President Trump signaled late Thursday that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement is still in play, despite a fresh exchange of fire between the two sides in the Strait of Hormuz.
“If there’s no ceasefire, you’re not going to have to know. You’re just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran,” Trump told reporters, referring to the U.S.’s latest drafted peace proposal. “And they better sign their agreement fast.”
If both sides adopt the one-page memorandum, the strait would reopen, the U.S. would lift its sanctions on Iran and Tehran would halt its uranium enrichment processes, Axios reported. The agreement would also initiate a 30-day period for further negotiations on a nuclear deal.
The president suddenly paused an operation to guide trapped ships out of the strait on Tuesday evening ahead of reports of this new peace framework.
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said Thursday that it intercepted “unprovoked Iranian attacks” in the strait and responded with “self-defense strikes.” No U.S. assets were struck, according to the defense agency.
Trump said that the involved Iranian attackers were “completely destroyed” by U.S. forces in a Truth Social post on Thursday evening.
“A normal Country would have allowed these Destroyers to pass, but Iran is not a normal Country,” the president wrote in the post. “They are led by LUNATICS, and if they had the chance to use a Nuclear Weapon, they would do it, without question — But they’ll never have that opportunity and, just like we knocked them out again today, we’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”
The United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally, also reported on Friday that it was intercepting attacks from Iran. The UAE air defense system engaged two ballistic missiles and three drone attacks on Friday morning that left three people injured, according to the country’s defense ministry.
On Friday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. of weakening the negotiations with Iran in a social media post.
“Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” Araghchi wrote. “Is it a crude pressure tactic? Or the result of a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire?
“Whatever the causes, outcome is the same: Iranians never bow to pressure,” he added.
