The 60-day deadline for the US and Iran to negotiate a peace settlement expires on Monday, but Donald Trump does not want to extend it.
No, he replied briefly to a direct question about whether he intends to work for an extension, Bloomberg reports.
According to the Reuters news agency, he said he does not believe Iran is willing to enter into "the kind of agreement that I believe is necessary."
“No time pressure”
Earlier on Monday, the US president had launched new verbal attacks. In an interview with Fox News, Trump not only threatened to bomb Oman, he also urged Iran to “raise the white flag and surrender” - otherwise the US would continue its military and economic pressure on the country.
"I have no time pressure. I'm not in a hurry," he said, claiming that the midterm elections in November will not affect his actions on the Iran issue.
Regarding Oman, he later said at a press conference at the White House:
They weren't acting very well, but we could very easily take care of them, just like we do with other things.
The highest priority remains ensuring that "Iran cannot in any way acquire nuclear weapons," he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday afternoon.
Iran: Agreement close
The message from Iran is that the country "has long anticipated various scenarios in which the US continues its hostile actions."
Therefore, necessary measures are already in place and Iran will not hesitate to deploy all available resources to confront an escalating situation, said Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, according to the state news agency Irna.
Baqaei also says that an agreement with Oman to allow ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz is very close. He claims that the parties are working on the final details, as he has said in various statements since the beginning of August.
Before the Iran war, 20 percent of global oil and gas trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the US and Israel launched the war against Iran.
