Trump says oil is flowing at peak levels, predicts Iran deal after election
No US-Iran meeting is currently scheduled, even as Trump says talks will produce an agreement once voters go to the polls
Published
President Trump said Tuesday that oil is flowing at the highest level since the war with Iran began, and that he expects a deal with Tehran once the election has passed.
No meeting between the US and Iran is currently scheduled. Any session that does take place could involve Trump's top advisers rather than the president himself. Mediators are working to arrange a high-level meeting, but that effort remains preliminary.
The diplomatic picture is tense. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has claimed it struck vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf capitals have urged Trump to hold back from escalating further. Iran, for its part, is conditioning any settlement on the lifting of the US military blockade and other concessions. Trump has previously said he would talk with Iranian officials "under the right conditions," and he is expected to strike a more confrontational tone on Iran and on cartels in an upcoming address to the United Nations.
Trump's optimism about a post-election deal sits against those signals. No meeting is on the calendar, and Gulf states are pushing for de-escalation rather than a breakthrough. His claim that oil is already flowing at peak levels also cuts against the idea that energy markets need a deal urgently. For now, the remarks look like rhetorical positioning ahead of any negotiation, not a change in the actual state of talks.