'He's begging': Rep. Seth Moulton slams Trump's claim of having 'very good talks' with Iran

President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that the U.S. had "very good talks" with Iran in the past 24 hours and that the war could end soon. During his meeting with the UFC fighters at the White House, Trump told reporters the war was won and Tehran "badly" wants to make a deal. However, given the situation on the ground with the Strait of Hormuz still blocked, Rep. Seth Moulton slammed the claims, saying it was Trump who is "begging for a deal," which is not a good position for national security.

After Trump paused "Project Freedom," which was started as a separate military campaign to ensure free passage of ships through the Hormuz Strait, Trump claimed "great progress" was made in the peace negotiations. Axios later reported that Washington and Tehran were close to agreeing on a single-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding, which was later confirmed by Reuters. However, no confirmation was shared by Iran on the same. In an interview with CNN, Moulton slammed Trump's claims, alleging that the U.S. was in a far worse position than before. 

"We're certainly losing it right now on almost every measure," Moulton said, claiming that the regime change didn't work as there is now an even harder line leadership in place. He further claimed that some of Iran's ballistic missile capability was destroyed, but the lifting of sanctions allowed them to earn "billions of dollars" to buy more. "We clearly have not obliterated their nuclear programme, and we're in a far worse position than Obama was with the Iran nuclear deal," he claimed. 

Moulton went on to add that the U.S. had multiple "misadventures" under several presidents, but none of them led to the closure of the strait, and called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump the "most incompetent people" to lead into that. "And now he's begging—we're the ones making proposals to them. Trump is going to them, saying, 'Please negotiate with us so we can reopen the Strait.' It's pathetic. It's not a good position to be in for our national security," Moulton scathed. 

Meanwhile, the report from Axios suggested that the two sides were "getting close" to making an agreement under which Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon and halt the enrichment of uranium for at least 12 years. In exchange, the U.S. will lift sanctions and release billions of dollars worth of frozen assets for Iran, and the Hormuz Strait will be opened within 30 days. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baghaei, said Tehran is yet to respond to the U.S. proposal and the text is currently being examined, Al Jazeera reported. Additionally, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, mocked the Axios report on X, writing, "Operation Turst Me Bro" had failed.