President Donald Trump has indicated that the United States could stop its military operations against Iran within two to three weeks, stressing that a deal with Tehran is not necessary to end the war that has disrupted energy markets and unsettled the global economy.
His remarks came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that no negotiations were underway with Washington, despite direct and indirect exchanges of messages nearly five weeks after the US and Israel began attacks on Iran.
Trump, who had previously claimed that Iran was seeking negotiations and “begging” for a deal, appeared to shift his stance on Tuesday regarding the diplomatic efforts.
“Iran doesn’t have to make a deal, no,” he said when reporters at the White House asked if successful diplomacy was a prerequisite for winding down the conflict. He added that the US would be “leaving very soon … maybe two weeks, maybe three.”
“When we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages and they won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we’ll leave,” he said.
Iran has consistently insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it has never sought to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trita Parsi, an Iran policy expert at the Quincy Institute, cautioned Al Jazeera against taking Trump’s comments at face value. He pointed out that it would not be “as easy for Trump to just walk out” of a conflict that has spread across the region and killed thousands, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel has conducted a ground invasion alongside aerial bombardments, resulting in many civilian casualties.
“Remember, at first they said that this war would be over in four days. Then, three weeks ago, they said it would take three weeks. Three weeks have passed, and now we hear that it’s two to three weeks,” Parsi said.
“The timeline just keeps on being extended because, at the end of the day, the United States is no longer in control of this war,” which has now become a “debacle,” he added.
“It would be much better for Trump to just end it as quickly as possible through real negotiations. Not these types of coercive measures that have been tried so far. Otherwise, three weeks from now, we’re likely going to hear that it’s going to take another three weeks.”