(AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that no talks with Iran are underway and none are scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution.
Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active conversations,” but the president denied that was the case. “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. “The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated.”
US sources told AFP there had been “positive” discussions with the Iranians, but added that Trump had decided to wait and asked his team not to engage until Iran was ready to make a deal. In recent weeks, there has been a lull in fighting, though on Tuesday the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles — which landed at sea — targeting “maritime navigation.” Iran, however, denied firing a missile toward the UAE.
Soon after, the UAE announced that “in light of regional escalations” it was halting all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran. The UAE bore the brunt of Iranian missile and drone attacks in the first period of the war but had not reported any attacks since the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that was meant to halt the fighting.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted a map on Truth Social showing the Strait of Hormuz as “NEW U.S. Territory.” Iran has effectively shut down the chokepoint, through which a fifth of the world’s oil would usually transit, in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February. The US leader revisited the idea again on Monday in comments to reporters in the Oval Office, suggesting it would be a good idea.
This is not the first time that Trump, faced with a foreign policy obstacle, has threatened to annex foreign territory. Since returning to power in 2025, he has threatened to make Canada the 51st US state, seize Greenland and Cuba, and has even alluded to taking control of the Gaza Strip, without following through on any of these threats.
– ‘Very patient’ –
Before the Iran war erupted on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz was an open waterway with free passage. Iran says it will not reopen the strait until Washington meets a sweeping list of demands including ending the US blockade of Iran’s ports, lifting oil sanctions, unfreezing Iranian assets, and paying war damages. “I want to state clearly that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the American commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding… are implemented,” Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Kushner told Fox News on Monday that Trump “is going to be very patient… he doesn’t want to rush to a deal.” But Tehran appears to be content to wait out second-term president Trump, whose approval ratings are falling as his promises to keep the United States out of another “forever war” ring hollow. The Iran war has driven up prices for US consumers ahead of crucial midterm elections in November that will decide whether Trump’s Republicans keep control of Congress.
Trump has shown signs of frustration, threatening on Monday to “bomb the shit” out of US ally Oman if it interfered with a deal on the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Qatar, a key mediator in the stalled US-Iran talks, said Tuesday that an agreement between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz would make it easier to resume negotiations to end the Middle East war.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
