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U.S. President Donald Trump stated the day after the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that the country’s new leadership wants to engage in talks with him. In an interview with The Atlantic, he emphasized that he plans to negotiate.
“They want to talk, and I agreed to talk, so I will be speaking with them. They should have done this earlier. They should have taken very practical and easy steps before. They waited too long,” Trump said from his Florida estate. He declined to comment on when the conversation would take place and noted that some Iranian negotiators have already been removed.
“Some of the people we were dealing with are gone because this was a big… it was a big strike,” he added.
Trump also avoided answering whether he would continue bombing Iran to support a potential popular uprising, saying he will “look at the situation at the time it happens” and cannot give an answer now. He expressed confidence that any uprising would succeed.
At least three U.S. service members have already died during the operation. Trump said the attack on Iran is unlikely to hinder Republican efforts ahead of the midterm elections to convince voters that his administration is focused on securing economic benefits for the country. He also predicted that the operation’s impact on oil markets would likely be less disruptive than some analysts had anticipated.
Previously, Amin Saikal, honorary professor of Middle Eastern studies at the Australian National University, noted that while the U.S. and Israel aim to change the regime in Iran, the Middle East is likely facing a prolonged conflict. The Iranian regime remains relatively strong, and the country’s leaders have been targeted in the past.
