Trump tells Iran to sign deal with US or ‘the whole country is going to get blown up’

Trump falls back on threats to civil infrastructure over Hormuz closure

Trump tells Iran to sign deal with US or ‘the whole country is going to get blown up’
Trump tells Iran to sign deal with US or ‘the whole country is going to get blown up’ Photo: The Independent

Trump falls back on threats to civil infrastructure over Hormuz closure
President Donald Trump issued a threat to Iran’s government early Sunday morning, writing on Truth Social that it would be his “honor” to direct the U.S.

military to target Iranian bridges and power plants if the country did not reach a deal with U.S.

negotiators around the Strait of Hormuz.

He also told a Fox News reporter that “the whole country is getting blown up” if Iran declines the U.S’s latest offer.

The president fell back on his threats to target civil infrastructure after it was reported that Iranian forces were refusing passage through the strait over the weekend.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.

NO MORE MR.

NICE GUY!” Trump wrote.

He added that a team of U.S.

negotiators would return to Pakistan on Monday for negotiations.

It wasn’t immediately clear if plans were already underway for an Iranian delegation to be present.

Talks in Pakistan collapsed one weekend ago after Vice President JD Vance was dispatched to lead the Trump team’s efforts to reach a deal.

Those efforts failed, and Vance emerged from a marathon session unable to pinpoint a specific matter on which the two sides had found agreement.

According to the president and other U.S.

officials, the main gap between the U.S.

and Iran remains around the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Trump administration officials are pushing for the full destruction of Iran’s nuclear sites, the surrender of nuclear material, and a guarantee that Iran will not seek to enrich uranium in the future.

Vance will not be leading this latest round of talks, per Fox News, which reported that Trump’s other top diplomatic deputies Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will head the American delegation.

The timing of Sunday’s complaints from Trump are significant.

His posting on Truth Social comes just 48 hours after the U.S.

president separately declared “victory” and said that the Strait of Hormuz was open once again to global shipping traffic.

This weekend’s developments are a sign that despite the president’s boastings, the U.S.

has not achieved its objectives and has still failed to force Iran’s government to relinquish its grip on a valuable strategic asset.

On early Friday morning Trump wrote on Truth Social that the strait was “fully open”.

“JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE”, read another all-caps Truth Social bulletin.

He’d go on to turn his criticism on Nato and European allies whose governments refused to aid the U.S.

in reopening the Strait of Hormuz by force.

The U.S.

president previously promised to form a multinational coaltion to do so, only to come up short with no backers for his plan to individually escort tankers and other cargo ships through the strait.

And it seems to have been his decision to maintain a U.S.

blockade of Iranian ports that shifted the dynamic over the weekend.

A U.K.-based maritime security agency reported early Sunday that a tanker was fired upon by a vessel or vessels manned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“The Master of a Tanker reports being approached by 2 IRGC gun boats, no VHF challenge that then fired upon the tanker.

Tanker and crew are reported safe.

Authorities are investigating,” the U.K.

Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) reported.

In an X post from Iran’s embassy in Hyerabad, India, the IRGC stated: “As long as the traffic of vessels to and from Iran is threatened by the U.S, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will be as before, more restricted.”
“Every breach by the US will meet an appropriate response,” added the IRGC naval command in the statement posted to X.

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Source: This article was originally published by The Independent

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