- A report suggests Donald Trump is keen to end the war, even if it means failing to secure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran insists it is not negotiating with US
- In Iran, two men are said to have been executed over domestic attacks
Donald Trump has told aides he would be willing to end the US military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citing administration officials, the report claims Trump has decided the US should achieve its primary goals of reducing Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while putting pressure on Tehran to resume the free flow of trade through the key waterway.
Its effective closure has hit economies around the world and raised the cost of oil, which ultimately causes the price of food to rise.
If that fails, the report added, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait.
It also claimed Trump and his aides “assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks”.
How are talks going?
That report was published as Trump publicly claims more progress in talks with Iran – while also threatening to bomb power plants and escalate attacks.
On his Truth Social platform, he said the US was talking with a “NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME” and negotiations to end the war in Iran had made “great progress.”
He suggested a deal would be “probably” reached shortly.
It should be noted that Trump did not reveal who might make up this “new regime”, and experts widely agree the existing leadership of Iran remains in charge, despite the killing of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on 28 February. He was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
And despite his claims of progress, Trump repeated threats that “if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached”, the US would attack Iran’s power plants.
In a common Trump refrain, he said the US would end its war with “completely obliterating” all of Iran’s electricity plants, oil wells and Kharg Island – if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran insists it is not negotiating with US
Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, has reiterated that Iran has not been in negotiations with the US.
Baghaei said on social media that there had been a submission of a negotiation request, accompanied by a set of proposals from America” but that Iran’s efforts were focused on combating what he called “America’s military aggression and invasion”.
He wrote: “We have had no negotiations with America in these thirty-one days. What has occurred is the submission of a negotiation request, accompanied by a set of proposals from #America, which has reached us through certain intermediaries, including Pakistan.
“Our position is very clear. At present, as America’s military aggression and invasion continue with full intensity, all our efforts and capabilities are devoted to defending Iran’s essence. We have felt the previous experiences with our flesh, skin, and bones, and we do not forget the betrayal that was inflicted upon diplomacy in two instances within less than a year.”
The comments appear to contradict Donald Trump’s claim that negotiations regarding a peace deal with Iran were “going extremely well.”
Baghaei earlier called US proposals to bring about an end to the conflict “unrealistic, illogical and excessive.”
For context: Energy prices have surged across the globe since the start of the conflict, in part due to the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s key routes in the shipping of oil – being effectively blocked by Iran in response to US-Israeli strikes against the country.
Oil prices spiked again yesterday to around $116 per barrel, close to the highest level since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, Iran has executed two men for their alleged involvement in multiple domestic attacks, including firing launcher weapons at a government building, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
The pair was convicted of having links to exiled opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran.
Executions have regularly been reported in Iran during the war – two other men linked to the same group were executed yesterday, while others have also been convicted for conspiring with the US and Israel.
Written with reports by Sky News
