Trump: Iran could join post-Gaza Middle East peace deal
Shafaq News – Washington
US President Donald Trump said Iran could be included in a regional peace agreement once the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza comes to an end.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump revealed he had “very good conversations” with Tehran about an unspecified “deal,” recalling that only months ago he believed Iran was “away from having a nuclear weapon.”
Such development, he considered, would have made a broader peace arrangement impossible.
Trump described the regional situation as being “at a different scale” now. “We’re going to have peace, and Iran is going to be actually a part of the whole peace situation” alongside countries once considered adversaries.
His comments followed an announcement that Israel and Hamas had accepted the first phase of his Gaza peace plan, which reportedly includes the release of hostages and an Israeli withdrawal to an agreed line. All hostages are expected to be freed on Monday.
Read more: Gaza Ceasefire - Phase 1: What we know so far
Trump’s outreach to Tehran comes amid continued US–Iran tensions. In June, Washington carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure — an operation Trump said was meant to halt the country’s nuclear progress.
Since early 2025, the US has reinstated its “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran, targeting its nuclear, missile, and military programs — a strategy first employed during Trump’s previous term.
Some Iranian hard-line media have dismissed the Gaza plan as biased toward Israel, though Tehran has kept a low profile publicly. Earlier this year, the US and Iran held indirect nuclear talks in Oman without reaching a breakthrough, as both sides continued to trade warnings over enrichment levels and regional activities.
