Whitcraft: Reaching a Deal with Iran

According to Rokna, citing Politico, citing a source close to Trump’s national security team, Whitcraft communicated to foreign counterparts that these three issues constitute the top foreign policy objectives for the Trump administration. The source noted that ending the Gaza conflict is considered the “easiest” of the three, but the team does not intend to compromise on any of the goals, believing that success in one area could facilitate progress in the others.

These statements follow the recent agreement between Hamas and Israel under Trump’s proposed peace plan to implement a ceasefire in Gaza. On October 13, Trump announced the cessation of hostilities in Gaza during a speech to the Israeli Knesset.

Under the agreement, Israeli forces partially withdrew from Gaza, Israeli prisoners held by Hamas were exchanged for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, and humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip resumed.

During a recent trip to the Middle East, Trump also asserted his readiness to pursue peace with Iran, designating his son-in-law Jared Kushner as the point person responsible for achieving a peace agreement with Tehran.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized Trump’s statements, referencing the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Araghchi questioned how the Iranian people could trust a “peace offering” from someone who, just four months earlier, had bombed residential and urban areas across Iran, causing the deaths of over a thousand civilians, including women and children. He emphasized that it is difficult to regard someone as a “president of peace” while they incite endless wars and align with war criminals, asserting that Trump cannot simultaneously be a president of peace and a president of war.