Tensions spike as Trump threatens military action ahead of critical Iran nuclear talks
Donald Trump has said the Strait of Hormuz will reopen with or without Iran’s cooperation as US and regime delegates arrive in Pakistan for negotiations.
The President has also indicated the main focus of the talks with Iran today will be curtailing Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
“No nuclear weapon. That’s 99% of it,” he said to reporters. When asked if the deal would include free passage through the Strait, which Iran has blocked off for weeks since the war broke out on February 28, Trump said it would "open up automatically", adding that he believed the vital global shipping channel would resume operations "fairly soon".
"I think it’s going to go pretty quickly. And if it doesn’t, we’ll be able to finish it off one way the other," Trump added of efforts to ensure free passage through the strait.
JD Vance and the American delegation has now arrived in Islamabad for the crunch talks, along with the Iranian delegates. Trump previously said he wished the Vice President "luck" in his talks with Iranian officials today. "I wish him luck. He’s got a big thing," he said on Friday.
Trump has persistently claimed Iran’s nuclear capabilities have been a major sticking point for any possible solution to the conflict. When recently asked what a good deal would look like, he said: "No nuclear weapon number one. I think it’s already been regime change, but we never had that as a criteria." Tehran has always denied the claim it is pursuing a nuclear weapon.
The POTUS also sent a series of yet more threatening warnings to Tehran ahead of the talks in Pakistan, declaring on Friday the US military is "loading up the ships with the best ammunition" in preparation to resume the war should the negotiations fail.
The high-stakes meeting comes amid the precarious 14-day ceasefire agreement between the US, Israel and Iran and presents one of the most historic negotiation talks since Tehran and Washington discussed the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Trump said Iran was doing a "very poor job" of permitting oil through the Strait as per the conditions of the ceasefire. However, last night he celebrated what appeared to be dozens of empty tankers making their way to the US Gulf Coast to collect crude with hopes US exports "are about to boom" despite the Iranian blockade.
Meanwhile, the situation of Lebanon, which Israel has continued to strike against the ceasefire agreement, remains up in the air. The US position is that Lebanon does not form part of the agreement, while Pakistan, a key mediator in peace talks, says it does. Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss.
Pakistan is still hoping for ’constructive’ talks between the two countries with Foreign Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar reiterating a desire for "lasting and durable" peace today.
Politics Editor
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
