Trump wants deal with Iran but success unlikely

US President Donald Trump appears to be determined to reach a deal with Iran aimed at ending hostilities in the Middle East, three senior Israeli officials said on Tuesday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they viewed it is unlikely that Iran would agree to US demands in any new round of negotiations, which broke down on 28 February with the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Those US demands were likely to include curbs on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Trump wrote on social media on Monday (23 March) that the US and Iran had held “very good and productive” conversations about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East”.

Iran said after Trump’s post that no negotiations had taken place.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Trump believed there was a possibility of “leveraging the mighty achievements obtained by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and the US military, in order to realize the goals of the war in a deal – a deal that will preserve our vital interests.”