New Delhi: Recently several reports says President Donald Trump has rebuffed Tehran’s offer to extend a seven-day truce and has told advisers he’ll have the U.S. resume bombing Iran after the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
In the defeated deal Iran had agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and to resume talks on its nuclear programme, while Washington had agreed to a cease-fire, which included Lebanon, to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and to ease sanctions on Iranian oil exports. If the US accepts the terms, then, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the timeframe has been set as 7 days from reopening of the strait and resumption of the normal maritime traffic.
Trump has publicly stated the goal of his debate with Iran is a deal that will destroy its nuclear weapons program after the midterm elections, but privately he is unconvinced Iran will agree to his terms and believes his resumption of bombing efforts is a possibility. There is still no indication of what the scope of any renewed strikes would be, and partly because the US does not want to commit to major combat operations again, officials told the Journal, citing Trump’s aversion.
The comment comes days after Trump’s UN General Assembly speech, in which he presented a stark choice between a deal that would allow Iran to resume the path of becoming a sizeable regional power and “annihilating” the Islamic Republic, but still said he hoped an agreement will be finalized “in the near future” after his election.
In an independent statement with Fox News, Pezeshkian blamed the failure of the previous settlement agreed on in June on Tehran’s failure to comply, asserting that it had abided by that deal and maintained the freedom of movement in the strait until the U.S. launched bombing raids and killed Iranian military and scientific personnel.
The standoff comes on the heels of a seven-month standoff featuring several cycles of talks that have stalled in search of a lasting resolution, and both sides are nervous as they await results of the midterm elections to alter the equation in their favor.
