Las Vegas (AFP) – US President Donald Trump signaled Friday that an Iran peace deal was all but done, trumpeting agreements on the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s nuclear program. In a rapid-fire stream of social media posts, Trump hailed a “GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!” but without specifically announcing a deal with Iran. The celebratory tone continued with a series of shout-outs to mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies — and a rebuke to NATO to “STAY AWAY” as he rejected an offer from the Western alliance to help secure the strait.
Iran had earlier said it was opening the Hormuz strait — a crucial sea lane whose closure caused global oil prices to spike — for the duration of a Middle East ceasefire. “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World,” Trump said in one of around a dozen posts on his Truth Social network. Touting further progress towards a deal, Trump also said that Iran was removing sea mines from the strait, with US help.
The US leader had earlier said “THANK YOU!” to Iran over the Hormuz reopening, while insisting that an American blockade of Iranian ports would remain in “full force” until the completion of a peace deal. “This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated,” Trump said on Friday. US-Iran talks led by Vice President JD Vance last weekend in Pakistan failed to produce a deal, but Trump has repeatedly hinted that a breakthrough was close. He had said Thursday that Iran had agreed to give up its uranium stockpile, that a second round of talks in Islamabad was likely, and that he himself might go to Pakistan to sign an eventual deal.
On Friday, Trump again talked up the likelihood of a nuclear deal while insisting that no money would change hands after an Axios report that Washington was considering a $20 billion cash-for-uranium exchange. “The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers — No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said in another post. Axios reported that the United States and Iran were negotiating a plan that would include Washington releasing $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Trump meanwhile also talked up a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, saying Israel was now “prohibited” by Washington from bombing its neighbor. The Lebanon conflict, triggered when Iran-backed Hezbollah struck Israel in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, was widely regarded as a roadblock for any Iran deal. “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” said Trump, who had first announced the truce on Thursday.
Referring to a possible Iran deal, Trump added: “This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon, but we will MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN!” Trump’s hints at a deal continued as he thanked Pakistan’s “fantastic” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and powerful army chief Asim Munir for brokering the Iran negotiations. He also thanked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar for their “great bravery and help” after Iranian strikes on the region since the February 28 start of the US-Israeli operation against Iran.
NATO got another savaging from the US president over the alliance’s refusal to join the Iran war or to contribute to a mission in the Strait of Hormuz until hostilities are over. “Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL,” Trump said on Truth Social. “They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!” His comment came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron, that the two countries would lead a multinational mission as “soon as conditions allow.”
© 2024 AFP
