\u2018No more nice guy\u2019
\nUS president says Tehran \u2018can\u2019t get their act together\u2019 on non-nuclear agreement
\nUS President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Iran to \u201cget smart soon\u201d over a nuclear deal, declaring: \u201cNo more Mr. nice guy!\u201d
\n\u201cIran can\u2019t get their act together. They don\u2019t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon,\u201d Trump threatened on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
\nNotably, the post included an image of the US president wearing a black suit and sunglasses while holding a firearm, with explosions in an Iranian landscape behind him.
\nThe US and Israel launched a joint offensive against Iran on February 28, prompting Tehran to respond with strikes on what it described as US interests across the region, many of them in Gulf countries.
\nA ceasefire was announced on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, followed by talks hosted in Islamabad on April 11-12, but the negotiations ended without an agreement.
\nTrump later said the truce had been extended at Pakistan\u2019s request pending a proposal from Tehran.
\nHe signalled on Monday that he was unlikely to accept Iran\u2019s latest proposal to end the war after Tehran proposed a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while leaving questions about its nuclear program for later negotiations.
\nTrump urges Iran to sign a deal after report suggests US may extend blockade
\nThe Wall Street Journal (WSJ) cited US officials as saying the president had instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran\u2019s ports in a bid to force Tehran to capitulate.
\nOfficials said that Trump had opted to continue squeezing Iran\u2019s economy and \u200boil exports with the blockade as his other options\u2013resuming bombing or walking away from the conflict\u2013carried more risk, according to the WSJ.
\nIran wants some kind of US acknowledgement of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful, civilian purposes.
\nIt has a stockpile of roughly 440 \u200bkilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60%, material that could be used for several nuclear weapons if further enriched.
\nIranian officials said on Tuesday the country could withstand the blockade as it \u200bwas using alternative trade routes, and the Islamic Republic did not consider the war over.
\nThe US-Israeli war on Iran has killed thousands of civilians in Iran and Lebanon, thrown energy markets into turmoil and disrupted global trade routes.
\nIran wants formal end to conflict first
\nIran\u2019s most recent offer for resolving the two-month war, suspended since April 8 under a ceasefire agreement, would set aside discussion of its nuclear programme until the conflict is formally ended and shipping issues resolved.
\nThat \u200bproposal did not meet Trump\u2019s demand to have the nuclear issue discussed from the outset, however.
\nUS intelligence agencies, at the request of senior administration officials, are studying how Iran would \u200brespond if Trump were to declare a unilateral victory in the two-month-old war that has become a political liability for the White House, two US officials and a person familiar with the matter \u200ctold Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018No more nice guy\u2019 US president says Tehran \u2018can\u2019t get their act together\u2019 on non-nuclear agreement US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Iran to \u201cget smart soon\u201d over a nuclear deal, declaring: \u201cNo more Mr. nice guy!\u201d \u201cIran can\u2019t get their act together. They don\u2019t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-543837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n