'I Reject Their Proposal': Trump Turns Down Iran's Hormuz Offer
What was a briefed account this morning is now on the record. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president said: “I reject their proposal… I rejected their deal.” He added: “They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly. We’re winning tremendously.” Iran had asked for the naval blockade lifted, oil sanctions waived, an estimated $12bn in frozen assets released and a ceasefire covering Lebanon and Yemen.
The refusal closes the week’s one apparent opening and leaves the blockade doing the work the president thinks is winning. On Friday evening he posted a graphic renaming the waterway the “Trump Strait”, which tells you how he reads the balance of leverage. The harder obstacle sits behind the theatre: a senior Iranian official has told Reuters Tehran would make no nuclear concessions even if the deal were accepted — no flexibility on enrichment, no shipping out its highly enriched uranium — so the offer on the table was always about the strait, not the programme. Saudi Arabia is meanwhile reported to be uneasy that the shipping arrangement was struck bilaterally between Iran and Oman, with the Gulf states not signatories. Watch whether the bombing the president has privately predicted actually resumes.