New Delhi:
US President Donald Trump has issued yet another threat today as Iran continued its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US naval blockade of the Islamic nation’s ports.
This time, Trump said there will be “no more Mr Nice Guy” if Iran doesn’t take the “very fair and reasonable deal”.
US and Iranian officials are scheduled to meet in Pakistan again tomorrow.
“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz – A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan – They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing. In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be ‘the tough guy!’
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” Trump said in a long post on the platform owned by him.
The strategic Strait of Hormuz remained closed today with Iran’s parliament speaker signalling a final peace deal remained “far” off despite some movement in negotiations. As mediation efforts continued following high-level talks in Pakistan that failed to reach a deal, Iran said it will not allow the crucial maritime trade chokepoint to re-open until the US ends a blockade of Iranian ports.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a televised address on Saturday night that there had been “progress” with Washington “but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain”. “We are still far from the final discussion,” said Ghalibaf, one of Tehran’s negotiators in the talks aimed at ending the war launched by Israel and the US against the Islamic republic.
A two-week ceasefire is set to end on Wednesday unless it is renewed.
On Friday, Tehran had declared the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits, open after a temporary ceasefire was agreed to halt Israel’s war with Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
That prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but Tehran reversed course after Trump insisted the US blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a final deal was struck.
“If America does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be limited,” Ghalibaf said.
