Trump says final Israel-Iran peace talks | Political News

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran and Israel are inching nearer to a ceasefire, although he cautioned that “ignorance or stupidity” is getting in the best way of a deal.

“Both sides, Israel and Iran, are trying to do an speedy CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are continuing, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its means,” he wrote on his social media platform. “The Blockade will stay in place, and in full power and impact, until a ‘Final Deal’ is reached. Things ought to transfer rapidly.”

About an hour earlier, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘taking pictures.’“

Shortly after Trump’s post, the Iranian navy’s joint command said it’s halting its offensive operations after Israel and Iran exchanged fire, The Associated Press studies.

Tehran’s announcement got here after it fired ballistic missiles on northern Israel in help of Hezbollah after the IDF struck the Iran-backed political paramilitary group in Beirut.

Trump’s early Monday morning posts come after he told The Financial Times that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” other than to settle for the deal that Washington strikes with Tehran.

“He won’t have any choice. I call the shots. I call all the shots. [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” Trump declared.

Trump’s remarks come as his relationship with Netanyahu has come under scrutiny following reports that Trump lashed out at Netanyahu during a tense phone call, where he called the Israeli leader “f—ing crazy.”

Shortly after the Axios report came out, Netanyahu went on CNBC to clarify the nature of their relationship, which he described as almost familial.

“Sometimes, as in the best of families, we have these tactical disagreements. We always find a way to work them out,” Netanyahu told CNBC. “We can disagree in the morning, and we have a common action by the afternoon.”

Both have expressed that they have been able to move on from the tense moment and share “common goals” and “agree on the main things.” despite having some “tactical disagreements,” Netanyahu told CNBC.

“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump told The New York Post’s Pod Force One, going on to describe both himself and Netanyahu as “wartime” leaders.

Trump also clarified the nature of their phone call, saying, “I would not say indignant. I used to be a little bit perturbed at his continuously preventing with Lebanon, you understand.”

Netanyahu also told CNBC, “He respects me. I respect him. We always discover a means to work out our variations.”

Trump also told The Financial Times that he does not believe the fire exchanges will spoil efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

“It’s not going to have any impact on the deal… We’ll see how it ends up. But they [the missile strikes on Israel] were attacks that did not kick at all,” Trump said. It’s one of those things that’s been going for 3,000 years, or 47 years, depending on how you count.

He added, “I think the deal is going on. We’ll see what happen. The deal may make it on its own merit, or not, but this will not have any effect on it.”