(AFP) – Donald Trump told AFP Friday that a peace deal was “very close” after Iran moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — but Tehran rejected the US president’s claim that it was ready to surrender nuclear materials. The upbeat signals from Washington came as a ceasefire took effect in Lebanon, but Iran’s sharply different account of the talks suggested disagreements still stand in the way of an accord.
“We’re very close. Looks like it’s going to be very good for everybody. And we’re very close to having a deal,” Trump said in a brief telephone call with AFP from Las Vegas, adding that there were “no sticking points at all” left with Tehran. “The strait’s going to be open, they already are open. And things are going very well.”
Trump’s comments followed a series of social media posts touting progress on reopening Hormuz — through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes — that drew a testy response from Tehran, which disputed several key details. Iran’s foreign ministry said its stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred “anywhere,” rejecting an earlier claim by Trump that the Islamic republic had agreed to hand it over.
Trump hailed a “GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!” in celebratory posts praising mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies, while telling NATO to “STAY AWAY” as he rejected the alliance’s offer to help secure the Hormuz strait. After the truce took hold in Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic republic would lift its blockade on shipping through the key Gulf energy route.
Military vessels remain banned from the waterway, a senior Iranian military official told state media. Trump warned that the US blockade of Iran’s ports would continue until a deal was reached, although Tehran denied that ships from its harbors were being turned back.
“The opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz does not take place on the internet; it is determined in the field, and our armed forces certainly know how to behave in response to any action by the other side,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. “What they call a naval blockade will definitely be met with an appropriate response from Iran. A naval blockade is a violation of the ceasefire, and Iran will definitely take the necessary measures.”
Despite the gap between the two sides’ accounts of the negotiations, Trump later told reporters: “I don’t think there’s too many significant differences.” Oil prices had already been falling on hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, and the drop accelerated sharply after Iran’s announcement. The ceasefire in Lebanon and the reopening of the strait marked key progress in Washington’s push for a broader deal to end its war with Iran, after Tehran insisted that halting the Lebanon fighting must be part of any agreement.
In Lebanon, displaced families used the 10-day truce to return to homes in bomb-damaged south Beirut and the war-ravaged south. “Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory,” 37-year-old Amani Atrash told AFP, adding that she hoped the ceasefire would be extended. Trump said Israel had been “prohibited” by Washington from carrying out further strikes. “Enough is enough!” he said, adding that the United States would work with Lebanon “and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner.”
The fighting in Lebanon began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel days after the wider Middle East war began and in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Separately, the Israeli military said it was lifting wartime restrictions, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign against Hezbollah was not over. “We have not yet finished the job,” he said, adding that a key objective was the “dismantling of Hezbollah.”
Minutes before the ceasefire took effect at midnight, Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed at least 13 people, a city official said. Under the truce, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks,” and says it will maintain a six-mile (10-kilometer) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon. Israel warned that military action could resume if the area between the security zone and the Litani River is not cleared of Hezbollah fighters, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun insisted his country would no longer serve as an arena for outside conflicts. Hezbollah, meanwhile, warned it remained ready to respond to any Israeli violations.
burs-ft/md – AFP teams in Washington, Tehran, Jerusalem, and Beirut.
© 2024 AFP
