U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control of Iran’s oil industry.
Background
Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.
Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: ‘We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.’ He offered scant details, other than to say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April to be finalized ‘over the next few days.’ Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, the main reason Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war.
Recent Developments
The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. Trump had threatened further escalation earlier Thursday, posting on social media that the U.S. would hit Iran ‘VERY HARD TONIGHT’ and take ‘total control’ of its oil and gas industries.
A few hours later, Trump posted on social media that significant points in the negotiations ‘have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.’ Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in his phone call on state television that the text of a deal is ‘mostly finalized.’ ‘The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position has caused turbulence to this process,’ he said Thursday night.
A major sticking point in negotiations has been Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israel fear could lead to an atomic weapon, but which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Another key issue is Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for transporting oil and natural gas.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
