The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has declared to the media Axios that he trusts that throughout the next week new diplomatic contacts with Iran will take place with the aim of advancing towards the end of the current war conflict.
"I hope there are more conversations with Iran" this week. "They want to reach an agreement, but it is not the agreement that I want. Perhaps a year ago we would have accepted it. They have gone too far with the bluff," Trump stated to the portal Axios.
Asked about the possibility of resuming attacks against Iran, the American leader pointed out that "I am always thinking about it."
Trump also emphasized that, despite the tensions, numerous oil tankers continue to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, "more than 20 million barrels" during the weekend, which would represent, according to his words, the largest volume of crude in circulation since the war began.
In this same line, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Scott Bessent, indicated in an interview with Fox News that "there are only 15 million Iranian barrels left at sea." "In about two weeks they will finish their deliveries to China and then they will have nothing left to trade," he pointed out, while emphasizing that "China has substantially reduced aid to Iran."
Regarding Tehran's proposal, Bessent recalled that Iran proposes "to reopen the straits if there is an agreement." "The straits are open," he concluded.
For his part, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, detailed in statements to NBC the seven-day plan presented by Iran. "We want them to do certain things that they can do in four or five days and on the sixth day the strait will be open. On the seventh day, the conversations for the final agreement will resume," he stated.
"We want our money, our goods that are illegally seized. We want to be able to sell our oil. We want certain things that the United States has already promised in previous agreements," Araqchi added, defending that it is "a very reasonable plan."
"If they reject it without any reason, it is their fault. And I have to say that we have heard President Trump rejecting the agreement, (but) we are waiting for an official response through the mediators," the Iranian official indicated.
Trump himself had already anticipated on Saturday his rejection of the initiative from Tehran. "I reject their proposal. They want to reach an agreement in which they immediately reopen the strait because they are losing, a lot," Trump said on Saturday before reporters as he left the White House heading to a college football league game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
"They want to reach an agreement and I think that is good. I also want an agreement, but that agreement would be unacceptable," concluded the American president, insisting that, despite his willingness to understand, he will not accept the conditions proposed by Iran.
On the previous Friday, the Iranian Executive had formally presented its initiative, based on the memorandum of understanding from Islamabad, which contemplated the cessation of hostilities on all fronts of the conflict, including that of Lebanon.