US President Donald Trumpsaid on Thursday that Iran was letting 10 oil tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz as an apparent goodwill gesture in negotiations. Trump made the comments at a Cabinet meeting in the White House, elaborating on what he had previously described as a "present" from Iran.
"They said, to show you the fact that we're real and solid and we're there, we're going let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil," Trump said. "I guess they were right, and they were real, and I think they were Pakistani-flagged... It ended up being 10 boats." Trump's comments came as he pressed Iran to agree to a deal that would clear the maritime chokepoint and end its nuclear program.
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The US President on Tuesday had baffled some observers when he said that Iran had given the United States an expensive, energy-related concession. "They gave us a present and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money," Trump told reporters then.
According to a Reuters report, Iran has dismissed a US proposal aimed at ending nearly four weeks of fighting, calling it "one-sided and unfair." The proposal, conveyed to Tehran via Pakistan, was reviewed by senior Iranian officials, a source told Reuters, but was found to lack "the minimum requirements for success" and seen as serving US and Israeli interests.
US President Donald Trump, however, has maintained a hard line, warning that Iran must agree to a deal or face continued military action. "They now have the chance... to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions," he said, adding, "If they don't, we're their worst nightmare."
At the same time, Trump struck a more ambiguous note on diplomacy, describing Iranians as "great negotiators" but saying he was unsure if Washington was "willing to make a deal with them to end the war."
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