United States President Donald Trump said he believes that Tehran has "agreed to just about everything" his administration had sought, while appearing to acknowledge that efforts to end the Iran war remain fluid.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC's Business Day, he said, "We're negotiating, and we'll see whether or not. I think they've agreed to just about everything we need. (sic)"
Trump also claimed Iran had been "totally defeated militarily." He said, "They (Iranians) have some missiles left, we could wipe them out too."
The leader added, "I hit them three times last week very hard, because they sent a drone into a ship, I hit them. Then they did something else, and I hit them. I hit them three nights in a row, the week before I hit them two nights in a row, very hard."
The remarks came roughly a day after the US and Iran concluded a round of indirect talks in the Qatari capital of Doha with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.
According to sources cited by news agency Reuters, the negotiators from both sides spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iran's funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement.
The next meeting will take place after funeral processions for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on July 9, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said.
The Doha discussions produced "positive progress" on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June and were "building on the outcomes" of a summit in Switzerland, the ministry spokesperson said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran's nuclear programme — the main reason he says he launched the war along with Israel in February. "The denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well," he told reporters.
"They've had very good meetings, and we'll see." However, Reuters's sources said the nuclear programme did not come up in the talks, which were technical in nature.
US Vice President JD Vance said that matter would be addressed later. "Obviously, we're worried about the nuclear issue, we're going to start talking about that," he told reporters. American and Iranian negotiators held separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, according to Doha.
Source: Reuters