Ione Wells
North America correspondent
Donald Trump said on Monday that there was “positive momentum” towards a deal to end the war in Iran after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House.
He added that a resumption of strikes on Iran was “quite unlikely.”
This is not the first time that Donald Trump has said Iran is “militarily” over and that he thinks the war is going to end soon. But, the circumstances for him are different now.
Republicans are acutely aware that the Iran war – and the economic impact on the price of food and fuel here in the United States – was a major reason why they did badly in the midterm elections last week, and lost control of both chambers of Congress.
Last night, Trump said taking military action at this point doesn’t seem “very necessary” but that the US was “loaded” and ready if that changes.
It comes as the Republican Thomas Massie has pushed for a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach the Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in part over going to war with Iran without approval from Congress and authorising strikes that killed civilians, including 120 school children.
Hegseth says he’s “not worried” about the impeachment threat and plans to address it in a press conference later today.
