Trump says war will be ‘over quickly’ as Iran reviews US peace proposal

United States President Donald Trump has expressed hope for a deal with Iran, saying talks have been “very good” and that the war will “be over quickly”, as Tehran reviews a peace proposal from Washington.

Trump signalled progress in negotiations on Wednesday even as Iran played down reports that an agreement was close, saying it has yet to present its response to Pakistani mediators.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said Iran wants to “make a deal badly” and that “if we get there, they can’t have nuclear weapons”.

“We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours and it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal,” he said.

Trump later told PBS he was optimistic about reaching an agreement before his scheduled trip to China next week. But he also threatened to resume bombardment if talks collapse.

“I think it’s got a very good chance of ending, and if it doesn’t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them,” he said.

Trump added later in a separate call with party supporters late on Wednesday: “It’ll be over quickly.”

Fourteen-point MOU

Trump has repeatedly played up the prospect of an agreement that would end the US-Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28, so far without success. The two sides remain at odds over a variety of issues, ranging from Iran’s nuclear programme to its control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth ‌of the world’s oil and gas supply passed before the war.

The Reuters news agency, citing a Pakistani source and another person briefed on the mediation, reported that the two sides were close to agreeing on a one-page memorandum to formally end the conflict.

The US media outlet, Axios, also said the two sides were “getting close” to an agreement on a 14-point document. Under the memorandum, Iran would agree not to develop a nuclear weapon and would halt enrichment of uranium for at least 12 years, it said.

The US would lift sanctions and release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, while both sides would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days of signing.

It was not clear how the memorandum differs from a 14-point plan proposed by Iran last week.

Iranian officials pushed back on the reports.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran has yet to provide its response to the US proposal and “the investigation into the exchanged texts is ongoing”.

Lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, meanwhile described the text as “more of an American wish list than a reality”.

“The Americans will not gain anything in a war they are losing that ⁠they have not gained in face-to-face negotiations,” he wrote on social media.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, citing an unnamed source, meanwhile said the US proposal contained some unacceptable provisions, without specifying which ones.

‘Operation Trust Me Bro Failed’

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf appeared to mock the Axios report that indicated the two sides were close, writing on social media in English that “Operation Trust Me Bro failed”.

Ghalibaf said such reports amounted to US spin following the failure of an operation it launched on Monday to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.

“Now back to routine with Operation Fauxios,” he wrote.

Trump had paused “Project Freedom” to escort stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, a day after it began, citing a request from Pakistan and “great progress” in talks with Iran.

The operation had ratcheted up tensions in the Gulf, with US military saying it intercepted Iranian missiles and sunk several Iranian small boats that interfered in the effort. The United Arab Emirates also reported attacks from Iran while several ships in the waterway said they were hit by unknown projectiles.

Al Jazeera’s Almigdad al-Ruhaid, reporting from Tehran, said Iran has drawn clear “red lines” in the negotiations.

“They are saying that the nuclear enrichment programme is non-negotiable. They are also resisting transferring their existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium out of the country.”

Iran has refused to surrender its roughly 400kg of highly enriched uranium, insisting it is not intended for weapons development.

Al Jazeera’s al-Ruhaid said Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz remains another red line, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing a new protocol for ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

It said vessels will have to make payments in Iranian currency to pass through the waterway and that countries involved in the war will have to pay reparations for any damage before they are granted a transit permit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said he would speak with Trump later on Wednesday, adding that both leaders had agreed all enriched uranium must be removed from Iran.

‘Clear-eyed’

Earlier, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told Al Jazeera that Trump remained “clear-eyed” about the temporary short-term disruptions caused by Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but that Washington can’t “normalise a country being able to determine who is allowed to use an international waterway”.

“I am certainly not going to preview or predict the actions of what the president may decide in the future, but the president has been clear from the very beginning that he prefers a diplomatic solution… But make no mistake that President Trump means what he says when he says the Iranian regime can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon,” he said.

In the Strait of Hormuz, US military forces operating in the Gulf of Oman said they had disabled an Iranian-flagged oil tanker after it allegedly failed to comply with warnings, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced.

CENTCOM said in a statement that the vessel – identified as the M/T Hasna – was observed transiting international waters en route to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman at approximately 14:00 GMT on Wednesday.

US forces issued “multiple warnings” to the tanker, informing its crew that the vessel was in violation of the blockade, the command said. The US blockade against ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports remains “in full effect”, it reiterated.