KABUL (Pajhwok): US President Donald Trump says talks with Iran will begin on Monday as Washington seeks a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Sunday as he returned to Washington from New Jersey, said negotiations would begin Monday afternoon but gave no details about their location or participants, Reuters reported.
He also declined to set a deadline for Iran to reach an agreement.
“Would I rather make a deal? I’m not looking to kill people because people die, a lot of people die, and we don’t want that,” Trump said when asked whether he had set a deadline.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held telephone talks on Sunday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, to discuss diplomatic efforts, Iranian state media reported.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency also reported that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, citing Araqchi.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the talks were focused on agreeing a new route through the strait, stressing that the issue was separate from whether the waterway would be opened or closed.
Trump said on Saturday that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for more time to reach an agreement that would lead to the “Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to what he described as Iran’s nuclear threat.
He said, however, that Tehran must “rapidly make a DEAL.”
The latest diplomatic efforts follow days of threats by the United States and Iran, with Trump repeatedly warning of further attacks. The United States and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February, while previous diplomatic efforts have failed to produce a comprehensive agreement.
The conflict has spread across the Gulf and into the Red Sea, with attacks also reaching a Mediterranean facility in Egypt.
Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy route through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war. The disruption has pushed energy prices higher and raised concerns about wider inflation.
Oil prices fell more than 4 percent in early trading on Monday amid expectations that diplomatic efforts could ease tensions and restore energy flows.
Trump has argued that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the short term. However, the economic impact of the conflict has increased pressure on his administration to find a way to end the war.
Last month, Iran publicly rejected an Omani proposal, backed by Gulf states, to manage the strait. People familiar with the proposal said it included the collection of voluntary fees from vessels using the waterway.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington on Tuesday, where an Israeli official said they discussed possible ways to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear programme, including diplomacy, economic pressure and military force.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
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