Trump urges
Iran to sign
agreement
DNA
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Iran to ‘get smart soon’ and sign a deal, following days of deadlock in efforts to end the conflict and a media report that the US would extend its blockade of Iran’s ports.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump, who has said Iran can call if it wants to talk and has stressed repeatedly Tehran cannot have a nuclear weapon, said the country ‘couldn’t get its act together.’
The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying the president had instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran’s ports in a bid to force Tehran to capitulate.
Officials said that Trump had opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports with the blockade as his other options — resuming bombing or walking away from the conflict — carried more risk, according to the WSJ.
“They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They’d better get smart soon!” Trump said in the post on Wednesday, without explaining what such a deal would entail.
Iran wants some kind of US acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful, civilian purposes.
It has a stockpile of roughly 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 percent, material that could be used for several nuclear weapons if further enriched.
Iranian officials said on Tuesday the country could withstand the blockade as it was using alternative trade routes, and the Islamic Republic did not consider the war over.
The conflict has killed thousands, thrown energy markets into turmoil and disrupted global trade routes.
