LIVE: Trump threatens Iran if it doesn’t agree to end war

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Aragchi has said he hopes China continues to play a ‘positive role’ in the ending the war, adding Tehran ‘trusts’ Beijing.

Aragchi visited his counterpart Wang Yi in the Chinese capital this week ahead of a visit by Donald Trump to China next week.

In his remarks following the visit, Aragchi said both sides reaffirmed Iran’s right to sovereignty and dignity.

He said:

The Iranian side trusts the Chinese side and expects the Chinese side to continue playing a positive role in promoting peace and stopping war, and supports the establishment of a new post-war regional architecture that can coordinate development and security.

An Iranian MP has voiced doubts over an apparent near agreement between Iran and the US to end the war amid claims a deal is close.

Ebrahim Rezaei suggested the American demands are unrealistic and that no such agreement is near in comments on his X page .

Responding to the report in Axios that both countries are close to agreeing a one-page memorandum to halt the conflict, Rezaei said:

The Axios text is an American wish list rather than a reality. The Americans will not achieve in a losing war what they have not achieved in face-to-face negotiations.

Rezaei later stated Iran is ‘on the trigger and ready,’ adding:

If they do not surrender and do not make the necessary concessions, or if they themselves or their dogs try to misbehave, we will give a harsh and regrettable response.

France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier is moving into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as part of efforts by France and Britain to prepare for a future mission to help freedom of navigation on the Strait of Hormuz.

The French Armed Forces ministry said in a statement that the aircraft carrier group had crossed the Suez Canal on Wednesday, en route to the south of the Red Sea.

This French aircraft carrier strike group was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean shortly after the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, and it can stay at sea between four to five months.

Donald Trump has said it is ‘too soon’ to consider face-to-face talks with Iran, according to an interview with the New York Post.

Asked by the newspaper whether it should send a reporter to Pakistan for a fresh round of talks following claims a peace deal is close, the President apparently responded: ‘I don’t think so.’

He then added: ‘I think we’ll do it— it’s too far. No, it’s too much.’

Trump has previously indicated he would be willing to travel to Pakistan to sign a peace agreement out of respect for the mediators who have worked on the deal.

Wang Yi greets Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that China is “‘deeply distressed’ over the war that has lasted more than two months and said a ‘comprehensive ceasefire’ is needed.

The top Chinese diplomat met with Mr Araghchi in Beijing, the first time the Iranian foreign minister has travelled to China since the war with the US and Israel started on February 28.

Mr Wang said:

We believe that a comprehensive ceasefire is urgently needed, that a resumption of hostilities is not acceptable, and that it is particularly important to remain committed to dialogue and negotiations.

The Chinese comments could inject new energy into stalled efforts to push for an agreement between the United States and Iran that would end the war.

Vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz

Commodity ship traffic – the transportation of raw materials and bulk goods – through the Strait of Hormuz fell this week to its lowest level since the beginning of the war despite a brief US attempt to reopen the strategic waterway, new data reveals.

Marine analytics firm Kpler, which tracks only commodity-carrying vessels, recorded just one transit on Monday and none on Tuesday, the fewest seen since the start of the war triggered by a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Around 120 vessels transit the strait daily in peacetime, according to maritime news outlet Lloyd’s List.

Before the war, the strait handled roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies, alongside other key commodities.

But traffic has been hammered by Iran’s chokehold on the strait – which was imposed at the start of the war and has allowed only limited passage – as well as a retaliatory US blockade of Iranian ports.

Donald Trump has said if Iran doesn’t agree to a peace deal then bombing will resume at a ‘much higher level and intensity’ than ever before.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Operation Epic Fury will end if an agreement is reached but will continue if the terms are rejected.

He said:

Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran.

If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil has described reports of a near agreement between the US and Iran to end the war as a ‘shambles’ and ‘all over the place’.

Speaking on Times Radio, the veteran journalist and editor says ‘no-one has a clue what’s really happening’ and that ‘we are nowhere near an agreement’.

Neil says Donald Trump is ‘desperate to declare victory and just get out of there’ but ‘he doesn’t know how’.

He (Trump) now tells us that he’s on the brink of a complete and final agreement with Iran…and I leave to colonise Mars tomorrow.

According to Axios, the US and Iran are close to agreeing on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and ‘set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations’.

‘Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began,’ Axios said.

Here are the key points said to be under discussion:

• The agreement would declare an end to the war and the start of a 30-day period of negotiations which could take place in Islamabad or Geneva
• Would include a phased rollback of both the US and Iranian naval restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz which is effectively closed to commercial shipping and energy transits.
• The US would gradually ease sanctions against Iran alongside the release of tens of billions in frozen Iranian funds
• Iran would be subject to a long term freeze on uranium enrichment, reportedly between 12 and 15 years, with automatic extensions if Tehran violates the terms
• Sources say Iran would also commit to never having a nuclear weapon

The White House is waiting for a response from Iran over several issues in the next 48 hours.

Read more here:

Oil prices have dropped following reports the US and Iran are close to an agreement to end the war.

International benchmark Brent has slid under $100 a barrel amid hopes for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

Brent North Sea crude slumped 9.3 per cent to $99.64 a barrel, while the main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, plunged 10.7 per cent to $91.33.

European stock markets in Paris and Frankfurt also surged by three per cent while London’s FTSE 100 index rose by 2.3 per cent at midday.

Shehbaz Sharif (L) greeting Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has lauded Donald Trump for his leadership after the President paused Project Freedom last month.

Pakistan has played a leading role in mediation efforts to end the war with Islamabad hosting high-level talks between the US and Iran.

Sharif wrote on X:

I am grateful to President Donald Trump for his courageous leadership and timely announcement regarding the pause in Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump’s gracious response to the request made by Pakistan and other brotherly countries, particularly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and my dear brother Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia H.R.H Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will go a long way towards advancing regional peace, stability and reconciliation during this sensitive period.

Last night Donald Trump announced a pause to ‘Project Freedom’, a mission to guide ships through the blocked strait.

The mission had failed to bring about any significant resumption of traffic through the waterway, while provoking a new wave of Iranian strikes on ships in the strait and on targets in neighbouring countries.

In the latest incident, a French shipping company reported on Wednesday that one of its container ships had been struck in the strait the previous day, and that injured crew had been evacuated.

In announcing he was pausing the mission, Trump cited ‘great progress’ in negotiations with Iran, without giving further details.

‘We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,’ Trump wrote on social media.

Iranian state media branded the move as a ‘retreat’ after the US President’s ‘continued failures’ to use American naval power to reopen the crucial waterway.

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