Iran Ultimatum
Trump threatens to destroy Iran as Tehran vows more painful strikes in their nearly seven-month war.
Trump told Fox News's Trey Yingst he'd "blow the entire nation up" unless Tehran meets his demands, the Independent reported. The choices, he said, were "wiping them out, letting Iran rot economically, or making a deal." Yingst quoted him on Iran's government, plainly: "They better behave."
A warning from Tehran's security chief came first. Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera his forces would answer Washington with "more numerous and more painful strikes" than earlier in the war.
Seven months of fighting now. It started February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, CNBC reported. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response. Oil has climbed past $100 a barrel as tankers come under attack, Al Jazeera reported.
An unknown projectile struck a tanker in the strait Friday. It set off a fire, later extinguished, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said, according to CBS News. The crew was reported safe.
Iran faces mounting military and economic pressure that could push the regime toward escalation or collapse, Fox News reported Thursday. "Both scenarios are possible at the same time," said Nazee Moini, an adjunct fellow at the Middle East Institute.
Wednesday brought a different tone. Trump told reporters in North Carolina the US is "hopefully" near the end of the war and said he'd spoken with Tehran "directly," CNBC reported. He gave no details on that contact.
Gulf leaders will meet Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next Tuesday. Those talks will cover a postwar strategy, one not expected to be finalized until after November's midterm elections, CNBC reported, citing Axios.
Tehran has sent its own conditions to Washington through Qatari mediators, Al Jazeera reported. They largely mirror a June memorandum that expired last month: an end to fighting on all fronts, respect for sovereignty, release of frozen Iranian funds and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Sunday the strait will stay shut until Washington meets those terms.
"Until these conditions are met, the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation are recognised, and American commitments are fulfilled, there will be no opening for a return to the previous state of negotiations or for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz," Ghalibaf said, according to Al Jazeera.