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The prospects for peace in the Middle East suffered a fresh setback, with President Donald Trump saying he\u2019s not interested in extending the expiring agreement with Iran and fighting flaring anew in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he would seek an extension of the memorandum of understanding signed in June \u2014 which technically expires Monday \u2014 Trump told reporters, \u201cNo.\u201d That truce was meant to give Washington and Tehran a window to reach a more lasting peace deal within 60 days.<\/p>\n
Two months after the pact\u2019s signing at the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris, with Trump flanked by world leaders and business titans and celebrating renewed flows of oil, both sides have said the agreement is defunct. Tensions over the Strait of Hormuz have sparked flare-ups in hostilities, multiple fronts have created a tinderbox across the Middle East, and there\u2019s been no movement on addressing Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities that remain Trump\u2019s stated primary objective for the strikes from late February.<\/p>\n
Still, Trump insisted on Monday that the US had leverage over Iran, citing the naval blockade of Iranian ports. He repeated his idea of declaring the waterway an American territory, insisting the US retained total control \u2014 remarks directly at odds with Iranian officials who insist on managing flows through the strait.<\/p>\n
Brent crude rose to end the session near $91 a barrel Monday on fresh concerns about an escalation of the war that\u2019s jolted global energy markets. The global benchmark has gained about 8% since the start of last week as the prospects further dimmed for a swift reopening of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas transited before the war.<\/p>\n
Any renewed fighting would likely complicate efforts to revive the deadlocked negotiations between the US and Iran. Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp to a war that\u2019s increasingly unpopular in the US and threatens to penalise Republicans in November\u2019s midterm elections. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US is preparing to announce new economic measures on Tehran \u201clike have never been seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oman is negotiating with Iran on how the Strait of Hormuz should be managed, but the US isn\u2019t part of those discussions. In a phone interview earlier with Fox News, Trump warned that if \u201cOman gets in the way we\u2019ll bomb the s\u2014\u2014 out of them,\u201d without giving any further details. He made a similar threat in May. Oman is not a formal US military ally but has served as a close US security partner.<\/p>\n
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Iran said a \u201cshipping map\u201d has been finalised as part of a broader agreement for the governance of traffic in the strait, but intensive talks are continuing and a deal won\u2019t necessarily translate into a reopening.<\/p>\n
A deal has been elusive due to security complexities and the \u201cobstructionist behaviour of destructive elements,\u201d Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters on Monday. Tehran has said the US must remove its blockade.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Earlier on Fox News, Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed the US military is \u201cbringing out eight or nine million barrels of oil per day\u201d from the region compared to \u201czero barrels of oil per day\u201d in Iranian exports.<\/p>\n
Trump told Fox News that back channels with officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remain open, something a spokesman later denied as a \u201cdelusion,\u201d according to the state-run IRNA.<\/p>\n
Tensions in the Middle East were already on the rise over the weekend, when Israel\u2019s military said it killed senior Hezbollah commander Abu Hassan Alaa in southern Lebanon. Eleven people died in the Israeli strikes on Saturday, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were in retaliation for an attack by the militant group that seriously injured three soldiers.<\/p>\n
In recent days, Israel has also struck Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza, the Yemen-based Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea, and several vessels have been hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli settlers have meanwhile laid siege to Palestinian homes, drawing international condemnation. Netanyahu has downplayed that violence and blamed a small number of radicals.<\/p>\n
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While much of Iran\u2019s industrial capacity has been damaged and crude exports severely curtailed by the US blockade, decades of sanctions have failed to force it to bend on its nuclear program or relinquish control over Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Iran has used the relative lull in fighting to prepare for a potentially broader confrontation, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Iranian and Arab officials. Tehran has installed hard-line veterans in key security posts and accelerated missile and drone production, it said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s son-in-law and peace envoy Jared Kushner visited the Middle East this week to try and accelerate a US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. He, along with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace\u2019s top envoy, were holding talks with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday.<\/p>\n
Kushner met Netanyahu a day after holding talks with a Hamas leader in Egypt, assuring the prime minister that Israel\u2019s military won\u2019t be compelled to withdraw from Gaza until Hamas fully disarms, according to an official with knowledge of the talks.<\/p>\n
Those conditions are likely to be rejected by Hamas, which has insisted that Israel withdraw from Gaza before it gives up its weapons. The impasse underscores how challenging it will be to finalise a deal that Trump has widely touted as a \u201cmonumental step\u201d toward a lasting peace in the region.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Hamas called on mediators and the US-created Board of Peace overseeing the ceasefire to \u201ccompel\u201d Israel to approve a road map setting out the next steps in the truce, the news agency said.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#USIran #peace #prospects #dim #Trump #rejects #truce #extension<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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