US President Donald Trump announced that another round of negotiations with Iran would be held on Monday in Islamabad. He also accused Iran of seriously violating the ceasefire and threatened to destroy Iran's bridges and power plants in the event of no agreement.
“Iran decided to fire missiles in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday – a complete violation of our ceasefire agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French ship and a UK freighter. That wasn't nice, was it?” – Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Immediately afterwards, however, he added that his “representatives” would go to the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, and would hold negotiations with Iran there on Monday.
Later in the post, the president expressed surprise at Iran's announcement to close the Strait of Hormuz again. He emphasized that this route had in fact already been closed by the US blockade. Trump added that Iran loses the most because it cannot export crude oil – he gave the amount of $500 million. daily.
“The United States is not losing anything. In fact, many ships are heading to the United States, Texas, Louisiana and Alaska to load up, courtesy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which always wants to be 'tough!'” commented the American leader.
But he reiterated that unless Iran accepts a “very fair and reasonable deal,” the United States will destroy every power plant and port in Iran.
“NO MORE BEING A NICE GUY! They will step down quickly and easily, and if they don't accept the AGREEMENT, I will have the honor of doing the right thing, what other presidents should have done to Iran over the last 47 years,” he wrote. “IT'S TIME FOR THE IRANIAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” – he concluded.
Trump delivered a similar message in a brief telephone interview with ABC, announcing he would end the war “the nice way or the hard way.”
In recent days, Trump has suggested that he is close to reaching an agreement with Iran that would permanently end the war that has been ongoing since February 28 and is currently in a ceasefire. The truce expires on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. The American president's position was not confirmed by the signals coming from Tehran.
As recently as Friday, Trump talked about Iran agreeing to “everything,” including getting rid of enriched uranium and dismantling its nuclear program, even claiming that he “now has good relations” with Iran.
Iranian officials, speaking anonymously to the media, denied any agreement had been reached on its nuclear program. One of them said on Saturday that significant differences remain over the terms of the ceasefire.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi announced the opening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. However, the US did not lift its own blockade of Iranian ports. On Saturday, the Iranian army announced it was closing the route again. There is information about further Iranian attacks on ships.
Iran did not allow two tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz
On Sunday, the Iranian army forced two tankers carrying crude oil to divert from their route through the Strait of Hormuz; warnings were sent to the crews of these vessels, Reuters reported, citing the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
The diversion of ships flying the flags of Botswana and Angola was, according to the Iranian side, the result of the ongoing American naval blockade that was imposed on Iran.
The United States implemented this blockade on April 13. Since then, up to and including Saturday, U.S. forces turned back 23 ships heading to or leaving Iran for Iranian ports, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces has trapped more than 600 ships in the Persian Gulf, and shipowners are suspending further sailings for fear of mines that may have been placed in Hormuz by Iran. The date of opening the strait for navigation is unknown. Despite this, at least eight oil and gas tankers passed through Hormuz from Friday to Saturday, Qatar's Al-Jazeera television reported.
Sikorski spoke by phone with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
During a telephone conversation with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, congratulated the effective actions that led to a ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East and the active role in efforts to unblock the Strait of Hormuz – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Sikorski's telephone conversation with Dar on Sunday on the X platform.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that the deputy prime ministers exchanged views on current global problems and discussed key topics on the bilateral agenda as a continuation of talks from last year's visit of Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski to Islamabad.
(PAP)
