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US president demands ‘Total Surrender’ amid escalating naval blockade in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
United States President Donald Trump has warned Iran that it has one last chance to forge a deal to avoid massive air strikes.
“I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.”
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When asked whether Iran would be willing to “return to a fully free navigation” of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told reporters at the White House that the vital waterway “has to be [free], I am not going to let them charge. If anybody is going to charge, we’ll charge …. We have total control”.
Trump emphasised that the US has the means to enforce freedom of navigation with its blockade.
He also addressed the on-again-off-again nature of discussions about negotiations with Tehran, saying talks were being held “at the request of Iran” and with the support of several Gulf Arab states.
“We are talking right now [with Iran] at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, backed by the UAE, and backed by Qatar in particular, but others also,” Trump said.
“Many countries called, but if it doesn’t happen, this is the last chance for them to sign a good document.”
Earlier, Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social, describing Iran’s leadership as “unbelievably duplicitous”, saying Tehran asked for talks to end the war and then announced that no discussions were being held.
Trump claimed that Iran had backtracked, saying “they’re only dealing with ‘Oman.’ They then go on to give their usual blather in saying, the Strait of Hormuz will be operated powerfully by them”.
Trump also warned that the US will continue to blockade Iran’s southern ports until Washington and Tehran agree to a deal to end the war, which began in February.
Describing the US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as a “Wall of Steel”, Trump said, “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished”.
New talks to wind down the war had been expected to start on Monday, after Trump announced over the weekend that the US would not go ahead with another massive bombing campaign he had threatened to unleash on Iran.
Trump said a plan had been in place for US forces to carry out “the biggest attack since World War II”, but he decided to give diplomacy more time after hearing from key Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as unnamed Iranian officials on Sunday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran was pursuing multiple diplomatic tracks and that it was not currently holding direct negotiations with the United States.
Iran was holding talks with “Oman, regional countries and countries outside the region in order to decrease the tension”, said the ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei.
He said the focus of Oman was on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the channel.
“As long as the maritime siege and US actions continue, nothing significant will change in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
On Monday, Iran’s trade minister headed to Pakistan for talks focused in part on ways to ease transit bottlenecks and move more Iranian containers through Pakistani ports during the US naval blockade.
Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Atabak was scheduled to attend a meeting of the Iran-Pakistan Joint Trade Committee in Islamabad and to meet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
In June, the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, a Pakistan-brokered deal aimed at ending the conflict and reviving stalled shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed before the war.
Since then, the US has struck Iran, while Iranian forces retaliated by targeting US military assets in the region and insisting on control of the Strait of Hormuz.
