US President Donald Trump has said negotiations with Iran to end the war are “going very well”, while insisting that he does not trust the country’s leaders.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Saturday evening, 31 October, Trump said: “As you know, they are not trustworthy at all.”
He added that Iran had previously agreed to terms before backing away from them, but said Tehran wanted a deal.
Trump also claimed that the US had destroyed much of Iran’s military capabilities, including its navy, air force, air defences and a large part of its weapons production capacity.
The US president said Washington still had “one or two targets” to deal with in Iran, adding that the operation could be completed within 10 minutes.
He specifically referred to a mountainous area known as “Pickaxe Mountain”, which Western intelligence sources suspect could be used to store Iranian nuclear material.
Asked about the possibility of renewed military action against Iran next week, Trump declined to give a direct answer, saying he would not tell reporters in advance if he had made such a decision.
His remarks come as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue. Reuters reported that Iranian representatives met Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump had not yet decided whether to resume military strikes against Iran and that Washington continued to favour a diplomatic solution.
