🗽Trump Moves High-Stakes Meeting Back to White House

President Donald Trump will hold a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday after nixing plans to gather top administration officials at Camp David.

The high-level meeting comes as the United States is “close” to finalizing a phase one deal to end the war in Iran.

Trump said Wednesday that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and “they want very much to make a deal.”

“So far, they haven’t gotten there, we’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,” Trump said.

“We will be. Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job. Their navy is gone, as I’ve said a thousand times, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, everything’s gone,” Trump added.
Trump said the American people understand Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.

“They thought they were going to out wait me, you know,” Trump said.

“‘We’ll out wait him. He’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms. Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms. People understand it. They know that, very simple, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” the president added.

Former CENTCOM Commander Gen. Joseph Votel said Iran’s reported effort to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz suggests Tehran is “hedging its bets” and attempting to ramp up pressure on the U.S. amid ongoing negotiations.

“Clearly the Iranians are trying to hedge their bets here and put more pressure on the U.S., and what we saw here was CENTCOM detecting that and then taking military action to address it very, very quickly,” Votel said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ “America Reports.”

Votel praised CENTCOM’s swift response as an “effective use of military force,” while noting that both military and diplomatic efforts will likely be needed moving forward.

The comments came after CENTCOM said U.S. forces carried out “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran on Monday, targeting missile launch sites and two Iranian boats allegedly laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, as a “designated target” would have to stay in hiding, and any final arrangement with the U.S. would have to be approved via secret courier networks, counterterrorism experts warned Tuesday.

The unusual structure, they said, implies Washington is negotiating a high-stakes deal with a wholly invisible counterparty, with a prospective memorandum signed by a regime leader and a “designated target” who can never publicly show his face.

“Khamenei is a designated target, and every confirmed sighting is a coordinate,” Dr. Omar Mohammed told Fox News.

“The courier system used for messaging is not transitional. It is the operating system of his rule,” Mohammed added.

“Any deal the United States signs will have to be designed for a permanently invisible counterparty whose enforcement depends on his continued survival. That is not arms control as it has been conventionally understood. It is a memorandum signed under American military pressure, with a regime whose leader cannot show his face.”

Iran is seeking to get the release of $24 billion in frozen cash as part of a possible deal with the US, Tasnim News, which is affiliated with the IRGC, said.

Tasnim News stated that Tehran wants $12 billion to be released immediately after a memorandum of understanding is declared, with the rest of the money delivered over a 60-day period of discussion.

NYMEX data showed oil prices were hovering around $93.57 per barrel Tuesday afternoon, down 32 cents.

Tuesday, FOX Business hosts David Asman and Lauren Simonetti said markets seemed to be preparing for tensions in the Strait of Hormuz to relax despite threats from Iran after U.S. strikes against Iranian sites.

“Investors are betting that the strait will eventually reopen and oil prices will decline, even as inflation and rising interest rates continue to squeeze consumers,” Asman said.

“The stock market is looking through this current crisis as something that will mitigate very soon after we open the Strait,” Asman said.