Donald Trump has again threatened Iran, saying the US may launch new attacks if Tehran continues to refuse the significant concessions he wants before a deal can be struck to end the Middle East war. The US president said he had called off a fresh wave of strikes, which would have broken the ceasefire in place since early last month. “I was an hour away from making the decision to go today,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The decision apparently followed a further peace proposal submitted by Tehran via Pakistan, which has mediated, and may have been motivated by the reluctance of allies, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to see hostilities resume. Trump said Iran’s leaders were “begging” to make a deal, but a new US attack would deliver “a big hit” in the coming days if one was not reached. “Well, I mean, I’m saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can’t let them have a new nuclear weapon,” he said.
Analysts say both sides want to avoid a new round of hostilities but neither are willing to pay the political price of the concessions necessary to secure a peace agreement. “Trumps’ threats have lost all credibility … Both sides are too far apart in terms of what they are willing to accept or work on but neither side want to go back to war. So they are just stuck … and neither side really knows how to get out of this,” said Neil Quilliam of London’s Chatham House.
Iran continues to block most shipping in the strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of the world’s supply of oil and liquid gas before the conflict, while the US has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports. Iranian officials have remained defiant in the face of Trump’s new threats, describing US demands as “excessive”. Since the ceasefire began on 8 April, Tehran and Washington have held only a single round of talks: an unsuccessful 21-hour session in Islamabad. Pakistani mediators have sought to bridge the big gaps between the two sides, passing successive proposals from one to the other, but have complained that both are “changing their goalposts”.
According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mohammed Akraminia, a military spokesperson, reiterated on Tuesday that Tehran would continue to manage the strait, adding that the US needed to “respect the Iranian nation and observe the legitimate rights of the Islamic republic”. On Monday, Iran announced the formation of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to manage traffic through the waterway, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to impose permits on the internet fibre optic cables passing through the strait. Akraminia said on Tuesday that in the event of new attacks Iran would “open new fronts” against the US – which has gathered a vast array of military firepower in the region – and said Tehran had used the ceasefire “to strengthen its combat capabilities”.
Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest peace proposal involved ending hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, the withdrawal of US forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by US-Israeli attacks. Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said Tehran also wanted sanctions lifted, frozen funds released, and an end to the US marine blockade, according to IRNA, the state news agency. The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from its previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as “garbage”.
