The U.S.’s ceasefire with Iran is “unbelievably weak” and on “massive life support” after peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran hit a snag over the weekend, President Donald Trump said on Monday.
Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end the war, decrying their terms — which he did not detail — as “stupid,” “totally unacceptable” and a “piece of garbage.”
“I would call [the ceasefire] the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “I didn’t even finish reading it. … The ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says ‘Sir, your loved one has an approximately 1 percent chance of living.’”
The U.S. will have a “complete victory” over Iran, he added, having already kneecapped Iran’s military forces, battering its navy and missile arsenals, and taking out several key leaders.
“They think I’ll get tired of this, or I’ll get bored,” Trump said. “Frankly, their leaders have been killed at the first level, second level, and half of the third level. Then they come back and want to negotiate, and they give us a stupid proposal. Nobody would take it.”
After Trump’s rejection, Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday defended the country’s demands as “reasonable,” “responsible” and “generous.”
The president’s harsh rejection comes amid a shaky month-long ceasefire, marked by military strikes and small-scale attacks in the Persian Gulf. Gas prices have remained persistently high since the start of the conflict, a major pressure on the Trump administration with the midterms looming.
The U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes in Tehran back in February, killing the country’s supreme leader. But the conflict has become unpopular with the American public and upended global energy markets — all while Trump insists that the goal is wiping out Iran’s nuclear capacities.
“A lot of people said, ‘Well, does he have a plan?’ Yes, the best plan ever,” Trump said on Monday. “It’s a very simple plan. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they won’t.”
However, Trump said that there is still room for a diplomatic solution between the two nations.
“It is very possible. I’ve had a deal with them four or five times,” Trump said. “They change their mind. They are very dishonorable people, the leadership.”