Trump wants a nuclear deal with Iran

DOHA (AP):

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he urgently wants “to make a deal” with Iran to wind down its nuclear programme but Tehran must end its support of proxy groups throughout the Mideast as part of any potential agreement.

Trump, who is in the midst of a three-country visit to the region, also discussed Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme in one-on-one talks with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The American president expressed measured confidence that the US effort with Tehran would “work out one way or another.”

But in comments earlier in the day, at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump made clear he expected Tehran to end its role as the chief financial backer of the militant groups.

Iran “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Trump told the GCC leaders. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Al Thani did not directly address the Iran issue after his session with Trump in Doha. But the emir said US-Qatar cooperation on a broad range of issues was lifting their partnership to “another level of relations.”

The two leaders, and others from their respective delegations, signed a series of agreements, including one between US aircraft company Boeing and Qatar Airways. The White House said the deal was worth $96 billion.

The US and Iran have engaged in four rounds of talks since early last month, and Trump has said he believes brokering a nuclear deal is possible but that the window is closing.

The Republican president’s latest push on Iran to cease support of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen come as that proxy network has faced significant setbacks in the 19 months since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

In Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Trump’s remarks “deceitful” but did not directly address Trump’s demand.

Trump said that he also believed the moment was ripe “for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah terrorists.” Hezbollah is severely weakened after its war last year with Israel in which much of its top leadership was killed, and after losing a key ally with the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a conduit for Iran to send arms.