President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
President Donald Trump said during an Oval Office signing event that this is Iran’s “last chance” to make a deal.
When asked about the number of times he’s called off strikes after threatening them, the president responded, “I don’t know. I think we’re going to maybe get something, but I want to give every last chance before decapitation.”
Trump said the first phase of a deal would open the Strait of Hormuz immediately. He said the second phase of the deal being negotiated now is Iran’s denuclearization, though he noted that phase would come later and “take a little while.”
Trump also suggested that Iran was swayed by the threat of Sunday night’s planned attacks, which Trump said would have been “harder” than “any” attack since World War II.
“But in this case, leakers helped because they said the severity of the attack, and Iran knew it. They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night, and it would have gone on for a long time, and there’d be essentially very little left. There’d be nothing left, and if I’m given a chance to let a lot of people live, I want to give that chance. So I’m under no time constraint,” Trump said.
Trump also insisted there will be no tolls charged in the Strait of Hormuz, but he added, “if anybody’s going to charge, we’ll charge.”
Credit: Yahoo News