U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tehran has taken too long to negotiate a deal and would now “have to pay the price” after Iran and the United States exchanged strikes in the region amid reported efforts to continue talks.
“Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”
Trump, in a later interview with Fox News, said he was getting close to ordering new strikes targeting Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran is unwilling to sign an agreement.
The comments come as an official with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Qatari negotiators traveled to Tehran on Wednesday morning in an effort to finalize an agreement, after consultations with the United States.
In recent weeks, the Republican president has veered between public warnings and optimism that a deal was imminent. His latest remarks revived threats to attack Iranian infrastructure that international law experts said raised human rights concerns when they were first issued in March.
Asked about Iran’s latest strikes Wednesday against U.S. military bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for American strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told Fox that Iran had a chance to sign a deal and survive and that he may keep going with more strikes given the slow pace of negotiations, according to the network.
The talks have been focused on generating a framework to halt the war, ease tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and enable further negotiations over issues including Tehran’s nuclear material.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post or the reported negotiators’ consultations and travel.
Source: Reuters
--Agencies
