Trump plays down Iran talks, leans on allies over Hormuz
President Donald Trump said the United States remains in contact with Iran but voiced doubt that Tehran is ready for serious negotiations.
President Donald Trump said the United States remains in contact with Iran but voiced doubt that Tehran is ready for serious negotiations.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump hinted that there were talks but said that “I don’t think they are ready.”
"I think they will negotiate at some point," he added. "We are doing very well with respect to the whole situation in Iran."
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed suggestions Tehran was seeking talks. “
We never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation,” he told CBS. “We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes.”
As the US-Israeli war with Iran entered its third week, tensions around the Strait of Hormuz continued to roil global energy markets.
Trump said his administration was in talks with seven countries about helping to secure the strait and called on them to protect shipping through the vital waterway that Tehran has largely blocked to tanker traffic.
“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Florida to Washington on Sunday.
He did not say which countries he meant. Australia has already said it will not send naval ships to help reopen the strait.
He also told the Financial Times that NATO allies faced a “very bad future” if they failed to do more to support US efforts against Iran.
Oil giants concerned
The chief executives of ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips warned Trump administration officials that disruption to flows through the Strait of Hormuz is likely to worsen the global energy crisis, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The executives cautioned that prolonged instability around the strategic waterway could sustain volatility, tighten supplies and risk shortages of refined products.
In a separate social media post, Trump accused Iran of using artificial intelligence and sympathetic news outlets to spread false battlefield claims.
He rejected reports of damage to US aircraft and ships and said media organizations that carried such accounts could face legal consequences, suggesting some should be charged with treason.
