Trump gives stark warning to Iran to embrace peace deal
President Donald Trump on Sunday delivered a new threat to Iran, saying the country needed to hurry toward a peace deal or “there won’t be anything left of them.”
Washington, engaged in a dispute with Tehran since US and Israeli troops began significant strikes on the Islamic republic beginning February 28, has struggled to break a deadlock and make any headway toward ending a war that has rattled the Middle East and set energy prices skyrocketing.”The Clock is Ticking for Iran and they better get moving FAST or there won’t be anything left of them,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “TIME IS ESSENCE!”
The war has effectively closed the vital Strait of Hormuz, which in peacetime carries approximately 20 percent of world oil shipments, and has pulled in neighbouring Israel and Lebanon into a deadly side struggle.
Iran’s clerical regime, the benefactor of Hezbollah, has wanted a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon before any wider peace deal with Trump, who has been irritated by Tehran’s refusal to accept a settlement on his terms.
Despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to extend a ceasefire, Hezbollah launched almost 200 missiles at Israel and its forces over the weekend, an Israeli military spokesman said Sunday.
Lebanon’s health ministry said additional Israeli strikes Sunday on the country’s south killed five people, including two children.
Lebanese authorities said more than 2,900 people had been murdered in Lebanon since the start of the war, including 400 since the truce began on April 17.NO BIG SACRIFICES’
Washington and Tehran agreed to a truce on April 8 but peace talks have stagnated and intermittent assaults have continued.
Iranian media claimed on Sunday that the United States has not made any tangible concessions in its latest response to Iran’s suggested agenda for negotiations to end the war.
Washington has issued a five-point list including a demand that Iran operate only one nuclear site and relinquish its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States, the Fars news agency claimed.
Fars said Washington also declined to release “even 25 percent” of Iran’s blocked assets overseas or to make any reparations for harm caused to Iran during the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Mehr news agency claimed, “The United States, offering no tangible concessions, wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations.”
More turmoil broke out in sections of the region on Sunday. Authorities claimed a drone attack started a fire near a nuclear power plant in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, with no injuries or effect on radiation levels reported.
Iranian-backed armed organisations equipped with drones are based in Iraq, while Tehran’s allies in Yemen — the Houthi rebels — have combat-grade UAVs, too.
Pakistan has been mediating in the peace talks between Iran and the United States and its Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Sunday in Tehran with Iran’s main negotiator and speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
In a social media post following the meetings, Ghalibaf stated the US and Israeli war with Iran destabilised the entire Middle East.”Some governments in the region thought that the presence of the United States would give them security, but recent events have proved that this presence is not only unable to provide security but also creates the grounds for insecurity,” he said.
There seemed to be scant progress on Iran, which was covered during the high-stakes conference between Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this week.
Trump said Xi told him that China was not preparing military help to Iran. The Chinese foreign ministry stated Friday in a statement on Iran that “shipping lanes should be reopened as soon as possible.”