US Strikes Iran Targets as Trump Vows to 'Watch Over' Hormuz

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US Strikes Iran Targets as Trump Vows to 'Watch Over' Hormuz.

watchlist :: 4hrs ago :: source - bloomberg

By Tyler Kendall, Eltaf Najafizada and Golnar Motevalli

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump asserted that no one nation would control the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, highlighting a key sticking point in resolving the war with Iran.

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Hours later, American forces carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site, as a resolution to the war that began nearly three months ago remains elusive despite recent optimism.

A US official said the attacks were defensive and the US intends to maintain the existing ceasefire. The official said Central Command forces shot down a quartet of one-way Iranian attack drones that were fired at a commercial ship, and also struck another Iranian drone launching unit in Bandar Abbas, near the strait.

Earlier, Trump was asked during a meeting of his cabinet if he was comfortable with a short-term deal that would open the strait but under Iranian control.

“Nobody’s going to control it. It’s international waters,” Trump said Wednesday at the White House. “The strait’s going to be open to everybody” and the US will “watch over it.”

Trump didn’t indicate what steps the US would take to ensure free passage of vessels. Iran has effectively choked off traffic along the energy waterway, triggering a chain reaction of price surges for crude oil and gasoline that have shaken the global economy since the US and Israel’s Feb. 28 attack.

The American president has, by turns, instituted his own blockade of Iranian ports along the strait, called for allies to assist with the effort to pry it open so that commercial ships and tankers could resume safe passage, and threatened to resume major airstrikes against the country — all to little avail.

US oil advanced after falling more than 5% on Wednesday. Asian stocks were set to edge lower on Thursday as investors weighed conflicting signals over prospects for an accord.

Trump’s remarks followed an Iranian state television report on a draft interim peace deal, which said maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz could return to normal within a month of it coming into effect.

The White House cast the report and the draft memorandum of understanding as “a complete fabrication,” adding in a social media post that “nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out.”

Trump also downplayed the possibility of Iranian sanctions relief, saying “we’re not talking about any easing of sanctions, no money, no nothing.”

Other key points in negotiations reported by Iran’s IRIB News included the US lifting its naval blockade on Iranian ports and the American navy leaving waters surrounding Iran.

The draft also said Iran and Oman will have a mechanism in place to oversee shipping in the strait. That’s one of the most contentious issues holding up a deal, with the US saying vessels must be allowed free passage. Oman has not commented in recent weeks on Iran saying the two are in discussions about managing the strait.

Trump on Wednesday asserted that “Oman will behave just like everybody else,” threatening that otherwise “we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that.”

He also amplified his call for more countries to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel alongside an agreement with Iran.

Trump threatened that “I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign” and asserted that countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar “owe that to” the US.

Both Iran and the US in the past week have said their talks, via mediators such as Pakistan and Qatar, were making headway. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Wednesday that “there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days.”

Ali Bagheri-Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that “until we have agreed on all issues, we consider that we have agreed on nothing.”

Bagheri-Kani in Russia on Wednesday added that “a completely different procedure will be introduced” for Hormuz passage and that Iran and Oman are holding talks to determine that mechanism.

An Iranian delegation recently returned to Tehran following intense talks in Doha that yielded good progress, according to a diplomat with knowledge of the visit.

The negotiations, in coordination with the US, focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s highly enriched uranium, while the issue of Tehran’s frozen funds was also discussed as part of a potential final agreement, said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified speaking of private discussions.

Facing domestic pressure to end a conflict that’s driven up inflation and gas prices and imperiled his party’s prospects in the November midterm elections, Trump has maintained that he won’t be rushed on a deal. He said Wednesday that Iranians thought they could force his hand in negotiations.

“They thought they were going to out-wait me,” Trump said. “‘We’ll out-wait him, he’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms. Look what happened last night,” he added, referring to victories for candidates he backed in primary races.

The warring sides, since notching a fragile ceasefire in early April, also need to agree on what portion of Iranian financial assets will be unfrozen and how quickly. On Tuesday, Iranian state media said Tehran wants $12 billion unfrozen once an interim deal is agreed.

Another potential obstacle is a parallel war in Lebanon between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants who are classified as terrorists by the US. Israel has stepped up attacks in recent days and said its ground forces are moving further into its northern neighbor’s territory.

Iran insists the ceasefire has to cover “all fronts,” including Lebanon.

Here’s more on the Iran war:

Several explosive drones fell in Israeli territory near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz gained modest momentum as at least two non-Iranian supertankers exited the Persian Gulf, the latest mini-flurry in energy flows transiting the vital waterway.
An oil tanker named Olympic Life reported an explosion off the coast of Oman on Tuesday, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center.

--With assistance from John Bowker, Josh Wingrove, Fiona MacDonald, Will Kubzansky, Meghashyam Mali, Derek Wallbank, Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Courtney McBride and Skylar Woodhouse.

(Updates with details of new strike, starting in second paragraph.)