By Lena Marchetti
WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump said Sunday he is choosing between a deal with Iran and renewed military action. Tehran said messages are still passing between the two governments through intermediaries.
“Now, my question is, do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” according to CBS News. He said the United States now controls the Strait of Hormuz.
Asked whether he planned to strike, the president first suggested he would be foolish to telegraph it, then added, “No. There will not be a strike today,” CBS reported. Mr. Trump has said any strikes would wait until after the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. He has also said he could end the war any time through renewed military action.
Washington’s position
The administration says its pressure campaign is working. The White House said in a release Sunday that “thanks to the strength of U.S. forces and President Trump’s leadership, more oil is leaving through the Hormuz Strait than before the conflict.”
The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, flew over the strait on Sunday. He said more than 3,000 commercial vessels have transited the waterway with U.S. military support over the past six months, according to CBS.
A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports has restricted the oil exports Iran’s government depends on. The State Department has updated travel advisories for 14 Middle Eastern countries. Those updates followed a memo from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Clayton warned that Iran has “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel” abroad, with plots to kill Americans reaching “advanced stages.”
Tehran’s position
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran has not closed the window on diplomacy. He said the U.S. continues to make unilateral demands, CBS reported, citing Iranian state media.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said renewed war would not change Iran’s positions. “Recently, there has been talk of a new war, but I am already thinking about the post-war period. Whether there is war or not, our policies remain the same,” he said at a televised event in Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said Saturday that Tehran had conveyed through Pakistan that it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifted its naval blockade. He accused Mr. Trump of rejecting the proposal. Pakistan and Qatar helped broker an interim agreement in June that sought to restore shipping, lift the blockade and open nuclear talks.
The economic toll inside Iran is mounting. “There are many people in this society who are struggling to put food on the table because of the war we have found ourselves in,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday. He called for an end to a “state of neither war nor peace.” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf asked Iranians on Sunday to cut natural gas use by at least 10% ahead of winter.
A wider region on edge
Israel holds national elections on Tuesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran and its allies might try to disrupt the vote. “We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections,” he said in a video released by his office. “Don’t test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows.”
In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia reopened Riyadh’s main airport to international flights Sunday, more than two weeks after deadly strikes by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis knocked it out of service. Earlier Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis toward Riyadh.
Why it matters in Western New York
The standoff is felt at the pump in Western New York. AAA Western and Central New York’s Oct. 19 report put New York’s average diesel price at $6.50 a gallon, up from $3.87 a year earlier, with crude trading between $99 and $107 a barrel. Buffalo’s average for regular gasoline was $4.37.
Whether the next move is a deal or a strike will shape heating and trucking costs across the region this winter.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the White House and the State Department for comment on the status of talks.
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