posted<\/a> that the ongoing US naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf \u201cWILL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE\u201d.<\/p>\nBut media reports indicate that Iran might close traffic in the Hormuz Strait if such a blockade were to remain in effect.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Fars News Agency, which is closely aligned with the IRGC, reported that Tehran considers the continuation of the US blockade a violation of the current ceasefire and would again close the strait if it were not lifted.<\/p>\n
Then there were the questions of mines in the strait. On Truth Social, Trump also said that \u201cIran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!\u201d<\/p>\n
But the news agency Reuters reported that a US Navy advisory warned on Friday that the \u201cstatus of TSS mine threat is not fully understood. Consider avoidance of that area\u201d. The statement referred to the Traffic Separation Scheme, the two-way shipping lane in the strait.<\/p>\n
Trump says US will get all nuclear \u2018dust\u2019<\/h2>\n
A major sticking point in the negotiations between the US and Iran has been the future of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. While Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, the US and Israel have claimed their initial attacks in the war, on February 28, were designed to prevent Iran from constructing one.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Trump again appeared to claim that Iran would turn over its enriched uranium stockpile, writing on Truth Social that \u201cthe U.S.A. will get all Nuclear \u2018Dust’\u201d.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cdust\u201d appears to be a reference to the US decision to bomb three key nuclear sites in Iran on June 22, 2025. Trump has repeatedly claimed that those attacks \u201cobliterated\u201d Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, despite conflicting evidence.<\/p>\n
On Friday, after his post, Trump told Reuters that the US would work with Iran \u201cat a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery\u201d to retrieve the uranium stockpile at the sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll bring \u2060it back to the United States,\u201d he added. He also told Bloomberg that Iran had agreed to suspend its nuclear programme indefinitely.<\/p>\n
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem said there has been no confirmation on such an agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big claim here, because the Iranians have always said that they\u2019re not going to accept such a condition,\u201d Hashem said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve heard from our sources is that the issue of enrichment and the sunsets of any conditions is going to be left till the end of the talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later on Friday, Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei dismissing Trump\u2019s claim: \u201cEnriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump also maintained that \u201cno money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form\u201d, another claim that has not been confirmed by Iran.<\/p>\n
Hashem added that the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds, the lifting of US sanctions and reparations for war damages have been key priorities for Tehran. He believes Iran will leverage issues like the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to extract concessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the price for this?\u201d Hashem said. \u201cAnd what are the Iranians going to take in return? These are big questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump says Israel \u2018prohibited\u2019 from bombing Lebanon<\/h2>\n
Another issue that has threatened to disrupt the ceasefire talks was Israel\u2019s ongoing bombing campaign in Lebanon. Iran and mediators in Pakistan had maintained that Lebanon was included in the initial ceasefire, but the US and Israel denied that it was part of the agreement.<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, a breakthrough was announced: Israel had agreed to a 10-day pause in its invasion and bombardment of Lebanon.<\/p>\n
On Friday, however, Trump seemed to imply that the stoppage was to continue into the long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael will not be bombing Lebanon any longer,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that Washington will work with Lebanon and \u201cdeal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher said the statement represents a particularly hard US line on Israel, but it remains to be seen if Trump would indeed seek to punish Israel if they do not comply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what the United States tends to do,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Donald Trump actually going to change the norms of American politics when it comes to dealing with the Israelis and treat them like he\u2019s treated other countries in the past, and effectively cut them off?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump thanks regional countries, takes shot at NATO<\/h2>\n
While Trump\u2019s posts on Friday were largely celebratory, he did hand out darts and laurels to various parties in the ceasefire negotiations.<\/p>\n
Trump thanked Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar for their \u201cgreat bravery and help\u201d. He also thanked Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, who helped to coordinate US-Iran contacts. He called them \u201ctwo fantastic people\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Trump took aim at NATO, which he has criticised for not supporting the US and Israeli war against Iran, as well as subsequent efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL,\u201d Trump wrote.\u00a0 \u201cThey were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has signalled it is mulling a withdrawal from NATO, although such a move would require congressional approval.<\/p>\n
But despite Trump\u2019s most recent statements, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said European allies had agreed to accelerate military planning for a multinational force to secure the waterway during a summit in Paris on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, DC \u2013 United States President Donald Trump has posted a series of rapid-fire messages on the US-Israeli war with Iran, claiming that his government secured major concessions before a possible next round of ceasefire talks. Posted on Truth Social on Friday, Trump\u2019s statements claimed that Iran had agreed to open \u2014 and \u201cnever close\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}