Iran applying ‘maximum pressure’ on TrumpAbdulla Banndar Al Eltaibi, a professor at Qatar University has told Al Jazeera that Iran is playing what’s called the weekend strategy.
“That’s what President Trump used to do for the markets not to react during weekends. So they [Iran] are actually applying maximum pressure on President Trump and also the mediators to have Hormuz for Lebanon basically,” he said.
“They want all fighting to stop in Lebanon for the Strait of Hormuz to be restored.”
https://aje.news/o3j66i?update=4682028latest developments:>- The Iranian central military command says it will close the Strait of Hormuz over Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon, describing them as a breach of the agreement with the US.<- Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has told state media that a delegation negotiating with US will shortly travel to Switzerland to demand “that the other side fulfill its obligations”.>- US Vice President JD Vance has also said he expects to travel to Switzerland for talks with Iran within days.https://aje.news/o3j66i?update=4681839Iran does not control Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM saysThe US Central Command spokesperson has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz.
The spokesperson said the US forces are monitoring the situation to ensure the continuation of navigation through the waterway.
Earlier, Iran’s IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz is closed over Israel’s continuing attacks on southern Lebanon.
Negotiations appear to be going backwards since MoU was signedThings are moving backwards from when the MoU was signed by Trump in Versailles and Pezeshkian in Tehran.
The basic cause of what is going on in Lebanon, because the MoU says there should be a ceasefire there. Israel is breaching that ceasefire by repeatedly bombarding southern Lebanon. For that reason, the Iranians at first used their first method of trying to complain about that: by delaying the planned talks.
The US side put pressure on Israel. A new ceasefire was announced almost exactly 24 hours ago, but that has not helped, Israel continued to bombard southern Lebanon.
We’ve also had comments from JD Vance and Trump, but Israel is not stopping.
The Iranians see this as a serious breach of the MoU. Their first sanction was by not coming here. They have now utilised their best weapon by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran believes this tactic will help get things back on track with regard to southern Lebanon.
But what’s interesting is that the Iranians are now saying they’re coming here. There are no commercial flights between Tehran and Zurich, but given the time it will take them to get here, it’s more likely that the talks will now take place on Sunday. The agenda of the talks has now changed completely.
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