US President Donald Trump on August 3rd warned that Iran is having a "last chance" to sign a peace agreement.
Speaking from the White House, Mr. Trump said Washington and Tehran have begun new negotiations, despite the Iranian Foreign Ministry previously deniving any negotiations.
We are negotiating. And we are negotiating at the request of Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and especially Qatar," Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "This is the last chance for them to sign a good document," he added.
When asked for more details, the President said the negotiations involved reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restricting Iran's nuclear program, two conditions for an agreement that the US has repeatedly requested.
We are discussing the strait, opening the strait, to let it open literally tomorrow, completely open," he said. "That's phase one. And phase two is we will discuss nuclear capability," he continued, adding that "Iran's denuclearization must take place.
The Strait of Hormuz has become a key point causing deadlock in diplomatic efforts between the two sides over the past few months. Tehran has in fact closed this route, which transports about 1/4 of the global oil traded by sea, after attacks by the US and Israel on Iran in late February, pushing energy markets into chaos.
The US and Iran reached a temporary agreement to end the conflict and reopen the strait in June, with the signing of a "memory", but retaliatory attacks quickly resumed afterwards. On August 1, Mr. Trump announced that he had canceled a planned large-scale attack on Iran at the request of Tehran and some Middle Eastern countries, when "the frameworks of an agreement" had been agreed upon.
The Iranian military is said to have rejected Mr. Trump's statement that Tehran had asked the US to stop the attack. Mr. Esmail Baghaei, Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said on August 3 that "there is no negotiation" with the US, but negotiations with Oman are underway on allowing ships to travel safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
