Important signal sent by Trump, who said he would be willing to talk with Iran / Disclosure made by an Israeli official
US President Donald Trump told Fox News that he may be willing to talk to Iran, but that it depends on the conditions, Reuters reports.
Asked in an interview about the possibility of negotiations with Iran, Trump told Fox that he had heard that Tehran would very much like to talk.
But the US president said he was not happy with the fact that Iran's new supreme leader is Mojtaba Khamenei: “I don't think he can live in peace.”
Trump also said that the results of the US military operation in Iran were “far beyond expectations”, adding that he was surprised that Iran had attacked the Gulf countries with missiles and drones.
Investors are betting on stopping the war
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not allow oil to leave the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks stopped, prompting Trump to threaten to hit Iran “twenty times harder” if it blocked exports.
Despite defiant rhetoric from both sides, investors bet on Tuesday that Trump would end the war soon before the unprecedented disruptions he has caused to energy supplies trigger a global economic crisis.
After Trump said on Monday night that the war against Iran was a “short-lived” venture, financial markets reacted with a sharp drop in oil prices on Tuesday. Shares in Asia and Europe also rallied on Tuesday after sharp corrections.
Israel strikes as hard as it can until the war is over
This despite the fact that the war showed no signs of slowing down. Residents of Tehran contacted by Reuters described the heavy bombardment of the capital by the US and Israel overnight as the most violent of the war. “It was like hell. They were bombing everywhere, in every part of Tehran,” said a local by phone.
Israel's military said it struck a weapons research and development target in Tehran in a series of overnight attacks on the capital and launched more strikes on Tuesday.
A source familiar with Israel's war plans told Reuters that the Israeli military is trying to inflict as much damage as possible before the chance for further attacks disappears, on the premise that Trump could end the war at any time.
What Trump didn't say is also important
Trump held a news conference on Monday that appeared aimed at reassuring financial markets, saying he would stop the war before it caused an economic crisis similar to those that followed the Middle East oil shocks of the 1970s.
He stated that the US had already caused serious damage and predicted that the conflict would end before the four weeks he had originally set.
Trump did not define what victory would look like, but on Monday stopped short of repeating his remarks that Iran must accept an “unconditional surrender” and let him choose its leader.
