Iran peace talks a 'smokescreen' as decision to strike had already been made: analysis

Peace talks between the United States and Iran may have been a smokescreen as a decision to strike had already been made, an analyst has claimed.

Bill Press, the former California Democratic Party chair, believes Donald Trump's administration already knew a strike on Iran would be made while also hosting peace talks with representatives. In a column for The Hill, Press claimed a decision could have been made as early as before Trump delivered his State of the Union address.

Press wrote, "Iran didn’t walk away from making a new deal. The U.S. did — and it started bombing the next morning. In fact, there is reason to believe that the entire Geneva operation was only a smokescreen, designed to fool Iran’s leaders into thinking the U.S. was negotiating in good faith.

"Clearly, the decision to bomb Iran had already been made before the State of the Union, while the Trump administration was still pretending to be seriously interested in diplomacy." Press went on to suggest that the deal the US and Iran had discussed before the bombing was nearing a reasonable conclusion.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump to take advantage of the opportunity to kill Khamenei," he wrote. "Trump agreed to do their dirty work.

"It is also not true, as Trump claims, that Iran 'walked away from the table' without agreeing to abandon plans to build a nuclear bomb. In fact, as late as last Friday, negotiations between Iran and the U.S., moderated by Oman, were still underway in Geneva — with public assurances of progress being made."

Trump issued a statement on the Iran war earlier today (March 3), with the president claiming a war with the Middle Eastern country could last much longer than anticipated.

He wrote, "The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better - As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries finest arms!).

"At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be. Much additional high-grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries.

"Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine - Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth - And, while he gave so much of the super high-end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it. Fortunately, I rebuilt the military in my first term, and continue to do so.

"The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP."