DUBAI/WASHINGTON >> Efforts to end the Iran conflict were at an impasse today with President Donald Trump unhappy at the latest plans from Tehran, which he said had informed the U.S.
it was in a “state of collapse” and figuring out its leadership situation.
Iran’s most recent proposal on resolving the two-month war would set aside discussion of its nuclear program until the conflict was concluded and disputes over shipping were resolved.
Trump wants nuclear issues dealt with from the outset, a U.S.
official briefed on Trump’s Monday meeting with his advisers said.
In a post on Truth Social today, Trump said: “Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse.’ They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!).
Thank you for your attention to this matter!” It was not clear from his post how Iran might have communicated that message and there was no immediate response from Tehran to Trump’s latest comments.
Earlier, an Iranian army spokesperson told state media that the Islamic Republic did not consider the war to be over.
Iran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global energy supplies, since the war began on February 28.
This month, the United States began blockading Iranian ships.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts in a conflict that has killed thousands, thrown energy markets into turmoil and disrupted global trade routes, have receded since Trump last weekend scrapped a visit by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to mediator Pakistan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi shuttled in and out of Islamabad twice during the weekend.
He also visited Oman and on Monday went to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a longstanding ally.
Since several senior Iranian political and military figures were killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power, which may be hardening Tehran’s negotiating stance.
The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, and the elevation of his wounded....
