US President Donald Trump on Thursday upped the pressure on Iran to fully re-open the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran claimed a breach of the temporary ceasefire deal and kept the waterway blocked. The leader said US forces will remain in the Persian Gulf region till Iran complies with the terms of the truce.
"All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with (sic)," Trump said on Truth Social.
"If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin' Starts,” bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK! (sic)," he added.
A day ago, Trump announced a "double sided" ceasefire after a Pakistan-brokered arrangement with Tehran. The truce was contingent on Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran had said that it would stop "defensive" operations if attacks on the country were halted. Israel also reportedly agreed to the ceasefire
Equities across the world jumped after the agreement and oil prices dipped below the $100 mark.
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However, late Wednesday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said three clauses of the ceasefire proposal have been contravened. The violations are the denial of the Islamic Republic's right to enrich uranium and Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon, a drone's entry into Iranian airspace, he said.
Iran then suspended the passage of oil ships through Hormuz. "The Iran-U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose-ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both," Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance would lead an American delegation to Islamabad, which would include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with the first round of talks taking place Saturday morning local time.
The Israeli military on Wednesday said it had carried out its largest operation against Hezbollah since the start of the Iran war, targeting more than 100 of the militia's command centers and military sites within 10 minutes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed a military campaign he said had set back the Iranian regime's capabilities by many years but said the war had not ended.
Trump has said Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire deal but expressed confidence that the Israeli military campaign would not undercut the broader agreement. He told PBS that Hezbollah would "get taken care of, too. It's all right."
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