TRUMP: ‘NO STICKING POINTS’: To hear President Donald Trump tell it, a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and bar Iran from ever having nuclear weapons is just days away. By one count, Trump has made similar statements more than three dozen times in the past few months. However, speaking to reporters at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York last night, Trump insisted negotiations were about to conclude with a “powerful deal.”
“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons, et cetera,” Trump said after watching game three of the NBA Finals in New York. “And the Strait will open up right away. It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.”
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When an incredulous reporter asked if Trump were saying he’d be signing a peace agreement in two or three days, Trump was quick to backpedal. “No, no, we have a good chance of doing it,” he said. “I don’t think there are any sticking points. I think we’re very close to having a very, very, good, strong, powerful deal.”
Earlier in the evening, in a remote appearance at a rally in South Carolina for Sen. Lindsey Graham and Pamela Evette, Trump promised the war would end later this month. “We’re negotiating now, and they want to make a very good deal. They’re willing to give us everything. They’re willing to give us no nuclear weapons. I think we are winning that battle, but you’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory, it will be a total victory.”
TRUMP TO NETANYAHU: ‘I WANT YOU TO STOP’: For a while there, it looked as though renewed attacks and counterattacks between Iran and Israel would reignite the war and scuttle the nominal ceasefire that has been barely holding since April.
According to Axios’s very deeply sourced correspondent Barak Ravid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on the verge of ordering the “the biggest wave of strikes on Iran since April, with dozens of sensitive targets to be attacked” when he got a call from Trump telling him to stand down.
“I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon,'” Trump told Ravid. “After the call, Netanyahu told his senior military commanders to cancel the strikes,” Axios reported.
“Trump argued that either he would get a deal with Iran in a few days that would make the strikes unnecessary, or he wouldn’t — in which case he might lead the strikes on Iran,” Ravid reported, citing Israeli sources. “It is going to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and stop enrichment. It is a phenomenal deal. We are getting everything we wanted,” Trump told Axios.
“We had a very good conversation, and he was hit, and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” Trump told reporters last night. “He was hit, he hit back, and now they’ve called it quits. So they’re going to just leave each other alone for another week or something.”
“I said do what’s right, but I want you to stop as quickly as you can, because they have to stop,” Trump said he told Netanyahu. “We want to get it finished.”
BLOCKADE NOT BOMBS: Despite the tough talk about the possibility of renewed strikes on Iran, Trump continues to make it clear he has little appetite for resuming major combat operations, which cost more than $30 billion, 14 U.S. lives, and depleted U.S. munition stocks.
“If we go and bomb, which we can do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing, they’ll have nothing left whatsoever, but you won’t have this Strait open for months,” Trump said last night. “If we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are gonna be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t — and we’ll have a signed document that’s actually stronger than doing the bombing.”
Trump also admitted what many military analysts have observed, that while the 39 days of Operation Epic Fury destroyed much of Iran’s military capability, it is the U.S naval blockade of Iranian ports that has put the most pressure on the Iranian regime.
“What has proven to be a very powerful thing is the blockade,” Trump said. “The blockade turned out to be much stronger than bombing.”
HERE’S WHY IRAN’S ATTACKS ON ISRAEL DIDN’T CROSS TRUMP’S RED LINES
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THE VIEW FROM TEHRAN: While Trump touts a “total victory” over Iran, Iranian officials continue to insist there has been no agreement on the main points of contention.
“We don’t think that he’s honest,” Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security and foreign policy committee of the Iranian parliament, told CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen in an interview broadcast yesterday.
“We do not see a serious will to reach a framework that could actually be implemented. And I think, with regard to Iran’s blocked assets, this is, in fact, a very clear and prominent example of that,” Azizi said. “As for uranium, enriched materials, enrichment itself, and nuclear issues, we are not currently negotiating on those matters. There is no discussion of them.”
The latest analysis from the Institute for the Study of War concluded Iran is trying to leverage its ability to continue to launch drone and missile strikes against U.S. allies as a bargaining chip to achieve its demands, which include the release of $24 billion in frozen oil revenues, and protection of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“As we had promised, we acted accordingly,” Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said Monday. “The powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they act upon their stated commitments with speed and precision, and make their American and Zionist enemies regret their actions.”
“The main issue here is that Iran is trying to connect the negotiations with the United States with Lebanon. And they have nothing to do with Lebanon,” Yechiel Leiter, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. said on Fox News. “We’re not going to allow Hezbollah to dominate Lebanon, to fire killer drones and missiles and rockets into our northern communities and let them have impunity in Beirut. That’s understood really by everyone, particularly by our American friends … We’re on the same page with Lebanon about keeping Iran out of our area.”
US HELICOPTER DOWN: The U.S. Central Command has confirmed reports that a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter crashed last near the Strait of Hormuz, but the pilots survived.
“The pilots are fine, yeah, nobody injured,” President Trump told reporters last night before any official word was released.
“At 7:33 p.m. ET on June 8, two crew members from a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache were rescued by American forces after their helicopter went down near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “The Soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition. The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
“Rescue efforts were led by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, with support from U.S. Air Force and Navy units, including U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59,” read the statement.
READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Here’s why Iran’s attacks on Israel didn’t cross Trump’s red lines
Washington Examiner: Pentagon publishes annual list of companies working in US aiding Chinese military
Washington Examiner: Pentagon updates religious classification list after sparking criticism from Utah’s Mormon senators
Washington Examiner: US airlines spent $6.5 billion on fuel in April as Iran war strangled energy market
Washington Examiner: House passes bill to ease China’s chokehold on critical minerals supply
Washington Examiner: Government spy powers to lapse Friday unless Congress can strike deal
Washington Examiner: Judge sets trial date for soldier accused of profiting $400,000 on Maduro raid
Washington Examiner: Opinion: While Tehran probes with missiles, Jerusalem is in a bind
New York Times: Crew Rescued After U.S. Helicopter Goes Down Near Strait of Hormuz
Axios: Behind the scenes: How Israel and Iran nearly pulled Trump back to war
Wall Street Journal: Lebanon Is Teetering at the Abyss of a New Civil War
The Economist: How Israel is frustrating Donald Trump’s Iran plans
Defense News: US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet Strikes, Disables Oil Tanker in Gulf of Oman
Air & Space Forces Magazine: From 200-Plus to 31: How the Pentagon Cut Religion Codes
Defense News: US Approves Kuwait Request to Buy Nearly $2 Billion of Counter-Drone Platforms
Reuters: Germany and France Drop Joint Fighter Jet Project
Air & Space Forces Magazine: New 3-Star Nominees: AFCENT Commander, Reserve Chief, and More
The War Zone: KC-135 Tanker Spotted with New Satellite Communications Antenna
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Qatar-Gifted ‘Bridge’ Air Force One Painted, Final Modifications Underway
Breaking Defense: Airbus Unveils U145 Autonomous Helicopter Drone for Cargo Supply Ops
Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Commander Takes the Reins at Air Force Research Lab
The Atlantic: What’s Eating ‘Putin’s Brain’?
