Trump says ‘getting close’ to deal to avoid Iran military action

AFP | Doha

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US President Donald Trump said yesterday a deal was close on Iran’s nuclear programme that would avert military action, sending oil prices tumbling, as he boasted of raising “trillions of dollars” on a Gulf tour.

He made the remarks in Doha before flying on to the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi on the third and final leg of a Gulf tour that began in Saudi Arabia.

“We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” Trump said.

“I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said, referring to military action.

Oil prices plunged more than three percent on rising hopes for a nuclear deal that could see Iranian exports return to the market.

Iran has held four rounds of talks with the Trump administration, which has sought to avert threatened military action by Israel while keeping up its “maximum pressure” campaign.

“You probably read today the story about Iran. It’s sort of agreed to the terms,” Trump said.

The US president did not specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC News that Tehran would give up its stocks of highly enriched uranium as part of a deal in which Washington lifts sanctions.

Trump said Iran should “say a big thank you” to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who had pressed the US leader to avoid military action against his country’s giant neighbour.

Speaking to troops at Al-Udeid, the biggest US military base in the region, Trump said his priority was “to end conflicts, not start them”.

But he warned that “I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners” -- while flanked on stage by a fighter jet and an MQ-9 drone.

He also said Qatar would invest $10 billion in the coming years to support Al-Udeid, which hosts the regional headquarters of the US military’s Central Command.

In Abu Dhabi, he was wecomed at the airport by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, whose oil-rich country seeks to become a technology and artificial intelligence hub.

But these ambitions hinge on access to advanced US technologies, including AI chips under restricted export -- which the UAE president’s brother and spy chief Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed reportedly lobbied for during a Washington visit in March.