(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump says the war in Iran may be ending soon as Tehran is begging to make a deal. He added that Iranian and American officials recently had direct contact. An Iranian official said talks between the United States and Iran will not resume until Washington complies with the June Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Trump was asked by reporters on Wednesday what phase the war against Iran was in. He said, “Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal; we’ll see how that works out. Iran is very much wanting to make a deal.”
In a follow-up, Trump was asked whether he had recently been in direct contact with Iran. He replied, “Directly.”
However, Iran has not confirmed that direct talks have taken place. Earlier this week, a senior Iranian official said there would be no talks with the US until conditions are met. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused Trump of sending “mixed signals” and said, “no talks until Iran’s conditions are met.”
Tehran is demanding that Washington meet its commitments under the MOU. Under the deal, Trump agreed the US would enforce a ceasefire in Lebanon, lift sanctions on Iran, remove the blockade of Iranian ports, stop threatening Iran, and halt attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Since the deal was signed, the US has violated all those terms, and Trump declared the MOU defunct in July.
Throughout the conflict, Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iran is begging the US to agree to end the war. However, Tehran has not moved from its original demands for ending the conflict.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
