants,” Trump explained. “These projects are enormous and costly, running into billions of dollars. I gave them a ten-day window. They requested seven ships, and rather than just agreeing to that, I countered with ten since they supplied me with one.” He mentioned recent talks involving eight ships. “They were thankful for the ten days, even if they may later claim otherwise,” Trump added, expressing some discontent with how things have changed since past negotiations.
He outlined various military actions that he claimed have already been executed.
“The Iranians asked for my involvement, but I wasn’t entirely pleased as I’d announced that our talks were productive. I’m uncertain if they’ll reach an agreement. Who knows? Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. In a way, we’ve already come out ahead because we’ve severely diminished their navy and significantly impacted their air force,” Trump claimed. “We took out 154 vessels, and I even wondered why we didn’t keep them instead of sinking them. But they prefer to portray toughness, which they can do at the bottom of the sea.”
Trump further stated that the U.S. military has greatly weakened Iran’s military strength, detailing strikes against vital defense systems.
“We’ve taken out their air force and most of their missiles, reducing their capabilities to about 9%. We’ve also targeted their missile launchers, which is crucial because without them, missiles aren’t effective. You can’t just throw them out of the window,” he noted. “We also dismantled all their communications and specifically their anti-aircraft systems, which were quite good at one point but didn’t withstand our second-night assault. Now we have the freedom to operate over Tehran without restrictions.”
Following a breakdown in negotiations about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Trump announced “Operation Epic Fury” via a Truth Social post on February 28th. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff indicated that Iranian officials seem to be continuing uranium enrichment and accumulating materials for potential “dirty” weapons. Reports also suggested that the U.S. retains the materials involved.
On Monday, Trump detailed conditions for concluding Operation Epic Fury, stating the U.S. has initiated dialogues with Iran and put a proposed attack on an Iranian power plant on hold for five days.
Joe Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, criticized U.S. involvement in the conflict, arguing that shifting boundaries regarding Iran’s nuclear program and external pressures, especially from Israel, have driven the situation toward military confrontation. He remarked, “We’ve seen a shift in focus from a nuclear prohibition to just an enrichment ban, which has complicated our ability to reach a viable agreement and nudged us closer to an Israeli-led military intervention.”
