US and Israel reportedly grant temporary immunity to two top Iranian officials for secret negotiations. US President Trump claims talks are progressing and Iran is militarily 'defeated,' while Iran continues to deny any such peace talks.
US, Israel Grant Immunity for Talks
Israeli Media has reported that US and Israel have granted temporary immunity for two key figures in Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. This after Israel's defence minister Israel Katz had publicly said that any leader of the Islamic regime was a legitimate target in the ongoing war.
According to Israel's Channel 14, the immunity granted is valid at least for the entire five days of negotiations underway with Tehran. This revelation comes after US President Trump revealed that negotiations were on with Iran, a claim denied by Iran's government.
Earlier, President Trump claimed that the war was going to end and the negotiations with the Iranians were progressing well. US Media reports say that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in law Jared Kushner are the lead figures from the US side.
Trump Claims Iran 'Defeated', Cites 'Regime Change'
"We're in negotiations right now. I can tell you, they'd like to make a deal and who wouldn't if you were there? Look, their navy's gone, their air force is gone, their communications are gone. pretty much everything they have is gone. I think we are going to end it. I cannot tell you for sure. We have won this... We literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country. They can't do a thing about it. For instance, if I want to take down that power plant, they can't do a thing about it... They are totally defeated... Militarily, they are dead," said Trump on Tuesday night (local time).
Trump claimed that his negotiations were going on with the right kind of people in Iran and that this signified a regime change. "They are going to make a deal... They gave us a present yesterday, and it arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money... It was a very significant price, and they gave it to us, and they said that they were going to give it. That meant one thing to me: that we are dealing with the right people... It was oil and gas related... The leadership was killed. All gone. Khamenei was all gone, as the expression goes, the past Supreme Leader. Then the new Supreme Leader was, at a minimum, racked up pretty good... We are dealing with a group of people who turned out. The present they gave to us was very significant... They are the only ones that could have done it... It was related to the flow, to the Strait (of Hormuz). We have a new group, and we can easily do that, but let's see how they turn out. This is a change in the regime because the leaders are all very different from the ones that we started off with, who created all those problems," he said.
Iran Denies Negotiations Amid Ongoing Strikes
Meanwhile Iran has yet to acknowledge any peace talks with US and Israel and the strikes from both sides continue unabated. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)