US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP
The end of the truce? Trump announced new attacks on Iran
US President Donald Trump said today that the US will launch new attacks on Iran. He added that they were already close to an agreement and accused the Iranian negotiators of thinking the Americans were fools.
Tehran announced earlier today that Washington’s conflicting messages and repeated ceasefire violations undermine the diplomatic process.
“We’re going to attack them – and very hard. They shot down our helicopter. We were really close to making an agreement, but they keep delaying and calling us fools,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, according to the French news agency AFP.
According to the German news agency dpa, Trump has already announced new attacks for today. “Yesterday we hit them hard and today we will hit them hard again,” the American president said.
Earlier today, the US president had already threatened Tehran. As he wrote on the Truth Social social network, Iran negotiated a deal for peace in the Middle East for too long and now “will have to pay the price.” At the same time, he once again declared the Iranian army largely defeated.
Iran will review the status of negotiations
In a separate post, he then praised the alleged success of the US blockade of Iranian ports, calling it “the most successful blockade in the history of naval warfare”. “Iran doesn’t do business at all, doesn’t pay the military or any other bills, and is quickly turning into a failed state! (…) Thank Allah!” he added.
On Tuesday, however, Trump asserted that the United States and Iran are in the final phase of negotiations on an agreement to end the war, which will indeed be very good. As for the time frame, he said the talks could end “within two to three days”.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced today that they will examine the current state of negotiations with the United States after the new US attacks, as conflicting messages from Washington and repeated violations of the ceasefire are undermining the diplomatic process.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned today of the danger of a renewed outbreak of a large-scale war in the Middle East.
His warning followed the latest spat between the US and Iran, after the US military launched a series of strikes against Iran overnight in response to the downing of a US military Apache helicopter, blamed on Iran.
