LAS VEGAS/WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said talks with Tehran seemed “to be working out quite well,” reiterating his positive portrayal of the negotiations on the Iran war without elaborating on the specifics of the discussions.
DETAILS:
• “I hear they are doing very well,” Trump said in an interview on the “FOX5 1-ON-1” show with FOX5 Las Vegas journalist Tom Durian. The interview was published on Wednesday evening.
• Even as the Iran war has entered its sixth month and the two sides have so far failed to reach a permanent end to the conflict, Trump has repeatedly attempted to portray the talks positively.
• Trump has said a deal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for energy supplies that Iran blocked after the war began, is imminent.
• “I am not looking to kill people and totally obliterate everything, and that’s where we were headed. And they wanted to negotiate and we’re doing that, and it seems to be working out quite well,” Trump said in the interview.
• Human rights experts have condemned Trump’s threats to target civilian infrastructure.
• Iran has warned that if the U.S. carried out the threats, Tehran would target regional critical infrastructure.
• The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.
• Such attacks could amount to war crimes, international law experts in the U.S. said in April, after Trump’s previous threats.
• The war began on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states with U.S. bases.
• U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have since killed thousands and displaced millions.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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