Trump open to lifting Iran sanctions ‘at the right time,’ doesn’t rule out future strikes

US President Donald Trump on Monday (Jul 7) said that he would like to lift the US sanctions imposed on Iran but added that this could only be done “at the right time”. The POTUS also revealed that Washington was scheduled to hold talks with Tehran, claiming, “they want to talk”. Trump made the statement as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a dinner at the White House. When asked about the probability of the US carrying out another strike on Iran, Trump did not dismiss the possibility but said, “We’re not going to have to do that”.

According to Donald Trump, Iran has “requested a meeting” as “they want to talk”. The POTUS said that it’ll be “good” if a deal can be signed as a result of the talks. “If we can put something down on paper, that will be fine. It’ll be good,” he said, adding, “We’ll see what happens.” Meanwhile, Trump’s Middle East envoy has said that the meeting could happen in the “next week or so”.

When asked if there was something that could make him “have the desire” to carry out fresh strikes on Iran, Trump coyly replied, “we’re not going to have to do that. I can’t imagine wanting to do that”. However, it must be noted that he did not dismiss the possibility that the US could strike Iran in the future. “I can’t imagine them wanting to do that. They want to meet…they want to work something out,” he added, as reported by the Anadolu news agency.

When asked about US-imposed sanctions on Tehran, Trump said that Iran was “very different now” than it was two weeks ago – before the US carried out “Operation Midnight Hammer”, striking Iranian nuclear sites. “I hope it’s over. Yeah, I think Iran wants to meet. I think they want to make peace, and I’m all for it,” he added.

Referring to the US lifting Syrian sanctions, he said that the decision was taken at the request of many countries in the Middle East, adding that the US wanted “to give them (Syria) a chance”. He then said, similarly, he would like to remove the tough “biting” sanctions the US has imposed on Iran, but “at the right time”. “I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off (Iran), give them a chance at rebuilding, because I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner and not going around saying, ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to the USA,’ ‘Death to Israel,’ as they were doing,” he said.