(AFP) – US President Donald Trump told AFP on Friday there were “no sticking points” left for a peace deal with Iran, which he said was “very close” as Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping. The positive signals from Washington came as a ceasefire went into effect in Lebanon, raising hopes that two of the main obstacles to a US-Iran agreement could have been cleared.
“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 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.” The comments came after a series of social media posts in which he touted progress on reopening the key waterway — through which around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime — and ending Iran’s nuclear program. He hailed a “GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!” in celebratory posts mixed with shout-outs to mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies — and a rebuke to NATO to “STAY AWAY” as he rejected the alliance’s offer to help secure the Hormuz strait.
After the start of the truce in Lebanon, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic republic would lift its blockade on shipping through the key Gulf energy trade route. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” Araghchi said. Military vessels are still banned from the waterway, a senior Iranian military official told state media. UN chief Antonio Guterres called the Hormuz reopening “a step in the right direction” and urged full freedom for shipping through the waterway.
Trump warned, though, that the US blockade of Iran’s ports would continue until a deal was struck. Iranian navy chief Shahram Irani, however, denied that was the case in a video posted by the Fars news agency on Friday. “We are not blockaded. Today and every day, ships that respect customs… pass through,” he said. Oil prices had already been falling amid hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, in which both Iran and the US have sought to control shipping out of the Gulf, and the drop accelerated sharply after Iran’s announcement.
The ceasefire and the reopening of the strait represent a key step in Washington’s efforts to reach a 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 took the chance of a 10-day truce to return to homes in bomb-damaged south Beirut or the war-torn south of the country. “Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory,” 37-year-old Amani Atrash told AFP, adding that she hoped the ceasefire would be extended.
Trump declared that Israel had been “prohibited” by Washington from carrying out further strikes. “Enough is enough!” he said, adding that the United States would itself work with Lebanon “and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner.” But shortly after Trump’s post, Lebanese state media said an Israeli drone strike killed a motorcyclist in Kunin in south Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. The fighting broke out in Lebanon on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel a few days after the start of the Middle East war in retribution for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Separately, the Israeli military said it was lifting wartime restrictions, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign against Hezbollah was not over. “We have not yet finished the job,” he said, saying a key objective was the “dismantling of Hezbollah.” Minutes before the ceasefire came into effect at midnight, Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed at least 13 people, a city official said.
Under the terms of the truce, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks,” and it says it will maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said military action could resume if the area between this security zone and the Litani River was not “cleared of terrorists and weapons.” According to details of the truce deal released by the US State Department, Lebanon “will take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah” from attacking Israeli targets.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun on Friday said his country was no longer “an arena for anyone’s wars.” He added that Lebanon was on the verge of a “new phase” of “permanent agreements” and would not strike any deal infringing on its rights. He had said earlier that Beirut’s goal was to “consolidate a ceasefire, secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces… recover prisoners and address outstanding border disputes.” Hezbollah, meanwhile, said its finger remained “on the trigger” in the event of any Israeli violations.
burs/dc/amj/jfx – AFP teams in Washington, Tehran, Jerusalem and Beirut
© 2024 AFP
