US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the ceasefire with Iran is on “life support”, adding that he is considering restarting naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz. His remarks come a day after he rejected Iran’s proposal to end the war between them, describing it as “totally unacceptable”.
“It is at its weakestย After reading that piece of garbage they sent us… It’s on life support, massive life support,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office in White House. “They think that I’ll get tired of this, or I’ll get bored, or I’ll have some pressure, but there’s no pressure, there’s no pressure at all. We’re going to have a complete victory.”
Trump is now seeking a “complete victory” against the Iranians, whom he has repeatedly stressed that have been “militarily defeated”. The war at present has been paused following a ceasefire on April 8, but the two sides have failed to arrive on a consensus over a peace deal.ย
Nukes, Hormuz and sanctions key issues
The bone of contention has been the nuclear programme of Iran. Trump has maintained that Iran needs to pause its nuclear programme for a peace in the region, claiming that the Islamic Republic can even nuke Israel and also Europe if it becomes a nuclear power. However, Iran has always rejected the claims and said that its nuclear programme is only for civilian use.ย
Other than this, the blockade of the Hormuz also remains a key issue. The US wants Iran to completely open the strait through which nearly a fifth of world’s crude passes through, but Tehran wants a complete control over it.
Iran has also demanded reparations from the US, an end to sanctions and the release of its seized assets abroad as part of the peace treaty, while terming Washington’s demands as “unreasonable”. “We did not demand any concessions the only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said earlier in the day.
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