Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and a high-ranking adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, on Monday mocked US President Donald Trump after Trump announced he had put off a planned strike on Iran in order to allow for further negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
“He sets a deadline for a military strike and then cancels it himself! All with the delusional hope of making the Iranian nation and officials surrender!” Rezaei wrote in a post on social media.
He further threatened, “The iron fist of the powerful Armed Forces and the great nation of Iran will force them to retreat and surrender.”
The Iranian official’s comments came hours after Trump revealed in a post on Truth Social that the US was planning on striking Iran on Tuesday, but postponed the attack because of what he referred to as “serious negotiations” were being held.
Speaking to reporters later on Tuesday, Trump said, “We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow. I’ve put it off for a little while, hopefully, maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to.”
Trump added, “I was asked by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and some others if we could put it off for two or three days, a short period of time, because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal. And if we can do that, where there’s no nuclear weapon going into the hands of Iran, I think, and if they’re satisfied, we will be probably satisfied also.”
He stressed that the US informed Israel of the decision to hold off on the attack as well as “other people in the Middle East that have been involved with us.”
“It’s a very positive development, but we’ll see whether or not it amounts to anything. We’ve had periods of time where we thought [we were] pretty much getting close to making a deal, and it didn’t work out, but this is a little bit different,” said Trump, who added that the strike he halted would have been “very big and not something I wanted to do, but we have no choice because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
He also said that “there seems to be a very good chance they could work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy.”
Trump stated in an interview with the New York Post on Monday that Iran knows “what’s going to be happening soon” as the fragile ceasefire between the US and the Islamic Republic continues to fray.
Trump further stated that he is “not open” to further concessions to Iran.
The statements come after Iran submitted a new proposal for a deal via Pakistani mediators, which contained only limited changes from previous versions.
The proposal reportedly includes broader language regarding Iran’s commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons, but does not include detailed commitments concerning uranium enrichment or Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Pakistani sources said the updated Iranian proposal included a commitment not to produce nuclear weapons, but did not address the issue of enriched uranium or developments surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
Source link
