The diplomatic clock is ticking, and Donald Trump sounds confident it will stop in time.
Donald Trump © Mena Today
The diplomatic clock is ticking, and Donald Trump sounds confident it will stop in time.
The US President declared Wednesday that the conflict with Iran was "very close to over", urging the world to brace for what he described as "an amazing two days ahead". Speaking in separate interviews with ABC News and Fox Business Network, Trump struck a decidedly optimistic tone, suggesting he did not expect it would be necessary to extend a two-week ceasefire set to expire next week.
"I think they want to make a deal very badly", Trump said, adding: "I think it's close to over, yeah."
Behind the scenes, intense diplomatic activity is underway. Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir - who mediated the last round of talks - arrived in Tehran in a bid to narrow the gap between the two sides.
The previous round of talks held in Pakistan ended Sunday without a breakthrough, making the current diplomatic push all the more critical.
Trump's buoyant optimism stands in contrast to the complexity of the issues at stake.
Years of deep mistrust, unresolved nuclear questions and competing regional interests do not dissolve overnight. But with a ceasefire expiring and both sides apparently weighing their options, the next 48 hours could prove decisive.
The world, as Trump put it, is watching.
Hezbollah on Wednesday rejected accusations that it had dispatched experts to Yemen to fight alongside the Houthis in their war against the internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia.
The US Democrats' "blue wave" of midterm election victories is already causing ripples across the rest of the world, where trade partners, strategic allies and enemies all see implications in the result.
Iran and the United States are still far from a deal to end their war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump declined to rule out a resumption of US combat operations after the elections in the United States.
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