US President Donald Trump has allowed the sale of some Iranian oil to contain surging crude prices and floated “winding down” military efforts.
Trump’s comments came shortly after he ruled out a ceasefire and kept the door open to deploying ground troops. The conflict has roiled financial markets and sent energy prices soaring, prompting the US Treasury to take the extraordinary step of allowing the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemical products that have been loaded onto tankers.
“We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East,” Trump wrote on social media.
Photo: AP
However, Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz yesterday said the joint campaign would intensify significantly, a day after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK military base in Diego Garcia.
The base was not damaged, a person familiar with the matter said, but the attack demonstrated a capability that goes beyond what Iran was known to have possessed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran had informed it that the Natanz nuclear site had been attacked and that there were no reports of an increase in off-site radiation levels at the site, which is one of Iran’s key enrichment facilities.
The war also continued to affect Gulf neighbors, including the United Arab Emirates, which said Iran had fired eight drones and three missiles at the country.
It is unclear how Iran would respond to any unilateral decision by the US to pause strikes after recent attacks that targeted the country’s energy infrastructure and killed more high-profile officials, including Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani.
Despite weeks of US-Israeli bombardment, the regime is not close to falling, and is instead coalescing around the remaining hardliners, western intelligence assessments and people familiar with the matter said.
Iranian officials have become reluctant to even discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid the intense bombing campaign, which continued overnight.
The Israeli army said it was striking targets in Tehran and had detected missiles launched from Iran, which continued to launch retaliatory strikes at Gulf Arab neighbors as well.
Trump also addressed the Strait, pressuring allies to help the US secure the waterway militarily, but indicated that he would leave that effort to other nations.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!” Trump said. “If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them.”
Trump’s suggestion that the nations most reliant on Mideast energy and other goods shipped through the Strait should have the responsibility of policing it belies the global reach of the oil market.
Even though the US is pumping a record amount of oil, crude prices are set in a world market, so supply shocks tied to the Strait would ripple from Beijing to Washington.
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