Iran trade official warns against keeping Hormuz closed

US Senator Chris Murphy said he wants the Iran war to end now and supports a deal that constrains Tehran’s nuclear program, but warned that any agreement President Donald Trump reaches would likely be “way worse” than the 2015 nuclear deal he withdrew from.

Murphy said the Obama-era JCPOA limited Iran’s enrichment to 3%, capped its enriched uranium stockpile and required regular inspections to monitor compliance, while Iran pledged never to obtain a nuclear weapon.

He said Trump’s withdrawal from the deal pushed Iran’s nuclear program “into overdrive,” allowing Tehran to make advances it had not made before.

Murphy said Iran had enriched uranium to 20% before the JCPOA, but has now reached 60%, adding that Iran can make a bomb “in months” and “probably 10 of them.”

Murphy said Trump appeared to want a new JCPOA with a temporary ban on enrichment, but argued he is unlikely to get it because Iran now has leverage it did not have in 2015, including the Strait of Hormuz and the collapse of the earlier international coalition that included Russia and China.

He added that Iran could afford to sign a deal limiting its current enrichment because, after Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, Tehran now knows how to make weapons-grade uranium.

“No deal can reverse the knowledge they gained. That’s a disaster Trump made,” Murphy wrote.

Murphy also said Trump would not secure the inspections system obtained under the Obama administration because that depended on international cooperation, adding that “no other nation trusts Trump.”

“His inspections regime, like everything else he touches, will be full of holes,” Murphy wrote.

Murphy said Trump’s “ineptitude” had lowered his expectations for a deal, though he added that “a bad deal could be better than no deal,” with no deal still the most likely outcome.

“But no one should forget how badly Trump and his team have bungled this. It’s unforgivable incompetence,” he wrote.

Iran approved the passage of a Qatari LNG tanker through the Strait of Hormuz in what could become the first transit by a Qatari gas vessel through the waterway since the start of the war, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The tanker Al Kharaitiyat was sailing toward the strait after leaving Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal for Port Qasim in Pakistan, according to LSEG shipping data.

The gas is being sold by Qatar to Pakistan under a government-to-government deal, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

They said Iran approved the shipment to help build confidence with Qatar and Pakistan, which has been acting as a mediator in the war.

A source briefed on the arrangement said Pakistan had been in talks with Iran to allow a limited number of LNG tankers through the strait as Islamabad seeks to ease an urgent gas shortage.

Iran agreed to assist, and the two sides are coordinating safe passage for the first vessel carrying gas under Pakistan’s agreement with Qatar, its main LNG supplier, the source said.

The vessel, managed by Nakilat Shipping Qatar Ltd and sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, has a cargo capacity of 211,986 cubic meters, according to LSEG data.

The move follows an earlier incident on April 6, when Iran’s Revolutionary Guards halted two Qatari LNG tankers, Al Daayen and Rasheeda, as they headed toward the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranians in cities around the world are holding rallies over the weekend after a call by exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi to protest internet shutdowns, mass arrests and death sentences in Iran.

The rallies are being held under the slogan “A nation held hostage,” with organizers saying they aim to draw attention to the Islamic Republic’s internet restrictions, widening arrests and continued executions of citizens.

Some gatherings were held or began on Saturday, while most rallies are set for Sunday, May 10, according to Reza Pahlavi’s communications team.

Gatherings are taking place or planned in London, Sydney, Seoul, Stockholm, Berlin, Frankfurt, Toronto and Los Angeles, as well as many other cities.

In Berlin, protesters are set to march from Potsdamer Platz toward the Brandenburg Gate, while Iranians in Sydney are due to march from North Hyde Park to Martin Place.

A member of the Iranian parliament’s presiding board warned the United Arab Emirates against aligning with the United States and Israel in the war, saying Abu Dhabi should avoid entering a confrontation beyond its capacity.

Ruhollah Motefaker Azad said that if the UAE has “strategic rationality,” it would not place itself in a danger greater than its ability to handle “for the interests of Israel and America,” which he said had failed in the conflict.

“The UAE does not count for the Islamic Republic,” he said.

He added that Emirati officials should understand “the rules of this war” and avoid entering an arena that is “beyond their capacity and size.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern over attacks on Erbil and other parts of Iraqi territory during the Iran war, saying Ankara does not want the conflict to spread to other countries in the region.

Erdogan made the remarks during a meeting in Istanbul with Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, according to Turkey’s Communications Directorate.

Erbil and bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region have been repeatedly targeted by missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic since the start of the war between Iran and the United States and Israel.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue its solidarity with the KRG during the current period. The two sides also discussed developments in Iraq, regional stability, trade, transportation and energy cooperation.