US President, Donald Trump has said that Iran and Israel, currently engaged in fierce military exchanges, may have to “fight it out” before reaching any peace agreement.
“I think it’s time for a deal,” Trump told reporters on Sunday at the White House, just before departing for the G7 summit in Canada. “But sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” he added.
His remarks came amid heightened hostilities between the two longtime enemies, who are now openly trading missile strikes in a conflict that has intensified rapidly in recent days.
The current wave of violence began Friday when Israel launched a series of strikes that reportedly killed senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, and hit bases, nuclear facilities, and residential areas across Iran.
Trump declined to answer a reporter’s question on whether he had urged Israel to pause its airstrikes.
Separately, a senior US official told AFP that Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On his Truth Social platform, the former president wrote on the peace agreement, saying that Iran and Israel “should make a deal, and will make a deal,” noting that “many calls and meetings now taking place” could lead to peace “soon.”
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