Trump Pauses Plan to Guide Ships While Seeking Iran Deal

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Trump Pauses Plan to Guide Ships While Seeking Iran Deal.

watchlist :: 19hrs ago :: source - bloomberg

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said he would pause an effort to help stranded ships exit the Strait of Hormuz to see if the US can reach an agreement with Iran to end the war.

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“Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday. The effort to break Iran’s chokehold on the waterway had only begun on Monday.

The president cited “Great Progress” toward “a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran.” He said the decision had been made at the request of Pakistan — which is helping mediate talks between Washington and Tehran — as well as other countries. He added, however, that a US blockade of ships transiting to and from Iranian ports would “remain in full force and effect.”

It was not clear what progress Trump referred to, and he didn’t provide details on what, if any, negotiations were in the works. His comments marked an abrupt shift from recent days, when he had voiced frustration over the pace of talks and indicated he wasn’t satisfied with Tehran’s proposals.

Brent crude oil dropped around 1% toward $108 a barrel, after sliding 4% on Tuesday.

Project Freedom was meant to sit at the center of the next phase of the US approach to Iran. The US military said it helped two vessels exit Hormuz on Monday, repelling multiple attacks by Iranian drones, missiles and irregular navy fast-attack boats.

According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the Pentagon was deploying guided-missile destroyers with air defense capabilities, more than 100 aircraft, 15,000 personnel in the region, and a mix of drones including underwater platforms.

But Trump shelved the operation just hours after top US officials outlined the role the US military would play.

The administration appears to be seeking ways to ease the standoff that has escalated fuel prices, exacerbating economic strains that Republicans fear could lead to their party losing control of both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections. Before Trump’s announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that offensive operations against Iran were over.

While the US now seems intent on trying to deescalate the conflict, which has killed thousands of people in Iran and Lebanon and roiled global energy markets, the path to a deal that reopens the strait, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil exports, remains distant.

As Rubio spoke on Tuesday, a British monitoring organization reported that a cargo ship in the strait had been struck by an unknown projectile. The US said the shutdown around Hormuz has left more than 1,550 commercial vessels, carrying some 22,000 sailors, trapped in the Persian Gulf.

Further clouding the picture, prior to Trump’s announcement, Iran’s president dismissed American demands to resume talks as “impossible.”

“The problem is that while the US pursues a policy of maximum pressure against our country, it also expects the Islamic Republic of Iran to come to the negotiating table and ultimately submit to its unilateral demands — an equation that is impossible,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a call with Iraq’s prime minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Trump and top administration officials have described challenges with talks, in part because of divisions within Iran itself.

Sometimes after an offer is made, Rubio said, “it takes five or six days to get a response,” since it has to wind its way through a system and be put in front of the supreme leader.

“Their system has always been multilayered in this way. It’s obviously become more complex because of the damage they suffered during the war,” he said.

More Related to the War

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on Wednesday, Xinhua News Agency reported.
At the UN, the US and its allies backed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that would open the door to sanctions or even military action if Iran doesn’t ease its chokehold over the strait. The proposal would require support from China and Russia to pass.

--With assistance from John Harney, Eric Martin, Josh Wingrove, Eltaf Najafizada, Meghashyam Mali and Michael Heath.

(Updates with Iran-China foreign ministers meeting.)