Trump says Iran wants to de-escalate conflict with Israel ‘before it’s too late’

Netanyahu denied that Iran was sincerely interested in peace and said that if it wants to renew talks, it’s only to buy time to produce a nuclear bomb.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the G7 conference on Monday that Iran wants to return to diplomacy and should do so “before it’s too late.”

“I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately before it’s too late,” he said.

According to Amichai Stein of The Jerusalem Post, Iran has approached Oman and Qatar, requesting that they serve as mediators to facilitate talks with Washington and restart nuclear negotiations.

Gulf leaders reportedly spoke to each other and to Washington about how to prevent the conflict between Israel and Iran from widening and encompassing the entire region.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia proposed a ceasefire deal that would include negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear program.

A European diplomatic source told Reuters that leaders from France, Britain and Germany are scheduling a call with Iran’s foreign minister.

Trump refused to sign a G7 statement calling for deescalation.

In an interview with ABC, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Iran was sincerely interested in peace and said that if they want to renew talks, it’s only to buy time so they can produce a nuclear bomb.

“I’m not surprised. I mean, they want to continue to have these fake talks in which they lie, they cheat, they string the US along. And, you know, we have very solid Intel on that,” he said.

“They want to keep on building their nuclear weapons and building their mass ballistic missile arsenal, which they’re firing at our people. They want to continue to create the two existential threats against Israel while they’re talking. That’s not going to happen,” Netanyahu said.