\n<\/p>\n
President\u00a0Donald Trump says the United States will continue its naval blockade of Iran until a nuclear deal is reached with Tehran.<\/p>\n
The US president told Axios on Wednesday that he does not want to end his blockade on Iranian ports, apparently rejecting the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz so that US-Iran talks could proceed.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cThe blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig,\u201d Trump said of Iran. \u201cAnd it is going to be worse for them. They can\u2019t have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran has set lifting the siege as a precondition for returning to the talks.<\/p>\n According to several media reports, Iran offered a limited deal this week that would end its own blockade on Hormuz in exchange for the end of the siege on its ports.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s comments on Wednesday indicate that he turned down the Iranian proposal.<\/p>\n The US president has been emphasising that he is comfortable with the status quo with Iran, suggesting that he is in no rush to push for a comprehensive agreement or return to the fighting.<\/p>\n At least two commercial ships linked to Iran have been captured by the US as part of the siege. The US military said on Monday that it has also redirected 39 vessels in the regional waters over the past weeks.<\/p>\n Iran has responded by also seizing vessels it accuses of violating maritime regulations.<\/p>\n The impasse has sent oil prices soaring, fuelling energy inflation in the US, where the price of one gallon of petrol has surpassed $4.22 ($1.11 per litre) \u2013 up from less than $3 ($0.79 per litre) before the war.<\/p>\n The international benchmark Brent crude oil futures jumped to more than $119 per barrel on Wednesday as Washington and Tehran escalated their rhetoric.<\/p>\n Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that the US is trying to \u201cactivate economic pressure and internal division\u201d in the country \u201cto weaken or even collapse us from within\u201d.<\/p>\n He promised that Iranians \u201cwill defeat this deceptive plan of the enemy\u201d and \u201cachieve a brilliant victory\u201d in the war.<\/p>\n Separately, an unidentified senior security source told Iran\u2019s state-owned Press TV that the blockade will soon be met with \u201cpractical and unprecedented action\u201d.<\/p>\n Later on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his claim that the US has severely degraded Iran\u2019s military capabilities. \u201cThey have very little left. They have some missiles, a small percentage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Beyond the duelling blockades in the Gulf, the US and Iran appear to be at a deadlock on the nuclear issue.<\/p>\n Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but insists on its right to enrich uranium domestically. However, Trump wants the country\u2019s nuclear programme fully dismantled.<\/p>\n Iran has also ruled out limiting its missile and drone production or ending support for regional allies like Hezbollah and Hamas \u2013 two key demands by Israel and the US.<\/p>\n After the ceasefire was reached earlier this month, US and Iranian officials held one round of talks in Pakistan, but the negotiations did not break the deadlock.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in St Petersburg two days earlier.<\/p>\n After the call, the Kremlin said Russia has put forward a \u201cnumber of proposals designed to resolve the disagreements surrounding the Iranian nuclear program\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTo this end, active contacts will be maintained with Iranian representatives, leaders of the Gulf states, as well as with Israel and \u2013 naturally \u2013 the American negotiating team,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n For its part, Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry said Araghchi met Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and decried US and Israeli attacks on the country\u2019s civilian sites, including schools, cultural sites and hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe foreign minister recalled the responsibility of the international community and competent international authorities to take a clear and firm stance in condemning these war crimes and holding accountable and punishing their perpetrators,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n President\u00a0Donald Trump says the United States will continue its naval blockade of Iran until a nuclear deal is reached with Tehran. The US president told Axios on Wednesday that he does not want to end his blockade on Iranian ports, apparently rejecting the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz so that US-Iran talks could proceed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20876","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\/20876","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=20876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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