U.S. President Trump said in an interview with reporters ahead of peace talks between Pakistan and Iran on Friday local time that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened “soon.”
He said the strait would be open “with or without” Iran’s cooperation.
“With or without them, we’re going to open up the Gulf … or what they call the Straits. I think it’s going to happen very quickly, and if not, we can get it done,” Trump said.
“We will be open soon,” he added.
The US president also reiterated his claim that Iran was defeated militarily.
Also read: Iranian delegation arrives in Pakistan as suspicions over preconditions cloud peace talks with US
Asked about Iran charging tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, trump card Said he “will not allow this to happen.”
“No, we’re not going to allow that to happen, this is international water. If they do that, we’re not going to let that happen,” he said.
“No nuclear weapons”
Trump said a good deal for him with Iran would be for Iran to have “no nuclear weapons.” Trump reiterated his assertion that there has been regime change in Iran, saying, “I think it’s been quite a regime change, but we’ve never used that as a criterion. No nuclear weapons, 99 percent not,” he told reporters.
The US president was also asked if he was open to more talks with Iran or if the upcoming talks were “once and for all,” saying he would have to wait and “see what happens tomorrow.”
Also read: ‘Load ships with the best ammunition’: Trump details US plans if talks with Iran fail
“They’ve been talking to other presidents for 47 years and we haven’t had a lot of conversations.”
Trump’s new comments came hours after he described how the U.S. military would be prepared if negotiations did not bear fruit. He said U.S. warships were reloading weapons to attack Iran if negotiations with Pakistan failed.
“We’re resetting,” Trump said in a phone interview with the New York Post. “We’re loading the ships with the best munitions ever, the best weapons ever — even better than we’ve ever done before, and we’re blowing them apart.”
He added that if negotiations failed, the United States would load its ships with “the best weapons ever produced and will use them very effectively.”
“But we are loading the ships. We are loading the ships with the best weapons ever produced, even superior to the weapons we use to carry out total destruction,” he said.
