When asked about Iran’s response to the plan, which was sent to Iran via Pakistan, US President Donald Trump said, "They gave us most of the points," and asked, "Why wouldn't they?”
United States President Donald Trump claimed that Iran is "agreeing" with a US-proposed 15-point plan for ending the ongoing war in the Middle East during a press conference held on Air Force One on Sunday.
When asked about Iran’s response to the plan, which was sent to Iran via Pakistan, Trump said, "They gave us most of the points," and asked, "Why wouldn't they?” He added that Iran is “agreeing” with the US on the plan and that, in addition to the original 15 points, the US will be "asking for a couple of other things."
“We are negotiating with them directly and indirectly. We have emissaries, but we are also dealing directly,” he said of talks with Iran, adding that the US is “extremely well in that negotiation.”
Trump also noted some uncertainty regarding negotiations, stating, “You never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.”
When asked if he foresees a deal being made this upcoming week, Trump affirmed that he is “pretty sure” the US and Iran will make a deal and that a deal “could be soon,” but added that “it's possible [they] won't.”
Trump reaffirms regime-change claims
Reporters also asked Trump whether he believed Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, was alive.
“We think he may be,” Trump responded, adding “but he’s obviously in serious trouble and seriously wounded” after the strike that killed his father, the previous supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He additionally reaffirmed previous claims that regime change in Iran has already taken place.
‘“We've had regime change if you look… because the one regime was decimated, destroyed - they're all dead,” he said, adding that the US is “dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before.”
Trump asserted that the current Iranian leadership “seems to be much more reasonable.”
When asked if Trump was still considering deploying ground troops to Iran, Trump stated that the US is looking at “lots of alternatives.”
He then asserted that the US is “weeks ahead of schedule in Iran,” indicating that a ground operation may not be necessary.
“We knocked out their entire air force, we knocked out most of their missiles… they're sputtering,” he said, adding that the US has also knocked out Iran’s navy. “We're having very good meetings, both directly and indirectly, and I think we're getting a lot of very important points.”
