War in Iran: Trump evokes “positive momentum” towards an agreement

Donald Trump said Monday he sees "positive momentum" toward a deal to end the war with Iran, after meeting with the prime minister of mediator Qatar. Negotiations to avoid a major resumption of hostilities appear to have recently intensified. But the American president, accustomed to contradictory statements regarding Iran, still leaves the prospect of a return to arms looming.

Mr. Trump received Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahman al-Thani at the White House - his first meeting with a foreign official since his side's defeat in the midterm elections. The US president described “a great conversation” regarding Iran on his Truth Social network. Qatar intervenes as a mediator in the conflict opened by the Israeli-American strikes at the end of February. According to his message, a resumption of strikes against Iran is “unlikely” but the United States remains “ready to intervene”. A point of view that the American leader repeated during a press conference on Monday: “Iran is effectively finished militarily. We are simply content to maintain the status quo.” And added: “But if we have to go back, we are (...) ready to take action.”

On Sunday, the American president had already stated that a resumption of war with Iran was “very unlikely”. “It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” he told CNN. But the Iranians seem to be on a very different wavelength. “Stop fabricating false information about imaginary discussions,” wrote the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezai, on X. “The war in Iran has already shattered the American government,” he added, referring to the electoral debacle of Donald Trump’s Republican camp last week.

“America is heading straight towards the Middle Ages”

The American president and, above all, his vice-president JD Vance recognized that it was this conflict, by causing oil prices to soar, which had largely contributed to the Democratic victory. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, in the hot seat since the election due to his involvement in the American intervention, is due to speak about the conflict this Tuesday.

For the chief Iranian negotiator, Washington is being dragged into Israel's continuation of this war. “Unless Washington abandons its 'Israel first' mentality, America and its allies are heading straight for the Middle Ages,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.

On the ground in Iran, strikes, not made public by the American army, are continuing, according to the Iranian authorities. The island of Qeshm, in the Strait of Hormuz, was targeted overnight from Sunday to Monday, the provincial vice-governor said on state television.