WASHINGTON, May 20:
US President Donald Trump said he is expecting to resolve the conflict with Iran “very quickly” while predicting a sharp fall in oil prices as a result, even as the Senate advanced a war powers resolution that would compel him to withdraw US forces from the region.
Speaking at the annual congressional picnic on the White House South Lawn, Trump told a bipartisan gathering of lawmakers and their families that Tehran is very much eager to reach a settlement.
“We’re going to end that war very quickly. They want to make a deal so badly,” Trump said. “This should have happened 47 years ago. Somebody should have done something about it. And it’s going to happen fast. And you’re going to see oil prices plummet.”
Trump added that Iran would not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon and expressed hope that a resolution could be reached “in a very nice manner.”
The president’s remarks came hours after the Senate advanced a war powers resolution that would force a withdrawal of US armed forces deployed against Iran , the first time such a measure has cleared a procedural threshold since hostilities began, CNN reported.
Four Republican Senators, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, crossed party lines to vote alongside Democrats in advancing the measure, as CNN reported.
The measure advanced, 50-47. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman joined Republicans in rejecting it, while GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy voted with Democrats. This is Cassidy’s first time voting with Democrats.
It marked the eighth Senate vote on a motion of this kind since the start of the conflict, and the second time this year that a bloc of Republican senators joined Democrats to discharge a war powers resolution from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Interestingly, Trump revealed he had been “an hour away” from ordering new strikes on Iran before postponing the attack at the request of three Arab states in the Persian Gulf. While Vice President JD Vance insisted that Iran’s negotiating position, however, remained unclear. (UNI)
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