Donald Trump threatened to attack Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely blocked amid the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran. A 60-day period to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington expired on Monday with no news of an extension and talks deadlocked in the same position as two months ago. Oman and Iran have been in talks to try to reach an agreement to restore commercial shipping in the key route, which carried 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February.
"If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s*** out of them," Trump told Fox. Meanwhile, a meeting on Monday between Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "lengthy, in depth, and very productive," a Board of Peace official said, adding that agreement was reached with Netanyahu on a path forward for the Gaza conflict. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan on Monday discussed efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz and ensure the continuation of a ceasefire between Iran and the US during a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, a Turkish diplomatic source said, without elaborating.
Earlier, a senior Iranian official told that Tehran had decided to shift its policy from defensive to "fully offensive" due to the deadlock in efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the US, as progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic strait has ground to a halt. Iran’s annual inflation rate reached 66 per cent in July, while consumer prices were 87.9 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to Iran’s Statistical Centre. Food inflation hit 128 per cent year-on-year.
Economic grievances have repeatedly spilled into nationwide protests in Iran in recent years. In January, nationwide protests over economic hardships were crushed by the IRGC and the Basij force, with thousands killed. In recent months, Iran’s clerical rulers have responded to fears of renewed unrest with executions, arrests, summonses and lengthy prison sentences targeting journalists, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates and students, rights groups say.
Officials say the measures are needed to maintain stability during wartime. Critics say they could deepen the divide between the clerical establishment and a public frustrated by rising economic pressures. Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to "fully offensive" due to the deadlock in efforts to agree a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told on Monday.
Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on 28 February. There was no immediate response to those comments from Washington, but US president Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Monday that Iran "should put up the white flag of surrender". US president Trump has claimed Iran won’t make the “kind of deal” he feels is “necessary”.
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