Trump has said he wants to end the war with Iran ‘in the coming weeks’ – media reports
US President Donald Trump has told aides that the operation in Iran is distracting him from other important matters, so he wants to avoid a protracted war and hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.
According to them, in recent days Trump has been discussing with his advisers that the conflict is entering its final stage, and has urged them to focus on the four- to six-week timeframe he has publicly stated.
The White House is planning a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for mid-May. It was due to take place at the end of March, but the US postponed it due to the war in Iran. The presidential administration now expects the war to end before the meeting with the Chinese leader, giving Trump time to prepare for it.
One of Trump’s ideas is for the US to have access to a portion of Iranian oil as part of any agreement to end the war, a senior administration official said. However, he added that no specific plans regarding this are currently being drawn up.
Politico previously reported that some US administration officials are considering the ‘Venezuelan model’ as the basis for a possible agreement, which, in particular, envisages economic cooperation.
As one official explained, Trump does not want to strike the island of Khark, Iran’s main oil hub, hoping that the next leader will agree to an oil deal similar to the one concluded with the US by Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez, who took charge of the country following the seizure of power by Nicolás Maduro.
It emerged this week that Pakistani intermediaries had conveyed Trump’s 15-point ‘peace plan’ to Iran. It provides, in particular, for the dismantling of Iranian nuclear facilities, a halt to uranium enrichment, restrictions on the missile programme, guarantees of free and safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to Iran’s support for militants in other Middle Eastern countries.
Tehran has set out its counter-demands: the complete lifting of sanctions, payment of war reparations, the introduction of a fee for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, no restrictions on the missile programme, guarantees that war will not resume, the closure of US military bases in the region, and an end to Israeli strikes against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
