Trump has threatened to destroy every power plant and bridge in Iran if talks fail. Photo / Getty Images
An American warship opened fire upon and then took control of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel trying to evade the US naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman at the weekend.
President Donald Trump today posted on Truth Social, saying that the Iranian vessel ignored warnings to stop, forcing a US guided missile destroyer to take action.
Trump said the USS Spruance “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room”, adding: “Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel.”
The post came after Trump announced that US representatives were returning to Pakistan for negotiations to end the war with Iran. Along with the announcement, Trump also renewed his threats of broad attacks on Iran’s infrastructure if no deal was reached.
Iranian state media was fairly blunt in its reply, with state broadcaster IRIB saying: “There are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks.”
Trump accused Iran of violating a fragile two-week ceasefire as it closed the vital Strait of Hormuz again on Saturday.
Trump had earlier posted: “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!.”
The White House said Vice-President JD Vance, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would attend the talks in Pakistan. Kushner does not have a formal job in the administration.
The meetings in Islamabad will be “Tuesday possibly into Wednesday,” Trump told Fox News.
The ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.
Tehran has reportedly “rejected” the second round of talks. Iran’s “absence” from the talks, the report said, was a result of “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”.
It was not immediately clear whether the decision not to attend was final. Similar statements were made by Iranian officials in the lead-up to the first round of negotiations, which also were held in Pakistan.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, did not say whether the ceasefire will be extended if nothing comes of the talks.
He told ABC News: “Well, that’s ultimately a decision for the President, but I think the outcome of these talks will be incredibly consequential. And as the President has stated, he is prepared to escalate, to de-escalate. He is prepared to actually board and turn around Iranian ships even as far east as the Pacific Ocean.”
Trump celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday and predicted that progress toward a deal would go “quickly”. Stocks soared and oil prices dropped amid a surge of optimism. Iran’s effective closure of the strait has left about 20,000 seafarers stranded on idle ships and spiked oil prices.
Not long after Trump said that “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again”, Tehran said it was closed again, citing a continued US naval blockade of Iranian ports that Trump is using to exert pressure on Tehran.
Trump said the US would continue its blockade until there is a peace deal. In comments last week to reporters in Phoenix, where he was speaking at a Turning Point USA event, the President said: “Soon as the agreement gets signed, that’s when the blockade ends.”
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that it is not safe to go through the Strait of Hormuz right now but that “people are ready to go” once a deal is reached.
“Ships are there. The United States put two warships through the straits. We can open it one way or the other,” Wright said. “But the best way to do it is to have an end to the conflict and a defanged and de-armed Iran.”
When asked whether that would happen sometime this week or next week, Wright said, “That’s probably a reasonable time frame. It’s not too far away.”
Iranian officials suggested this weekend that negotiations were not over, and in the Pakistani capital, there were signs that the city was tightening security around some of the buildings expected to host the second round of talks. Roads leading in and out of Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave were shut.
The Serena hotel, where the first meeting was held, is clearing rooms for the talks, asking guests to leave by Sunday afternoon. The US advance team has already made it to Islamabad, said a diplomat familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive event planning.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is leading the Iranian team, gave a televised address on state media Saturday night, in which he proclaimed victory while leaving open the possibility of a “durable peace”. He said Iran still seeks a “lasting settlement” but remains “deeply distrustful of the United States,” according to the Tasnim News Agency’s summary of the address. He reaffirmed that negotiations are ongoing but said Iran maintains full readiness “for necessary actions”.
“The Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, adding that “if the US does not abandon the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted”. Any maritime movement in the strait takes place under Iran’s military oversight, the outlet reported Ghalibaf as saying.
After a trickle of ships got through an Iranian-designated route along the waterway’s coastline during the reopening, two vessels reported being hit. A tanker came under fire by two gunboats affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, a monitoring agency that is part of the Royal Navy. All crew members were reported safe. The UKMTO reported that a container ship was hit by an unknown projectile.
- Washington Post/AFP
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