President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran had sent the United States “a very big present” as he pushes for a deal to end the war.
“They’re going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They gave us a present and the present arrived today and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize and they gave it to us.”
Trump said the “present” was related to oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
“It wasn’t nuclear related. It was oil and gas related, and it was a very nice thing they did,” Trump said. “But what it showed me is that we’re dealing with the right people.”
Since the war began, global energy prices, including in the United States, have surged as Iran has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose from $72.29 per barrel before Operation Epic Fury to $95 as of Wednesday morning, with prices exceeding $100 per barrel for sustained periods following the operation’s launch on February 28.
Trump said Iran has agreed to forgo nuclear weapons and uranium enrichment.
“We are in about the best bargaining position. We’re way ahead of schedule,” Trump said.
Pakistani officials said Wednesday morning that Iran had received a 15-point peace proposal from the United States, the Associated Press reported. The proposal reportedly addresses both the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program.
However, Iranian officials appear poised to reject Trump’s appeals for a deal, according to multiple reports. In remarks published by the state-run IRNA news agency, military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed the United States only wanted to negotiate to avoid “strategic defeat.”
“Someone like us will never get along with someone like you. Not now, not ever,” he said. ““Have your internal conflicts reached the point of you negotiating with yourselves?”
Even as he has pushed for a deal, Trump is deploying 3,000 troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. Trump has previously said the military operation will continue as long as he deems necessary.
