US President Donald Trump today defended the agreement between the US and Iran in a statement to journalists at the end of the G-7 summit in France, saying that he would not want to witness an economic catastrophe, such as would be caused by a continuation of the war in the Middle East, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"What I would not want to see is an economic catastrophe. "If we had continued, this could have happened," Trump said at a press conference in the French resort of Evian-les-Bains.
He added that he would not want to be like former US leader Herbert Hoover, who was US president in 1929, when the stock market crashed and billions of dollars were lost, leading to the Great Depression.
The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and has grown into a wider regional conflict, has led to a sharp rise in energy prices and inflationary pressures, which has also raised fears of a major food supply crisis for developing countries.
Economists describe the peace agreement as good news for the global economy, but warn of significant risks if it collapses and the conflict is renewed. They also warn that it will take months, if not longer, for trade flows to return to normal, and energy experts say it could take a year for energy supplies to stabilize.
Trump also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "actually a good guy, but sometimes he gets a little hot-headed," thanking him for his efforts on Iran. The US president said Netanyahu could take a "softer approach" in Lebanon.
The US president said the agreement with Iran will be signed very soon and that Tehran wants to sign it.
"The agreement that we negotiated with Iran on Sunday will be signed very soon, maybe the day after tomorrow", Trump told reporters.
Earlier today, the US president said that the agreement was not final and that he could resume the war if he was not satisfied.
"If they don't comply with the agreement, we will probably bomb them until they start complying," the US leader added.
He also said that the US has frozen significant Iranian assets and at "a certain point" will have to return them or risk other countries not investing in the US dollar.
Trump also thanked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin for what he said were their neutrality during the war against Iran.
"I just want to thank them because they made it very easy for us", Trump said, adding that both leaders remained "neutral".
He said at the press conference that in parallel with efforts to conclude a deal with Iran, he had discussed Tehran's missile program and its terrorist proxies with the Persian Gulf states.
Trump indicated that Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was ready to fight "Hezbollah" and "specifically" inside Lebanon.
The American leader also said he expected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to visit Washington in the next week or two.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that "nobody" had deliberately targeted a girls' school in Iran that the US had struck in February, citing the progress of the investigation into the case, Reuters reported.
The strike on February 28, the first day of the conflict, killed more than 175 schoolgirls and teachers, according to Iranian authorities.
Trump initially claimed, without providing evidence, that Iran was responsible for the tragedy. He has since repeated that he does not know enough about the strike and that an investigation is underway into the case, the results of which he will take into account.
"These are the findings of the investigation", the US president said at a press conference after the G-7 summit in the French resort of Evian-les-Bains, adding that mistakes are made in war.
"Nobody did it intentionally", Trump stressed.
Reuters was the first to report that an initial investigation by the US military found that it was responsible for the strike on the girls' school in the Iranian city of Minab. The Pentagon has since expanded the investigation, but has not yet come up with any preliminary findings.
Last month, the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the investigation into the case was "complex" considering that it is related to an active Iranian cruise missile launch site, but that it is close to reaching a conclusion.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said today that the agreement with the United States could be signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian, the Associated Press reported.
The agency notes that such a signing ceremony for the agreement would represent a significant strengthening of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which were severed in 1980 after the hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran.
Pezeshkian was elected president after promising to strive for better relations with Western countries. However, for months after the bloody crackdown on protests in January and during the war, he was isolated from making major decisions as hardline politicians in Iran took the de facto reins of power in the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, senior US officials today briefed reporters on the text of the memorandum of understanding with Iran ahead of a formal signing ceremony on Friday.
The agreement sets a new "minimum standard" for the dilution of highly enriched uranium. It also contains provisions to guarantee Lebanon's territorial integrity following recent Israeli attacks on the pro-Iranian Shiite group "Hezbollah" on Lebanese territory.
With the signing of the agreement, the United States will also lift, but not completely remove, a number of sanctions against Iran.
The draft agreement prepared by the United States also provides for toll-free passage through the Strait of Hormuz for a period of 60 days and does not rule out imposing them in the future, US officials said.
Iran will also receive nearly $300 billion to compensate for the damage caused during the war, according to the text of the interim agreement, which according to US officials coincides with the content of the official document.
The leader of "Hezbollah" Naim Qassem described today's announcement of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran as a "great victory" for Tehran and interpreted it as a "decisive moment" for Lebanon, reported Agence France-Presse.
In a video message, Qassem congratulated "on the great victory of the Iranian people, the resistance and the peoples yearning for independence and freedom". He also thanked Iran for including Lebanon in the agreement with the United States.
Qassem called for "to benefit" from the agreement, which according to Iranian and American officials also provides for a ceasefire on the Lebanese front, so that Israel can "be expelled" from Lebanese territory.
Since April, Lebanon has been conducting parallel direct negotiations with Israel, mediated by the United States, in which "Hezbollah" refuses to participate and which Beirut intends to continue separately from the conclusion of the agreement between Tehran and Washington. A fifth round of talks is expected to take place next week in Washington between Israel and Lebanon, which do not have formal diplomatic relations.
The Hezbollah leader again rejected any possibility of the group's participation in the talks with Israel, adding that only "mutual security" should be discussed, without including any "disarmament project" for the Lebanese Shiite group, which he said would not be accepted.
Such a project is "a plan by which Israel intends to take over everything and destroy Lebanon," Qassem warned.
The Hezbollah leader said that "Lebanon's main demand" should be the restoration of its sovereignty.