Trump Rejected Iran’s Conditions To Reopen Hormuz. He Says Negotiations Will Continue Anyway.
President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz during the weekend, but said both countries are set to continue negotiating this week.
Speaking to Axios, Trump said he expects “more talks with Iran,” but didn’t specify their nature or where they will take place. So far, both parties have been relaying messages through Qatari mediators.
“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand,” he added.
Iranian officials said last week that it would be able to reopen the key waterway within seven days if Washington lifted its “blockade of the country’s ports and allowed Tehran to access frozen assets.” Conditions also involved a ceasefire across the region.
However, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told NBC News during the weekend that the proposal was not made in good faith, calling it a “cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable.”
“The president will leave all options on the table to ensure the world is safe from Iran holding the world hostage with a nuclear weapon,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, on his end, said the country is ready for a “doomsday” war but he won’t “miss any chance for peace.”
Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press;” said officials “are ready to negotiate as much as we are ready to face any challenge.” “We stand firm in the face of any aggression against us, even if it comes to a doomsday war,” he added.
“Our conditions are clear; any progress toward the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is contingent upon the fulfillment of these conditions, and we will not back down from them.”
Hostilities continue in the meantime, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps saying on Sunday that it seized an autonomous U.S. submarine.
Trump, in turn, said the U.S. keeps managing to ensure the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran’s attempts to prevent it. “More than 20 million barrels,” he said.
