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Donald Trump announced the end of his vice president’s efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran, days after announcing his intention to maintain the “status quo” rather than launch a new bombing campaign.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days are long gone. We have their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we have their Strait (of Hormuz)!” » published Thursday the American president on his Truth Social platform.
JD Vance last month launched a new effort to boost mediation efforts with Tehran, bypassing Iranian negotiators with a letter sent directly to Mohsen Rezaei, the regime’s top security official.
Regional mediators, led by Qatar, have been trying for weeks to broker an interim deal between the United States and Iran, while urging Trump to allow more time for diplomacy.
Israeli President and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested last month that they could resume attacks on Iran after the US midterm elections.
Concern over looming strikes following the Republican Party’s stunning losses in last week’s election sparked a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates calling the White House.
After meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Washington on Monday, Trump said there was “positive momentum” toward the end of the war. A diplomat briefed on the meeting, which included Vance, also said the discussions were positive, with “agreement that diplomacy is the preferred route to reaching an agreement.”
Later in the day, the president said that “military action does not seem to be a very necessary thing” and said he planned to continue putting pressure on the regime’s economy through sanctions and the US Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports to try to force it to submit to Washington’s demands.
“It’s very much status quo territory. We’re maintaining that,” he said at an impromptu news conference.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week in Paris that “Washington’s economic campaign is working so well that the president really doesn’t need to conduct major combat operations.”
In his Truth Social article published Thursday, Trump said he asked Vance to redirect his efforts toward going after “Democrat-run cities and states,” alleging without evidence that those jurisdictions were stealing “billions of dollars” every month.
A US official told the FT that “the US is in a very strong position” and that Iran’s economy is “collapsing”. The official also reiterated Trump’s assertion that the White House had “control of the Strait of Hormuz,” despite the explosions that disabled two supertankers Wednesday evening.
While officials in Tehran welcomed Vance’s letter, mediators struggled to overcome deep distrust and wide differences in expectations as they sought a temporary agreement.
Under a recent proposal, Iran would allow the free flow of maritime traffic through the strait, the Middle East’s main energy export corridor, and the United States would lift its naval blockade, allow Tehran to export oil and allow it access to some of its frozen funds held abroad.
The United States also wants the regime to agree to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit its main nuclear facilities, which the United States bombed during a 12-day conflict last year.
But sticking points include the sequencing of the various elements of the deal and the fate of the Islamic Republic’s 440 kg of highly enriched uranium stockpile, which the United States has insisted Tehran transfer abroad. Iranian officials have publicly rejected such a move.
Iran wants the United States to take concrete steps, such as lifting the blockade, before any formal agreement.
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