Washington, April 21. US President Donald Trump has warned that if no agreement is reached in the ongoing talks before the two-week ceasefire deadline (April 22), then Washington may launch fresh military attacks on Iran.
Two weeks ceasefire will end on Tuesday
In fact, despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, Trump has toughened his stance. In a telephonic interview on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’, Trump said that the US military is fully prepared for the attack. He also warned that if no agreement was reached to extend the ceasefire by Wednesday evening, the bombings could resume.
Didn’t show much interest in further extending the ceasefire
Trump also did not show much interest in extending the ceasefire further and said, ‘They (Iran) will have to talk.’ Trump also adopted an optimistic stance regarding diplomacy and said, ‘America is negotiating from a strong position. We will come out with a great agreement. I think they have no other option but to talk. We are in a very, very strong negotiating position.
Meanwhile, a US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance is expected to visit Islamabad for another round of talks as the previous meeting did not yield any results.
Iran has not yet accepted some of Trump’s firm demands.
Trump has made some concrete demands, including that Iran give up its stockpile of enriched uranium and end efforts to control the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
However, despite US and Israeli attacks for weeks before the ceasefire, Iran has so far refused to accept the terms. The White House has indicated that the ceasefire is set to end late Wednesday night and it is not yet clear whether it will be extended or not.
Trump also reiterated his criticism of Iran’s leadership and said, ‘We are not talking to a very nice group of people.’ He also argued that political criticism from within the United States weakens the American position in the negotiations. Referring to Democratic leaders including Hakeem Jeffries, he said such criticism hurts negotiations.
When asked about past threats to target Iran’s infrastructure, such as bridges and power plants, Trump said, indicating that options were open, “It’s not my first choice, but it would hurt them too.”
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