President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and enter a ceasefire and is considering renewed military strikes against the country after the midterm elections in November.
Trump publicly responded to the proposal Saturday morning, telling reporters at the White House, “I’m rejecting their deal.”
“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump said.
“You know you don’t read that, you don’t see that in the fake news. We’re winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait, massive amounts of oil are coming out of the Hormuz Strait.”
“Last night we had 29 ships come out. They want to make a deal, and I think that’s fine, I like making a deal, too, but that deal would not be acceptable,” the president continued.
Under the proposal, Iran would reopen the strait and resume negotiations over its nuclear programme.
According to a Wall Street Journal report citing US officials, the president is skeptical over Iran’s ability to honor its end of the deal and told officials that he is contemplating resuming military strikes.
Tehran is seeking several concessions from the US in return, including an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, waivers on sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales and a ceasefire that would extend to Lebanon, according to the Associated Press.
The president went on to tell reporters Saturday that Iran wants the ability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “because they’re dying.”
“You know why they’re dying? Because they have no money coming in. Because they get their money from the Hormuz Strait,” he continued.
