Donald Trump has indicated that Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is participating in discussions aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict, expressing a desire to meet with him.
Khamenei has remained out of the public eye since the onset of the war and has communicated with the nation solely through written statements read by television presenters. U.S. officials have suggested that he may be incapacitated or receiving treatment for serious injuries suffered in the same bombing that claimed the life of his father, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the conflict.
In an interview with the New York Post, Trump affirmed Khamenei’s involvement by stating, “He’s involved. Absolutely. Yeah, I think they have a lot of respect for him.” When questioned regarding Khamenei’s health, Trump replied, “I don’t know, I haven’t had the privilege of meeting him,” adding, “If you believe the stories, he is missing a lot of different parts.”
When asked if he would be willing to meet Khamenei, Trump responded positively, saying, “Yeah, I’d like to meet him. I’d like to meet everybody. We probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.”
On the topic of Iran’s nuclear program, Trump claimed that Tehran has agreed not to pursue a nuclear weapon. He stated, “We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.” When pressed for clarification, he reiterated, “Oh, yeah, they’ve agreed to that. I mean, they can change their mind, but that was one of the things they had to agree. They’ve agreed to that. That was the big thing.”
Iran has not provided an immediate response to Trump’s assertions, though the nuclear issue has been a longstanding point of contention in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently informed a congressional hearing that Iran has shown a willingness to discuss aspects of its nuclear program that it had previously declined to negotiate just a month ago.
In other developments, violence in the Gulf has escalated following a series of exchanges between the U.S. and Iran. Reports indicate that one individual was killed, and several others injured, due to an Iranian drone attack targeting Kuwait’s airport. Although flights were temporarily suspended, operations resumed later after the civil aviation authority assessed the damage.
This attack followed a U.S. missile strike that aimed to disable a tanker trying to breach the American blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces claimed to have thwarted Iranian reprisal attacks and conducted strikes on locations in Iran’s Qeshm Island.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran announced that it had launched missiles and drones at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain in retaliation for the strike on Qeshm, a claim which the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) refuted. Centcom stated that two Iranian missiles aimed at Kuwait either fell short or disintegrated en route, and that three missiles targeting Bahrain were intercepted.
Additionally, U.S. forces reported the downing of three attack drones launched by Iran towards civilian vessels navigating regional waters, although no further specifics were provided.
In Lebanon, Israeli military actions against Hezbollah continued, resulting in airstrikes and artillery fire in southern Lebanon that reportedly killed at least eight people. This escalation followed Trump’s appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from attacking Beirut to prevent further intensification of the conflict.
Lebanon’s government has announced its intention to pursue a ceasefire during new negotiations with Israeli officials in Washington. These discussions commenced on Tuesday, despite ongoing objections from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for artillery fire directed at Israeli troops near Beaufort and targeted Israeli military vehicles south of Nabatieh, although it has not reported cross-border attacks since Monday.
