WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday called the Iranian leadership ‘duplicitous’ and stated that nothing gets through to Iran unless a deal, or total surrender of the country, is accomplished.
"Iranian leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! 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’," President Trump stated on his social media platform Truth Social.
He also said that the Strait of Hormuz is completely controlled by the US Navy and stressed that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
"They then go on to give their usual blather in saying, the Strait of Hormuz will be operated powerfully by them, when it is already completely controlled by the United States Navy and our ‘Blockade’ or, as some say, ‘The United States Wall of Steel!’ Nothing gets through to Iran unless we want it to, and nothing will get through unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished. Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades. It is very simple: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon! Thank you for your attention to this matter," he added.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that negotiations between Iran and Oman are focused on reaching an agreement on designating a "temporary" route to ensure safe shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The negotiations have been focused on the idea that the southern route, which passes through Oman's waters, and the northern route, which passes through Iran's territorial waters, would turn into an intermediate route," Baghaei said at a weekly press conference in Tehran.
He said the talks are centred on a round-trip corridor, not two or three separate routes, and the intermediate route will be used temporarily until a permanent one is finalised, Xinhua News Agency reported.
–IANS
