According to Trump, Iranian leaders are afraid of being killed if they express that they want to negotiate.
Iranian officials would like to make an agreement for peace, but dare not express it for fear of being killed.
This was said by US President Donald Trump, according to the AFP news agency, on Wednesday during an annual dinner for Republican members of Congress.
– By the way, they are involved in the negotiations, and they would like to make an agreement. But they dare not say it because they think their own people will kill them.
– They are also afraid that we will kill them, Trump said.
The president also repeated his claim that Iran is being heavily decimated in the conflict that began on February 28, writes AFP.
During the dinner, Trump also lashed out at his political opponents in the United States, saying that the Democrats are trying to “divert attention from all the tremendous success that we are having from this military operation”.
He scoffed at Democrats’ demands that he obtain congressional approval for the conflict.
– They don’t like the word “war” because you are required to get approval (in order to wage war, ed.), so I will use the word “military operation” instead, Trump said according to AFP.
Trump’s statement comes after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Wednesday that “we have no intention of negotiating”.
– Right now our policy is to continue the resistance, he said according to AFP on Iranian state television.
– Talking about negotiations now is the same as accepting defeat, it read.
Araqchi said this after there were reports that the US had sent a 15-point peace plan to Iran via Pakistan.
On the night of Thursday Danish time, however, it is heard from Araqchi that Iran is looking through an American proposal for an end to the war. This is written by Reuters.
But the fact that Iran communicates with the United States through mediators “does not mean that we are negotiating with the United States,” Araqchi said on Iranian state television.
– In their announcements, they have put forward ideas which have been handed over to the highest authorities, and if necessary, a position will be announced from their side, he says.
/ritzau/
