President Donald Trump indicated Friday that the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran could be approaching a turning point, fueling speculation that intensified diplomatic contacts may soon lead to a broader agreement.
"We have stopped them. They're not going to ever have a nuclear weapon. They're never going to have a nuclear weapon. And we'll have that over with soon. It'll be over with soon," the U.S. president told his supporters in the state of New York.
"You're going to see numbers like you've never seen, both on the upside and also in terms of cost; you're going to see cars go down," he added.
Earlier Friday, Iran's semi-official news agency reported that a Qatari delegation is negotiating with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran in a bid to end the war amid Pakistani mediation.
The report came after Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran as part of Islamabad's ongoing mediation efforts to end the war. It is the second such trip to Tehran by Munir. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has been in Tehran for the past two days as part of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran.
The flurry of diplomatic activity comes as reports suggest negotiators are closing gaps on an agreement to end the war.
Mediation to draw hostilities to a close began when Pakistan secured a ceasefire on April 8, halting the war and later hosting the highest-level talks between the U.S. and Iran since 1979 on April 11-12.
Islamabad has intensified its mediation process to secure a second round of direct talks between the two sides.
