Arriving in Phoenix, Ariz. for a Turning Point USA event, President Trump told reporters that the American blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz will end when the United States reaches a peace deal with Iran.
Here is the latest about the war in Iran and Lebanon today:
- Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open” for all commercial ships, but uncertainty remained after President Trump declared the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports would remain in place.
- Iranian pushback: Iran’s top negotiator said the strait would close if the United States continued its blockade, adding to the uncertainty.
- Negotiations: President Trump’s public comments raised hopes that negotiations with Iran were going well enough to sustain the cease-fire as they worked on a long-term peace deal
- Trump has made numerous exaggerated and unverified claims over the course of the war since it began on Feb. 28. He has long called for zero uranium enrichment in Iran, and asserted at a Turning Point USA event on Friday that Iran would “never have a nuclear weapon.” Iran has previously offered to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment but has said it could never accept Trump’s zero-enrichment position.
- Iran’s parliament Speaker Ghalibaf said in his social media post that President Trump made seven false claims in a single hour. It was not clear which of the president’s claims he was refuting.
- He warned in a social media post that if the United States continued its blockade, the Strait of Hormuz would not remain open, and that passage would be based on Iranian authorization. U.S. Central Command had said on Friday that the blockade would remain in effect until President Trump ordered it removed, something Trump said he would not do until Iran signed a peace agreement.
Future negotiations. President Trump’s announcement that Iran had agreed to “completely open” the Strait of Hormuz bolstered hopes that the two governments were keeping alive a cease-fire agreement reached last week and nearing a framework for further negotiations to reach a lasting peace deal. The announcement came a day after Mr. Trump said U.S. and Iranian teams would probably meet this weekend for a second round of talks, as Iranian officials said the sides were nearing agreement on a document that sets a formal framework and a 60-day clock for negotiations.
For Iran, the economic fallout of the war is a major incentive for reaching a deal with the United States. The government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, announced yesterday that initial assessments suggest Iran has sustained at least $270 billion in damages.
’I Just Want to Be Back’: Lebanese people who had been displaced by fighting expressed a mix of excitement and uncertainty about a pause in Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. The government in Lebanon, while having no direct control over Hezbollah, now has to navigate the issue of the Iran-backed group’s disarmament.
The New York Times
