USA

Trump ‘afraid’ of making bad Iran deal ‘because he’ll look like’ Obama

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton accused President Trump on Monday of being “afraid” of making a bad deal with Iran as the end of the two-week ceasefire approaches because he would “look like former President Obama.”

Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Trump is “really desperate to get out” of the conflict with Iran. The former Trump administration adviser said the president is concerned about the conflict’s impact on energy prices, which have soared because Iran has cut off the Strait of Hormuz for export ships since the conflict began, and its political impact.

“But he’s afraid of not making a deal because things will continue, and he’s afraid of making a bad deal because he’ll look like Barack Obama,” Bolton said. “And that could lead to mood swings?”

This is an apparent reference to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated under former President Obama. The deal required the Islamic Republic to halt its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump pulled the USA out of agreement In the first semester of 2018.

Bolton hopes that if Trump extends the ceasefire, the Iranian government “will really feel like they have the upper hand,” which the former Trump adviser called a “mistake.” He argued that the Trump administration should “punish” Iran militarily for not allowing it to close the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think the dominant mood for Trump is that he wants out and he wants to find a way out,” Bolton said. “I don’t think it will be satisfactory, but he will declare victory and hope he can get away with it. That’s what I fear.”

He had previously said on Sunday that he expected the “two-week pause” to be extended once again, adding that this would give Iran “time to recover, regroup and prepare for the next phase of the war.” We should never have given up on these.

Vice President Vance, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to fly to Islamabad, Pakistan, for a second round of talks with Iranian negotiators before the deadline. However, Iran stated that it “does not have any plans for the next round” of negotiations, citing the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Both sides made new threats to respond if attacked and threatened. Trump told New York Post That the United States had “loaded the ships with the best weapons ever made, even at a level higher than what we use for complete destruction.”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf accused Trump on Monday of violating the ceasefire with the blockade of the strait. He claimed that Trump was “trying to turn this negotiating table… into a table of surrender or to legitimize renewed warmongering.”

“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats and have been preparing to reveal new cards on the battlefield for the last two weeks,” Kalibaf said. wrote on social platform X.

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