Donald Trump has taken a brutal swipe at Iran over the Strait of Hormuz as an agreement over a peace deal teeters on the edge.
Taking on Truth Social, he wrote: “Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately – Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!”
Mr Trump also said: “They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face’. People approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the strait, immediately’. But if we do that, there can never be a deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their country, their leaders included!”
This came as Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Francesca and Epaminondas vessels, following gunfire attacks on ships earlier on Wednesday. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said the vessels “had endangered maritime security by operating without the required authorisation and by tampering with navigation systems”.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the Epaminondas “ignored warnings” from the country’s armed forces before an IRGC “gun boat” opened fire on it. Other reports added that the Greek-owned Euphoria was also attacked.
On Tuesday evening Mr Trump said he had agreed to delay any fresh military action after what he described as a request from Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir. The two-week ceasefire was due to expire in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The US President said: “I have directed our military to continue the blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”
Iran, however, rebuffed US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire extension. The country’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said that Trump’s ceasefire extension is “certainly a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike”. State media reported that the country had not requested an extension of the ceasefire.
With peace talks on the verge of collapse, an Iranian security official warned that the US seizure of the country’s ships would be a “big gamble” that would make American ships legitimate targets for retaliation.
In the UK, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer held talks with ministers and officials on the Government’s work to ease pressures on the public caused by the conflict. They also talked about diplomacy to support negotiations between the US and Iran, military planning as part of the post-war mission to keep the Strait of Hormuz open co-led with France, and wider measures such as efforts to weaken the link between gas and electricity prices.
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