President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has called off impending strikes on Iran due to the state of negotiations.
“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have … canceled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” he said, hours after he threatened that the U.S. military would seize Kharg Island.
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“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved,” he said, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.
The president did not provide details of the agreement.
Hours earlier, Trump posted on social media, “The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT,” and he said that “at some point in the not too distant future,” the U.S. will try to take “Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.”
Kharg Island is located less than 20 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, and it usually handles about 90% of the country’s crude oil exports. U.S. forces have already targeted Kharg Island’s military infrastructure as a warning earlier in the war, but they have, thus far, refrained from major strikes against its oil infrastructure over fears of global economic disruptions and possible escalation and retaliation.
Trump has frequently, throughout this war, threatened significant military escalation, including the targeting of Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure and more, but he has backed off those threats at the last minute multiple times. Ahead of the ceasefire deal he announced on April 7, he warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
He has also repeatedly said the two sides were close to an agreement, but those prior efforts have fallen apart before reaching a breakthrough. Trump has also claimed that Iran was willing to make concessions that meet his demands.
Iran has shut down shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital for the global transportation of oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf region, by threatening to attack commercial vessels that do not meet its demands. As a result, the number of ships transiting the strait has dropped dramatically from its prewar standard, which has had global economic impacts.
US SAYS IT HAS COMPLETED STRIKES ON IRAN IN RESPONSE TO APACHE SHOOTDOWN
The U.S. Navy is carrying out a parallel blockade of Iranian ports so that Iran, too, will feel economic pain similar to what it has imposed during the war.
It is unclear if the proposal that Trump discussed focuses exclusively on the strait and blockade, or if the deal also includes agreements on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist proxies in the region, which are subjects the Trump administration wants to curb.
