President Donald Trump said Friday it would be “very hard” to ask Israel to halt strikes on Iran for the purpose of appeasing the Iranians to continue negotiations. Trump was reacting to comments made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day. Araghchi said there was “no room” for talks amid Israel’s “aggression.” A reporter asked Trump if he would ask Israel to halt strikes.

“I think it is very hard to make that request right now,” Trump told reporters in Morristown, New Jersey. “If someone is winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if someone is losing. But we are ready, willing, and able, and have been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.” Israel flies with impunity over Iran after taking out their anti-aircraft defense capabilities at the outset of Iran’s offensive last week. Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the country’s uranium enrichment sites — including the country’s main enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, and a nuclear site in Isfahan.

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