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US President Donald Trump said he is extending the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 10 days, reportedly in response to a request from the government in Tehran.
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
On Sunday, Trump gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the key waterway or the US would destroy all of the country’s energy infrastructure.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, Trump denied he was desperate for a deal to end the war, insisting that Tehran was keen to come to the table despite the Islamic republic’s cool response to an American peace proposal.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told the Cabinet there were “strong signs” that Tehran was ready to negotiate an end to the fighting, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had shared a 15-point “action list” with Tehran through Pakistani officials.
“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,” Witkoff said.
For his part, Trump told reporters: “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal. I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”
During a 90-minute televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims the Islamic republic was already on the verge of capitulating.
“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit,” he said.
In response to a reporter’s question, Trump also said the United States might take control of Iran’s oil, comparing it to the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling Nicolás Maduro. “It’s an option,” he said.
Stretched to the limit
Trump’s tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country’s government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.
“The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield,” Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.
“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means and with far too few soldiers,” Lapid said.
In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: “On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces…For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Tasnim said: “Iran’s response to the 15 points proposed by the US was officially sent last night through intermediaries and Iran is awaiting the other side’s response.”
The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Iran’s reply called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and also on Tehran-backed groups elsewhere in the region, an implicit reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others.
War reparations should be paid and Iran’s “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz be respected, it said, citing conditions that put Tehran’s demands far beyond anything in the US plan.
Additional sources • AFP