A senior Iranian source confirmed there has been “outreach” from President Donald Trump’s administration on negotiating a deal to end the war between the U.S. and Israel, CNN reported on Tuesday.
Anchor Wolf Blitzer shared the news on The Situation Room, shortly after CNN International senior correspondent Frederik Pleitgen reported the story.
“There has been outreach between the United States and Iran, initiated by Washington, in recent days, but nothing that has reached the level of full-on negotiations,” the source said, according to Pleitgen. “Messages have been received through various intermediaries to scope out whether an agreement to end the war can be reached.”
CNN’s report comes a day after Trump said his administration had “VERY GOOD” talks with what’s left of Iran’s theocratic regime on wrapping up the war, which started on February 28 with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Trump told reporters on Monday he did not want to reveal who his administration was speaking to because “I don’t want him to be killed.”
The CNN report stands out, considering Iranian officials previously pushed back on Trump’s claim to multiple outlets and said no deal was being worked on. Ex-CIA boss John Brennan told MS NOW on Monday night he “tend[s] to believe Iran more than” Trump on what is happening with the war.
CNN’s story also comes on the heels of a report from The New York Times that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been “pushing” Trump to keep the war going.
Those reports follow Trump repeatedly saying the war is ahead of the timeline he initially set and that he expects the war to wrap up sooner than later. He gave Iran a 48 hour deadline on Saturday to “FULLY OPEN” the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to start bombing the country’s power plants on by one otherwise. That plan was postponed on Monday, after Trump announced a deal could be coming together.
Watch above via CNN.
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