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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump offered mixed messages Monday about the path ahead for the U.S. war against Iran, declaring that he was in no rush to end the conflict while also expressing confidence that further negotiations with Tehran will soon take place in Pakistan.
With the 14-day ceasefire set to expire Wednesday, Trump whipsawed in telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could soon be reached and warning that “lots of bombs” will “start going off” if there’s no agreement before the ceasefire deadline.
Trump indicated that he still expects to dispatch his negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad for a second round of talks, even as Iran insisted it would not take part until Trump dialed back his demands. Trump insisted he feels no pressure to end the war until Iran agrees to his terms.
“I am under no pressure whatsoever,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, “although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”
Pakistani officials moved ahead with preparations for a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran as the tenuous ceasefire was further strained over the weekend by renewed conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told Bloomberg News he was “highly unlikely” to renew the ceasefire.
Iran holds out on resuming negotiations
Tensions flared after the U.S. Navy attacked and seized a ship Sunday that it said was trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. On Saturday, Iran fired at vessels and abruptly stopped traffic in the strait, abandoning its promise to allow some ships to pass and claiming the U.S. was not holding up its side of the ceasefire.
The U.S. actions are “incompatible with the claim of diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday in a social media post.
He gave no indication what Iran will do after the ceasefire expires or whether Iran will return to a second round of negotiations with the U.S.
Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from the U.S. but suggested that a wide gap remained between the sides. Issues that derailed the last round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait.
Iran throttled traffic through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the open seas, shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war. The U.S. has also instituted a blockade of Iranian ports. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes through the strait.
Trump swipes at war critics, seeks to calm investors
The U.S. president lashed out at war critics at home who are urging him to wrap up the conflict that began more than seven weeks ago.
“How bad is it that when you are in the middle of negotiations and you have got the Iranians in a perfect position, including being militarily defeated, and you have Democrats and some Republicans asking to settle it now?” Trump told the New York Post.
Even as Trump bristled at his detractors, he sought to soothe jittery investors as U.S. stocks fell Monday following the chaotic weekend in the Persian Gulf.
The president found himself remonstrating his energy secretary, Chris Wright, who on Sunday said American motorists might not see gas prices fall back into the $3 per gallon range until late this year or next year.
“I disagree with him totally. I think it’ll come roaring down if it ends,” Trump fumed to PBS. “If we end it, if Iran does what they should do, it will come roaring down.”
Israel-Lebanon talks to resume, official says
Meanwhile, historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were set to resume Thursday in Washington, officials from both countries and the U.S. said. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes negotiations.
The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the first direct diplomatic talks in decades. Israel says the talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon.
A 10-day ceasefire began Friday in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran. Fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 2,290 people.
In two separate encounters on Monday, the Israeli air force struck and killed Hezbollah militants that the military said approached its troops in a threatening way. Israel has carried out several airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect.
Hezbollah said it detonated explosives Sunday in an Israeli convoy inside Lebanon.
Iran says more than 3,000 have been killed in country so far
Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to a new toll released Monday in official Iranian media by Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization. He did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces, saying instead that 2,875 were male and 496 were female. Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children 18 years old and under.
Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.
Oil prices on the rise again after renewed conflict in Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s grip on the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to one of the worst global energy crises in decades.
Oil prices were up again Monday, with Brent crude, the international standard, at about $95 a barrel — up from about $70 a barrel before the war started.
Iran said it had reopened the strait to ships Friday, but traffic halted after Trump refused to lift the U.S. blockade, and Iran on Saturday fired at ships trying to transit the channel.
“The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president of Iran, said in a social media post.
The U.S. seizure of an Iranian cargo ship Sunday was the first interception under the blockade. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation.
Trump said the blockade will remain “in full force” until Tehran agrees to a deal. The U.S. military said Monday that it has directed 27 ships to return to Iranian ports since the blockade began last week.
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