Trump says US and Tehran having ‘good talks’ as drones hit Iran’s neighbours
Written by: Bo Erickson, Nayera Abdallah and Elwely Elwelly
WASHINGTON/DUBAI, July 27 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States was having “good talks” with Iran and there was a chance for an agreement on their conflict, but warned that U.S. attacks would continue if talks failed.
Washington abruptly suspended its two-week air strike campaign against Iran on Saturday in Trump’s latest strategic U-turn in the five-month-old conflict.
“We’re talking right now,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that “Iran wants to talk because we hit them so hard.”
“We are having good talks,” he said. “I think there’s a good chance something will happen, if it does it’ll be good, if it doesn’t we’ll go back to what we did two days ago.”
Contrary to the president’s seemingly optimistic remarks, Tehran appeared to be quickly testing the pause in US military action, with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reporting drone strikes on Monday.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said on Monday that messages were still being conveyed between the parties through mediators and that Iran had not given up on diplomacy, but that reports that Iran had requested negotiations were “fabricated”.
“It’s not in our DNA,” he said.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Iran will stop its own attacks as long as Trump’s self-imposed ceasefire continues.
Saudi Arabia announced that it shot down unmanned aerial vehicles targeting oil targets, including the capital Riyadh. It was stated that the UAVs were launched from Iraq by Iranian-backed armed groups and reserved the right to respond.
Separately, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen said they were targeting the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) East-West Pipeline, which carries oil to Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea port of Yanbu, in retaliation for Saudi drone attacks on Yemeni airspace.
Tehran also said it still retained control of the disputed Strait of Hormuz, the main waterway for global energy supplies, which Trump has demanded ships be able to pass freely.
OIL PRICE IS FALLING
After 13 consecutive nights of intensified bombings, the end of the US campaign and Trump’s statements regarding talks with Tehran caused oil prices to fall. Brent crude oil, which briefly rose above $100 per barrel for the first time since May last week, dropped by around 8.2 percent to just under $89 on Monday and fell to $87.55.
Trump’s decision to suspend the campaign reflected his advice that his military had “reached the limits of what bombing could achieve,” according to a US official and some US media reports.
The US official told Reuters that military commanders had informed the president that they had run out of targets. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine expressed concern about running out of air ammunition, the official said.
Speaking to reporters, Trump dismissed claims that the United States was facing an ammunition shortage, saying the military was quickly rebuilding stocks depleted by shipments to Ukraine. He said he wanted more of the “more sophisticated stuff.”
IRANIAN MEDIA SAID THAT 6 SHIPS RETURNED
Some Iranian state media quoted an “informed source” as saying that Iran turned away six “criminal ships” that tried to cross the Strait of Hormuz without its permission on Monday morning.
Trump launched the renewed bombing campaign to punish Iran after Tehran opened fire on ships using a route encouraged by the United States, which told them to sail close to the coast of Oman.
Iran says ships can only pass through the Hormuz canal near its coast, which it controls and plans to charge transit fees.
Two weeks of US bombing have killed scores of people in Iran and destroyed military targets as well as bridges and tunnels in the south.
Four US soldiers were killed in Iran’s return fire against US bases in neighboring Arab countries. Iran has also struck civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries in retaliation for US attacks on civilian targets.
The US halt to the bombing leaves no clear indication of what leverage Washington could use to achieve Trump’s goal of breaking Iran’s grip on the strait.
Washington and Tehran agreed in June on the framework for talks scheduled for the end of August to resolve major issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
However, the parties are discussing the meaning of the agreement’s language regarding the strait; Washington insists Tehran must allow free travel, while Iran says it has authorized control of transit.
(Additional reporting by Muayad Hameed in Iraq. Writing by Peter Graff, Toby Chopra and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Toby Chopra, Mark Potter and Cynthia Osterman)
