During an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on Tuesday, Trump repeatedly talked of the purported announcement, “one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject,” but didn’t reveal what it was.
“We will have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets. And I won’t tell you on what,” he said.
“It is really, really positive,” Trump claimed.
The U.S. president suggested he would share the news before he leaves on a trip to West Asia next week. “That announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave,” he said.
Trump will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on May 13-16.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press anonymously cited two U.S. officials as saying on Tuesday that during his visit to Saudi Arabia next week, Trump will announce that the United States will refer to the Persian Gulf as “the Arabian Gulf” or “the Gulf of Arabia.”
It was unclear whether that announcement is what Trump touted during the Oval Office meeting with the Canadian prime minister.
If the U.S. president goes ahead with the reported plan, the falsification of the historical and geographical reality will cause widespread resentment inside Iran, which has been involved in negotiations with the Trump administration. Whether that would in turn affect the course of the negotiations will remain to be seen. Iran has said that the talks are exclusively about Iran’s nuclear energy program and the sanctions imposed on the country over nuclear-related allegations.
The talks started in April, and three rounds of negotiations were since held indirectly through an Omani intermediary.
The fourth round was postponed due to logistical reasons earlier this month. But Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier on Tuesday that a date was being reviewed for the potential resumption of the talks.
IRNA