US President Donald Trump has warned Oman against interfering in Washington’s approach to the Strait of Hormuz, saying the US could attack if Muscat gets in the way. His remarks came as Iran and Oman continued talks on safe commercial shipping through the key waterway, while US-Iran tensions remained high as the June agreement neared its deadline on Monday.
Because of the complexity of the issue and the number of parties involved, iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the discussions with Oman were continuing but had taken time.
Speaking by phone with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, Trump said Iran should surrender as discussions over ending the conflict remained unresolved. “Iran should raise the white flag of surrender,” Trump said, while making clear that he was not working under a fixed timetable. “I’m not in a hurry,” the US president added. Trump also said the US naval blockade was continuing to place economic pressure on Iran. Describing the Iranians as “good poker players”, Trump said they were “dying”. Trump said he was prepared to continue applying pressure and indicated that he did not believe the US had used a large share of its available military resources. “What we’ve used so far is peanuts,” he said. Trump said the US had a large supply of mid-level weapons.
He dismissed public statements from Tehran that questioned the impact of the US measures. He also rejected the idea that the November US midterm elections were shaping his approach to the conflict. He also blamed former President Joe Biden for sending some advanced systems to Ukraine.
