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President Donald Trump insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz be part of any deal to end the Middle East war and escalated threats to obliterate key Iranian infrastructure if his terms aren\u2019t met before a Tuesday deadline.<\/p>\n
Trump said Monday that talks with Iran are \u201cgoing well\u201d and that reopening the strait as \u201ca very big priority.\u201d The president in recent weeks has said an agreement on the strait wasn\u2019t among his core prerequisites for ending the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to have a deal that\u2019s acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything,\u201d he said at a White House news conference.<\/p>\n
Trump laid bare the consequences Iran would face if it doesn\u2019t reach a deal by his Tuesday 8 p.m. Eastern Time cut-off, saying the US military could destroy \u201cevery bridge in Iran by 12 o\u2019clock tomorrow night.\u201d Power plants would be rendered \u201cburning, exploding and never to be used again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Attacking civilian infrastructure is barred by the Geneva Conventions, but Trump said he was \u201cnot at all\u201d concerned about committing war crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean complete demolition by 12 o\u2019clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours, if we wanted to,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s self-imposed deadline marks the latest pivotal moment in the war, now in its second month, which has killed thousands and triggered the largest-ever disruption to the global oil market. The president has struggled to find an off-ramp to the conflict \u2014 increasingly unpopular with Americans who are seeing average gasoline prices above $4 a gallon.<\/p>\n
Iran has warned that it would respond to the kind of strikes Trump is threatening against civilian targets by ramping up its own attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf \u2014 a move that could heighten the global fuel squeeze and amplify damage to the world economy.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s comments on the strait appeared to be at odds with past remarks from his administration about whether he\u2019d be willing to end the war with the strait still closed. Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn\u2019t list reopening Hormuz as a core US military objective.<\/p>\n
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Oil prices rose as Trump threatened more strikes, renewing traders\u2019 fears that flows through the strait would remain curtailed for longer. Global equities \u2014 after gaining Monday on ceasefire hopes \u2014 fluctuated as uncertainty about the war kept investors on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s top diplomat warned the economic fallout from the war could worsen and investors have yet to adjust. \u201cI\u2019m quite sure the markets are not fully pricing the worst-case scenario,\u201d Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told Bloomberg Television at an Investment Management Association of Singapore conference.<\/p>\n
At the press conference, Trump mixed threats with an upbeat assessment of diplomatic conversations, even though Tehran earlier rejected a ceasefire proposal and instead demanded a permanent end to the war.<\/p>\n
Trump said Vice President JD Vance is involved in the conversations and also mentioned special envoy Steve Witkoff, who had sought an agreement with Tehran before the US and Israel began the war in late February.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you that we have a active, willing participant on the other side,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re negotiating, we think in good faith \u2014 we\u2019re going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said it was \u201chighly unlikely\u201d that he\u2019d move the deadline again.<\/p>\n
Earlier Monday, Iran refused to agree to ceasefire terms relayed via Pakistan, which has been mediating efforts to end the conflict.<\/p>\n
Leaders in Iran have instead called for a permanent end to the war, reconstruction efforts and the lifting of sanctions, in addition to protocols for ensuring safe passage through Hormuz, according to Iran\u2019s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.<\/p>\n
The agency reported Monday, citing a spokesman for the nation\u2019s joint military command, that Iran\u2019s offensive against the US and Israel wouldn\u2019t be affected by Trump\u2019s threats.<\/p>\n
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Iran has said it would only allow strait operations to resume when it is compensated for damage from the war. Tehran has continued striking energy targets in neighboring Gulf countries, including Kuwait\u2019s oil headquarters.<\/p>\n
Axios reported that Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are pushing to secure a potential ceasefire \u2014 lasting about 45 days \u2014 to head off threatened American strikes on Iran\u2019s energy infrastructure and retaliation by the Islamic Republic against countries in the region.<\/p>\n
In an expletive-laden post on Sunday, Trump amped up his threats to destroy Iran\u2019s power plants and blow up \u201ceverything over there\u201d before announcing his new deadline. The move adds to a series of extensions since he began issuing similar ultimatums on March 21 to force Iran to reopen the strategic waterway.<\/p>\n
The president initially called his news conference to tout the success of a pair of daring US missions over the weekend to rescue two airmen whose jet was shot down in Iranian airspace. Trump said the operations involved more than 175 aircraft and hundreds of military personnel.<\/p>\n
Yet that incident, combined with Trump\u2019s threats, cut against the aura of invincibility the president and his advisers have sought to project.<\/p>\n
Trump and other officials appeared to contradict each other over the threat posed to American planes flying in the country. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military controls the skies in Iran. But Trump and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said US aircraft involved in the rescue operation had been hit by enemy fire. And Trump later said the two pilots\u2019 fighter jet was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile.<\/p>\n
The president also lamented that he would like to take Iran\u2019s oil for the US but that the American public wants to wind down the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a businessman first,\u201d Trump said when asked about the trade-off between seizing the oil supplies and public opinion. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve said, why don\u2019t we use it \u2014 to the victor go the spoils? And we don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Trump #insists #Hormuz #opening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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