US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami and declared major changes in the Middle East power balance following actions against Iran.
"Tonight, we're closer than ever to the rise of the Middle East that is finally free at last from Iranian terror," Trump said. "For 47 years, Iran has been known as the bully of the Middle East - but they are not the bully any longer."
Trump referenced his first-term decision to eliminate Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
"He was so powerful that I really think that the leadership of Iran was extremely happy when I took him out, but they don't say that - but nobody's going to be asking them anymore because they're not here either," Trump said.
He added that discussions with Iran are active and jokingly referenced to the Strait of Hormuz as “the Strait of Trump".
"We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump, I mean Hormuz… the fake news will say that I said it accidentally. There are no accidents with me," Trump said.
Commenting on Iran’s leadership, Trump said that former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is no longer supreme; he is dead". On his son Mojtaba, who was named his successor, Trump stated, "The son is either dead or in very bad shape. I think he says, 'Just keep me out of this.'"
On the military operations in Iran, Trump stated, “We have another 3,554 targets left, and they will be done pretty quickly."
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, spoke earlier at the same summit and said that Washington expects Iran to respond to its 15-point proposal to end the war, adding he believes the sides will hold talks this week.
“My definition of real negotiating would be right here, and we don’t live until we’re done. And we’ve offered that, we think there will be meetings this week. We’re certainly hopeful for it. The President wants a peace deal," Witkoff said at the FII Priority summit in Miami.
“We have a 15-point deal on the table that the Iranians have had for a bit of time. We expect an answer from them and it would solve it all," he stated.
Trump last Saturday gave Iran an ultimatum of 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants. He has since extended that ultimatum to allow for negotiations with Iran, most recently on Thursday, when he gave Iran ten additional days.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)