President Trump on Monday said renewed talks with Iran are the Islamic regime’s “last chance” to sign a deal giving up its quest for a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Trump made the ultimatum from the Oval Office while discussing the role of Middle East allies who asked the president to hold off on new airstrikes and give diplomacy one more shot.
“They all wanted to give this a last chance,” Mr. Trump said. “This is a last chance for [Iran] to sign a good document.”
He said negotiations should move quickly and will move in two phases, starting with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil traffic.
“The first phase is the opening of the straits, the second phase will be the denuclearization, and that will take a little while,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re very strong on it. They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Mr. Trump outlined the path toward a deal one day after he called off U.S. strikes on Iran at the request of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf partners that have been pulled into the conflict.
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The president said Iran erred in proclaiming early Monday that it did not plan to negotiate directly with the U.S.
“They’re on, they’re going on right now,” Mr. Trump said of negotiations. “For some reason, when they’re talking, [the Iranians] don’t like saying that they’re talking.”
On social media, Mr. Trump accused Tehran of being “duplicitous” and said peace negotiations were underway through mediators, whether Iranian officials wanted to admit it or not.
“They ask for a meeting, some would say ’beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ’Oman,’” Mr. Trump wrote.
Mr. Trump launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28 to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.
Tehran retaliated by clamping down on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, an oil chokepoint between Iran and Oman, and peace negotiations have focused on control of the waterway.
Iran wants to maintain some level of control over the strait with Oman, sparking cycles of violence in which the U.S. and Iran trade airstrikes, only to pull back and consider peace negotiations.
Tehran officials have been developing a framework with Oman for control of the strait in line with a memorandum of understanding that Iran signed with U.S. officials. However, the U.S. considers the memo a dead document.
Democrats and other critics say Mr. Trump is stuck in a “war of choice” with no exit strategy, but the administration insists the U.S. military has the upper hand.
“Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished,” Mr. Trump said Monday.
U.S. stocks surged Monday after Mr. Trump called off strikes over the weekend upon the request of allies in the Gulf region.
The cost of Brent crude oil, an international benchmark, dropped about 6% to around $83 per barrel Monday.
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