President Donald Trump has said that the United States is negotiating with Iran and indicated the talks involve more than one meeting, while also saying he wants Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Asked at a White House event on Tuesday (local time) whether negotiations with Iran were happening this week, Trump replied, “Yeah.”
Pressed on where the meetings would be held and what the US needed to hear from Iran, he said: “They’re all over, but they are negotiating.” He added: “They’d like to do something, and we’ll see if something is going to be done.” Trump also referenced earlier US action as he described the stakes for Tehran.
“They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn’t work out, and we did Midnight Hammer,” he said. “I don’t think they want that happening again, but they would like to negotiate.” He said the discussions are active. “We are negotiating with them right now,” Trump said.
When asked again for the location, he responded: “I can’t tell you that.” He added: “There really is more than one meeting.” On the war in Ukraine, Trump described a limited pause in attacks during freezing conditions and said strikes resumed after the pause ended.
“It was Sunday. It was Sunday to Sunday, and it opened up, and he hit him hard last night,” Trump said, referring to renewed attacks. He added, “No, he agreed. He kept his word on that.” Trump said Putin wanted a broader end to the conflict.
“I would have liked him -- I want him to end the war,” he said. “I spoke to him. I want him to end the war.” The President’s comments came during a bill-signing ceremony, where he took questions from reporters after remarks on domestic legislation and other issues.
Trump also fielded questions on his meeting earlier Tuesday with Gustavo Petro, describing it as positive and saying the two discussed counter-narcotics efforts and sanctions. “Yeah, we did. We worked on it, and we got along very well,” Trump said. “We are; we’re working on that, and we’re working on some other things too, including sanctions.”