US President Donald Trump claimed that the Iranian side contacted him to broker a truce in the Middle East, as Tehran wanted to make a deal. This came shortly after Iran stated that they had never contacted the US to end hostilities, following Trump’s declaration that he had been in contact with Iran for the past two days and that the discussions were productive, aimed at finding a permanent solution to end hostilities.
Amid Tehran’s rebuttal, Trump said he was not the one who made the call, adding that Iran had reached out to them for a deal and had also agreed not to proceed with its plan to develop nuclear weapons.
“I did not call; they (Iran) called; they wanted to make a deal. We are very willing to make a deal. It is going to be a good deal. There are going to be no more wars, nuclear weapons; they have agreed that they are not going to have nuclear weapons anymore," Trump said while responding to a question.
Trump said Iran contacted the US fearing attacks on Tehran’s energy infrastructure.
“We were expected to blow up their largest electric generating plants that cost over $10 billion to build. One shot—it’s gone. It collapses. Why would they want that? So they called. I didn’t call—they called. They want to make a deal,” the US President said.
Trump confident of regime change
The US President reiterated that several leaders of the Iranian regime have been killed in the operation and eventually there will be a regime change. Citing Venezuela’s example, Trump said they will also find someone in Iran to make a deal with them on oil.
“Everybody’s been killed from the regime. There’s automatically a regime change, but we’re dealing with some people that I find to be very reasonable, very solid. The people within know who they are. They’re very respected, and maybe one of them will be exactly what we’re looking for. Look at Venezuela—how well that’s working out. We are doing so well in Venezuela with oil and with the relationship between the president-elect and us. Maybe we find somebody like that in Iran,” he said.
Trump also said the price of oil will significantly drop once the deal between Iran and the US is materialised.
Trump on control of Strait of Hormuz
On control of Strait of Hormuz after truce in the Middle East, Trump said the key strategic route will be jointly controlled by him and the next Ayatollah of Iran.
