After his election drubbing a week ago, President Trump initially softened his Iran rhetoric to the point of saying that resumption of strikes on the country is “highly unlikely.” Today, he even met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to discuss diplomatic avenues to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
After the meeting, the president confirmed that he would rather see a peaceful solution with Iran, but warned that the US is “ready to go anytime we want” with strikes. Iran says it’s impossible to move towards peace unless the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, releases seized assets, and lifts sanctions.
Of course, so long as Trump insists that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions, a deal seems far off, if not downright impossible. In addition, the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) claims the Strait belongs to Iran. The group says that, since the strategic environment has changed due to the war, it will not give up its sovereignty over the Strait – neither during the negotiations with the United States nor after the war.
Iran is also rapidly rebuilding its weapons stockpile, hiding most of it underground. Senior IRGC officials also confirmed that studying and reproducing seized Western technology is a core component of expanding Tehran’s domestic weapons capabilities.
Recall that last week, after Vice President JD Vance pinned GOP election losses on the Iran war, Trump partially agreed but said he would do it all over again, repeating his mantra that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to meet next week with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The president wants to discuss global arms control, but Xi is already demurring on that idea. The meeting is to take place in Southern China as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
