\u2018I think we will keep it\u2019
\nIran says no progress on reviving interim peace deal with US
\n Washington
\nUS President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that American forces will likely maintain their presence in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Washington maintains absolute authority over the strategic waterway. \u201cThe USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I think we will keep it,\u201d Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump characterised the ongoing naval blockade as a \u201cwall of steel,\u201d adding that \u201cthere is nothing Iran can do about it.\u201d
\nA screenshot of a post in US President Donald Trumps\u2019 Truth Social account. \u2014 SCREENGRAB TRUTH SOCIAL
\nHe alleged that Iran\u2019s military capabilities had been neutralised, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) \u201cdecimated and fleeing.\u201d
\nTrump described Iran\u2019s economy as being in a state of collapse. \u201cAll they have is fake news and 300% inflation, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the bully of the Middle East no longer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Iran says no progress on reviving interim peace deal with US
\nIran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior \u200bIranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
\nThe \u200ccomments were a further blow to hopes of a swift resolution to the crisis, following attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday that pushed oil prices higher.
\nThe deal agreed in June declared an \u201cimmediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts\u201d, but quickly unravelled, with US President Donald Trump saying it was \u201cover\u201d on July 7 and Iran\u2019s foreign ministry declaring it \u201csuspended\u201d a week later.
\nThe US accuses Iran of failing \u200bto honour an agreement under the deal to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Tehran says Washington has reneged on its commitments, including lifting a \u200bblockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.
\n\u201cOne of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,\u201d the Iranian source said. There was no immediate comment from Washington. Thousands of \u200bpeople have been killed in the conflict, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
\nIran has struck US assets and infrastructure in \u200bcountries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
\nBoth sides step up rhetoric
\nThe June interim ceasefire agreement set a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, within which Iran and the US were expected to reach a final deal limiting Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme and lifting US sanctions.
\nThe Iranian source dismissed a report on Wednesday from Turkey\u2019s Anadolu news agency that quoted Pakistani government sources as saying they \u200bhad agreed to extend that 60-day period.
\n\u201cThere is no talk of an extension because, from Iran\u2019s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend. The United \u200bStates violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later,\u201d the source told Reuters.
\nBoth Iran and the United States have stepped up rhetoric in the \u200cpast two days.
\nIran\u2019s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the US accepted Iran\u2019s conditions to end the war.
\nThat followed a new demand from Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests. Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent. Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio on Tuesday, Trump said: \u201cIran is going fine, going just absolutely fine.\u201d \u201cWe have a country that has been the bully of \u200bthe Middle East for 50 years, really 51 \u200bif you think about it … and they\u2019re no longer the bully of the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attacks on shipping
\nThe Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman and the entrance to the Gulf, handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flow before the war.
\nBenchmark Brent crude futures have surged \u200bsince the start of the war in February, hitting a peak of $126 a barrel, roughly 75% above pre-war levels, with choppy trade \u200breflecting concerns over disruptions to Gulf oil supplies and shifting signals on peace talks.
\nThose concerns were compounded by separate attacks on shipping on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018I think we will keep it\u2019 Iran says no progress on reviving interim peace deal with US Washington US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that American forces will likely maintain their presence in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Washington maintains absolute authority over the strategic waterway. \u201cThe USA has total control over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n