US President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran will begin Monday after he decided to hold off on new “disastrous” strikes against the Islamic republic to pursue a deal.
“Obviously, they don’t want to be attacked. They knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming,” Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One.
“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said, without providing further details of the venue of the talks or the participants.
On Saturday, the US president pulled back from threats for a massive attack against Iran which he said would have been the biggest since World War II, saying the “perimeter” of a deal was there.
In his comments Sunday, where he explained his decision-making, Trump said that he had been asked by Iran as well as US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to hold off on the strikes.
“When the allies asked to call it off, you’ve got to sort say ‘Well, let’s see.’ And the reason they ask is they think there’s a deal,” Trump said.
“There’s a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran.”
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center on Sunday reported that a tanker off the coast of Oman had heard an explosion near the vessel, adding that the vessel and crew were all safe.
Oil prices tumbled on Monday in early Asia trade after US President Trump announced fresh talks with Iran to end the Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
At around 2250 GMT on Sunday, the price of a barrel of Brent North Sea, the benchmark international oil contract, for September delivery was down 4.69 per cent at $83.81. Its American equivalent, West Texas Intermediate, fell 4.67 per cent to $80.72.
Similarly, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state television that a deal was close with Oman, which sits on the other side of the strait, over a new route through it. (AFP/EIR)
