Trump: Time not right for diplomacy with Iran
President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his attempt to de-escalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran but said the time wasn’t right for diplomacy. The rebuff came moments before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Tehran for what appeared to be attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
“While I very much appreciate P.M. Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” Trump wrote on Twitter, “I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal. They are not ready, and neither are we!”
The attacks on two oil tankers came just as Abe prepared to depart Tehran earlier Thursday following a two-day peacekeeping trip during which he met with Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. A statement posted on Khamenei’s Twitter account after the huddle suggested that the talks were not fruitful.
“We have no doubt about your good will and seriousness, but … I don’t regard Trump as deserving any exchange of messages,” Khamenei said.
Pompeo called the Thursday attacks, which struck a Japanese-owned ship and one other ship in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an insult to Japan and to Abe’s de-escalation efforts, and a rejection of diplomacy.
Pompeo said during remarks at the State Department that his accusation was based “on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication.”
“This is only the latest in a series of attacks instigated by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its surrogates against Americana and allied interests,” he added.
Iran has denied involvement in Thursday’s episode, as well as in similar attacks on tankers in the same region and drone attacks on Saudi oil pipelines last month. But they come as the U.S. has stepped up its maximum-pressure campaign in an attempt to will Iran into returning to negotiations to wind down its nuclear program, using punishing sanctions in an attempt to choke off its lucrative oil industry.
Regardless, Pompeo said, “no economic sanctions entitle the Islamic Republic to attack innocent civilians and engage in nuclear blackmail.”
The Pentagon has taken a number of steps to address unspecified intelligence that the Trump administration says points to growing signs that Iran could be gearing up for an attack on U.S. forces. White House officials said last month it would send 1,500 U.S. troops to the region, but some members of Congress have cast doubt on the administration’s assertion that Iran is preparing an attack, comparing it to the lead-up to the Iraq War.
