Trump threatens stronger attacks if Iran peace talks fail

US President Donald Trump has vowed to retain military assets in the Middle East until a peace deal with Iran is reached and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it failed to comply, as oil prices rose on concerns over supply and restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Trump said in a social media post that US ships, aircraft and personnel with additional ammunition and weaponry would remain in place to destroy, if necessary, "a substantially degraded enemy", but expressed confidence that a lasting deal would be agreed and followed.

"If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the 'Shootin' Starts,' bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before," Mr Trump said, adding that contrary to "fake rhetoric", Iran had agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest.

AMERICA IS BACK!"
Though both the United States and Iran have declared victory in a five-week-old war that has killed thousands, their core disputes remained unresolved, with each side sticking to competing demands for a deal that could shape the Middle East for generations.

Iran says talks 'unreasonable' amid Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Mr Trump's latest post followed the largest co-ordinated strike of the war by Israel yesterday, which killed more than 250 people in Lebanon , prompting a warning from Iran's lead negotiator that Israel ramping up its parallel war and Washington's insistence on Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions could jeopardise talks to forge a permanent peace deal.

"In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable," Iran's parliament speaker Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, said in a statement yesterday.

Israel's blitz of air strikes on Wednesday raised questions about regional truce efforts, with conflicting messages on the scope of the ceasefire and sharply contrasting agendas for peace talks set to start on Saturday in Pakistan.

The United States and Israel say Lebanon is not included in the agreement, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said a halt in hostilities in Lebanon was an essential condition of Tehran's deal with Washington.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it fired rockets early today at the small kibbutz of Manara, citing what it described as Israel's ceasefire violations, warning of more until there was a halt in "Israeli-American aggression".

US did not agree that ceasefire would cover Lebanon - Vance
Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned the Israeli operations today, which it said "undermine international efforts to establish peace and stability".

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said Lebanon "must be fully covered" by the ceasefire while British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said the UK "strongly" wanted to see Lebanon included in the ceasefire in the Middle East.

The two sides appeared to be far apart on Iran's nuclear programme as well - one of the factors that Mr Trump cited as ‌the basis for war.

Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to stop enriching uranium, ⁠which can be turned into nuclear weapons, and the White House said Iran has indicated it would turn over its existing stocks.

"The United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried ...

Nuclear 'Dust," Mr Trump said on social media yesterday.

Mr Qalibaf, however, said it was allowed to continue enriching uranium under the terms of the ceasefire.

Iran's delegation for the talks is due to arrive in Islamabad tonight.

"Despite scepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated ceasefire violations by Israeli regime ...

Iranian delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks based on 10 points proposed by Iran," Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam said in a post on X on Thursday.

'Freedom of navigation means navigation must be free'
Oil prices climbed today with investors concerned about the fragility of the truce and elevated geopolitical risks over Middle East supply, with doubts that restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz would soon ease.

There was scant sign that the strait was open in any meaningful way since the agreement, with Iran still asserting its control over the vital artery, a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply, and demanding tolls for safe passage.

Tehran's newly demonstrated ability to cut off Gulf energy supplies through its grip on the strait, despite decades of massive US military investment in the region, shows how the conflict has already altered power dynamics in the Gulf.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy posted a map today showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help ships avoid naval mines, the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA said.

The map suggests Iran is preparing to reopen the Strait, however the presence of sea mines means that the waterway remains dangerous, and that reopening it fully may take days, or longer.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to say today that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, must be toll-free, countering a push by Iran to control a channel long treated as an international waterway.

"The fundamental freedoms of the seas must not be unilaterally withdrawn or sold off to individual bidders.

Nor can there be any place for tolls on an international waterway," Cooper will say in an annual foreign policy speech in London, according to advance extracts.

"Freedom of navigation means navigation must be free."
Read More: Bloody day in Lebanon puts fragile ceasefire at risk Latest Middle East stories
Additional reporting: Edmund Heaphy