WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday warned that Washington would either secure a deal with Iran or resort to military action, renewing his threat after the latest round of indirect negotiations ended without a breakthrough.
The US-Iran talks concluded last week with no public indication of progress toward a long-term agreement, despite a 60-day ceasefire that was intended to create room for diplomacy following the US and Israeli strikes that sparked the conflict.
“We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job. OK. And it won’t be tough to finish the job. I’d rather make a deal, because I don’t want to affect 91 million people,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply…. They don’t have any money now. We haven’t given them any money.”
Washington had hoped the 60-day ceasefire would revive negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that differences existed between Israel and the United States but dismissed suggestions of a major split between the allies.
“We see eye-to-eye on just about everything,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News.
“My relationship with the president is fine, and we have a way of ironing out our differences as allies who respect each other,” he added.
Meanwhile, tensions continued to rise in Lebanon despite the ceasefire linked to the US-Iran agreement.
Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle in southern Lebanon on Monday killed four people, including three women.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the victims included a school principal, her mother, a foreign domestic worker and a Syrian labourer. They were travelling back after inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa when the vehicle was struck.
Israel has continued carrying out intermittent attacks in southern Lebanon, particularly around Nabatieh, saying it is targeting Hezbollah positions and operatives despite the truce.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ihab Hamade condemned the attack.
“A heinous crime against civilians,” he said, adding that responsibility lay “first and foremost” with the Lebanese state.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed around 4,300 people and displaced more than one million others. The United Nations estimates that more than 640,000 people have returned to their homes since June 22.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel’s continued military presence in southern Lebanon was preventing the Lebanese army from deploying throughout the region.
According to a statement from his office, Aoun stressed that international pressure was needed to secure Israel’s withdrawal because “the occupation undermines the legitimacy of the (Lebanese) state and prevents the army from deploying, and the laying of foundations for achieving a just and lasting peace”.
A day earlier, Netanyahu said Israeli forces would remain in the area “as long as necessary in order to protect the residents of the north and all the citizens of Israel”
