“We believe that the meetings will take place this week. We certainly hope so,” Witkoff said.
He also pointed out that ships are now passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which was previously virtually blocked by Iran. “This is a very, very good sign,” Trump’s special envoy added.
His comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington had not yet received a response from Iran to Trump's 15-point proposal for negotiations to end the war.
“We haven't received anything yet,” Rubio said while speaking to the media before leaving France. The video was published by Forbes on YouTube.
According to him, this could happen at any time – “today or tomorrow.”
The Secretary of State also said that the US operation in the Middle East is on schedule or “even ahead” of it.
According to Rubio, Washington expects it to be completed at an appropriate time – in a few weeks, not months.
Earlier in the day, Axios, citing sources, reported that at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers, Rubio said that the war with Iran would continue for another two to four weeks.
Context
On the morning of February 28 Israel and the United States began to strike Iran. Trump announced his intention protect the American peopleeliminating immediate threats from the Iranian regime. Same day liquidated Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 40 other country officials.
In early March, Trump said that operation in Iran may take four weeks. Politico wrote that military action could last until September.
On March 20, the media reported that the United States was allegedly considering sending ground troops to Iran, but on the same day Trump announced the possibility of curtailing a large-scale military operation in the Middle East.
On March 23, Trump announced “successful and productive” negotiations with Iran. They were denied in Tehran. The next day, the Israeli publication Ynet wrote that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei allegedly agreed to negotiate with the United States.
On March 24, The New York Times wrote that the United States handed Iran a 15-point plan that spelled out the conditions that Tehran must agree to to end the war. In particular, the document refers to Iran's ballistic missile programs and nuclear developments.
Sources at The Wall Street Journal said Iranian officials have made it clear to the US presidential administration that the demands are “quite high.” They also named their terms of negotiations – in particular, to close all US bases in the Persian Gulf, as well as pay compensation for the attack on the country.
