It is a positive sign that the United States and Iran are planning a third meeting over Tehran's nuclear program, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Sunday.
"If there wasn't progress, they know full well that an Iranian strategy could be just to kick the can down the road until they can get an operational bomb," Holt told Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "They're very mindful of the clock, and they would not have tolerated or even said they're open to another meeting had there not been substantive progress made."
On Sunday, a U.S. official confirmed that at one point during negotiations in Rome, President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke face-to-face.
They plan to meet again in Oman on April 26.
"It's very critical that they keep pressing down this path because now the whole world is involved," said Holt. "You have a Russian relationship with the Iranians, and there's tractable evidence now that a state-owned enterprise in China is helping the Houthis target American warships."
And now, Holt says that he hopes that the two sides can reach an agreement for Iran to de-escalate its nuclear capabilities, "and hopefully, we can get to a more peaceful environment in the Middle East.
Holt also commented on a New York Times article, based on a leak, that President Donald Trump stopped a recent planned Israeli attack on an Iranian nuclear site.
"This is the only leak in the last many years that I can remember that I actually appreciated, because the American people get to see that our president's first choice always is going to be a demilitarized solution," he said. "The president may be faced with only one choice that we cannot allow Iran and the mullahs to have a nuclear weapon, and he may be left with the military option only."
Holt further discussed the temporary Easter truce that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this weekend, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attacks were still taking place against targets in his country.
"You have two enemies who distrust each other," Holt said. "There's nothing unusual about that. Where I find the problem is with the European Union, and so does Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio. They are not getting behind President Trump's peace overtures to try to get the parties to a settlement."
Trump, he added, "didn't cause this war. He's got the ability to walk away and if that happens, then you'll see that offensive from Russia going full earnest, so prayers for Europe to understand it's in their best interest to get behind President Trump's leadership on this matter."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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