Trump says peace talks with Iran have entered the final stage

Washington — United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday (20 May) said his administration was ‘entering the final stage’ of peace talks with Iran and was prepared to wait a few more days to obtain a ‘clear answer’. ‘We are at the final stage of negotiations with Iran. We will see what happens,’ Trump said. He also admitted he did not know whether the talks would reach a deal or they would take ‘some unpleasant measures’. ‘But hopefully that won’t be necessary,’ Trump added. The US President claimed he was ‘not rushing’ to finalise a peace agreement with Iran, which implied that he would not consider making a ‘limited agreement’ that only focuses on reopening the Hormuz Strait. ‘We will give this deal a chance,’ Trump said about the potential agreement, rejecting the idea of a partial compromise. ‘I am not in a hurry. Just because the midterm elections are looming does not mean I have to rush. I am not in a hurry,’ Trump said. Trump also spoke in a ‘very good’ telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier on Wednesday. Turkey is viewed as one of the key mediators in the US-Iran negotiations. Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Wednesday that if US and Israeli aggression against Iran recurs, the war will spread beyond the West Asia region. On the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned via a post on X that restarting war with Iran would only present more surprises for the US, citing a recent report from the US Congress acknowledging the loss of dozens of US aircraft. On 28 February, the US and Israel launched a joint strike against Tehran and several other Iranian cities, which killed the then-highest leader Ali Khamenei, as well as a number of senior military commanders and civilians. Iran then retaliated by launching a series of missile and drone strikes targeting military bases and assets belonging to Israel and the US in the Middle East. The ceasefire between the warring sides was finally reached on 8 April, followed by one round of peace talks in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on 11-12 April, which failed to produce an agreement. In recent days, US and Israeli officials have heightened threats to renew military strikes against Iran. On Tuesday (19 May), Trump claimed that Iran’s leaders were ‘begging’ for a deal. Trump warned that a US attack could occur again in the coming days if no agreement is reached.