President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a negotiating team will fly to Pakistan on Monday to continue negotiating an agreement with Iran, but again threatened to strike infrastructure used with civilian purposes like power plants if talks are unfruitful.
In a social media post, Trump noted Iran's move to fire at vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz. "Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn't nice, was it?" he said.
He went on to say that the ongoing closure of the key waterway doesn't impact the U.S. "In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be 'the tough guy!'"
"We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They'll come down fast, they'll come down easy and, if they don't take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years," Trump concluded.
The development comes shortly after Iranian authorities said they would move to again close the strait less than a day after than Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it would be completely open throughout the duration of the ceasefire.
"As long as the United States does not agree to the complete freedom of navigation for vessels .... the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain tightly controlled and in its previous state," an official told semi-official state news agency Fars.
The current situation is a large departure Trump's optimistic remarks on Friday, when he said Tehran had "agreed to everything," including giving up its enriched uranium stockpile.
"We'll go down and get it with them, and then we'll take it. We'll be getting it together because by that time, we'll have an agreement and there's no need for fighting when there's an agreement. Nice right? That's better. We would have done it the other way if we had to," Trump said when describing how the uranium would be retrieved. He went on to claim the stockpile will be taken to the U.S. and told Bloomberg that Tehran had agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely.
