The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs stated, on Wednesday evening, that there was “no concrete progress” in the negotiations with the United States to end the war in the Middle East, according to an interview given by Abbas Araghchi to a Lebanese television and reported by the Tasnim agency, informs AFP.
“Messages have been exchanged about the need to end the aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process,” Abbas Araghchi said, referring to Israeli attacks against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
And “the return to the negotiation table is conditional on the guarantee of the rights of the Iranian people, the end of the war in Lebanon and the reduction of tensions in the region”, listed the head of Iranian diplomacy, without providing more details.
Trump's optimistic announcement about negotiations with Iran
Earlier on Wednesday, Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran could be concluded as early as “this weekend”, although the US president did not rule out the possibility that they could also fail.
“I'm told that the negotiations are going very well, actually. Very well. (…) If it happens, it may not happen, who knows, but if it happens, it could be this weekend,” said Trump, during a press conference in the Oval Office, also quoted by the French news agency.
These statements contrasted with those of the head of Iranian diplomacy, reported above.
Instead, Trump said he would like to “separate” talks on Lebanon, another point of disagreement with Tehran, from negotiations for a peace deal with Iran.
On the other hand, the US president described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “good guy”, although the two leaders recently had a tense phone conversation.
The White House leader also wanted to play down the importance of the latest clashes in the Persian Gulf region.
“They (the Iranians, no) did something, nothing major, and as usual we put out the fire,” Trump claimed.
“I would say that in this part of the world, a truce means firing the gun in a more moderate way,” said the Republican billionaire.
Kuwait accused Tehran on Wednesday of launching an attack on its airport, the first bloody incident since a fragile Middle East ceasefire came into effect on April 8.
According to the US Gulf Command (CENTCOM), Iran also fired missiles at Bahrain overnight, prompting US military airstrikes on the Iranian island of Qeshm, which hit a communications tower, according to Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Iran's ideological army, said they targeted an air base in Kuwait, without mentioning the airport, and the US Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain in response to the attack on Qeshm Island and the attack on an Iranian oil tanker.
The Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have targeted a ship with ties to Israel and the United States.
