Trump Warns of Military Action Against Iran if Ceasefire Expires, Eyes Islamabad Talks

WASHINGTON, April 20. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has stated that he is ready to resume military action against Iran if the ceasefire between the parties lapses with no new deal reached. "Then lots of bombs start going off," he told PBS News, responding to a question asking what would happen if the two-week truce agreement expires without new deals. In this regard, the US leader noted that Washington and Tehran have agreed to continue negotiations in Islamabad. However, he admitted that he cannot say for sure whether Iran will send a delegation to the Pakistani capital. "I don't know. I mean, they're supposed to be there. We agreed to be there, although they say we didn't. But no, it was set up. And we'll see whether or not it's there. If they're not there, that's fine too," Trump asserted. When asked what he expects from the negotiators in Islamabad, the president replied: "Very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon." At the same time, he denied that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is part of the US delegation to the negotiations with Iran, has a conflict of interest because he conducts private business in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East. "We're not negotiating anything other than the fact that they [Iranians] will not have a nuclear weapon. <...> He [Kushner] doesn't participate [in talks] with Saudis. <...> He has a business [in the Middle East] but he doesn't participate now," the president stated. He did not clarify whether, literally speaking, when he says the negotiations with Iran are not about "anything other than" preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the set of US demands on Iran at the negotiations was much broader and also concerned, for example, Tehran's missile program and its support for various paramilitary formations outside the Islamic Republic. Regarding the forecasts of US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who admitted that gasoline prices in the country might drop to $3 per gallon (3.78 L) only next year, Trump said, "I disagree with him totally." "I think it'll come roaring down if it [the US-Israeli war with Iran] ends," the president explained. Republican alarm According to Politico, strategists from the Republican Party essentially expect its defeat in the upcoming November midterm elections if fuel prices in the country do not drop. As the publication emphasizes, "strategists in and around the White House are under no illusions about how this is likely to play out." "The rhetoric around this stuff matters way less than the reality. <...> If we don't see the $3 gallon of gas, we're gonna get killed," a source close to the White House told Politico. Currently, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the US is $4.042, according to the American Automobile Association. Wright admitted last week that gasoline prices in the country might drop to $3 per gallon only next year.