President Donald Trump on Thursday offered details about the “present” he received from Iran as a gesture of good faith while trying to cut a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Trump revealed he’d been given a “very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” but added he was “not gonna tell you what that present is.” Fast forward two days, and the president was in more of a mood to share: Iran allowed some oil tankers to pass through the choked-up Strait of Hormuz.
“Eight big boats of oil,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House, adding they were bound for Pakistan. It later turned out to be 10 boats, he confirmed.
Trump argued that Iran had taken the action in a bid to show the U.S. that it was “real” and “solid” amid negotiations.
His comments add to claims he’s made about Iran’s openness to a deal even as the country’s officials have balked at U.S. demands.
“I say they’re lousy fighters, but they’re great negotiators, and they are begging to work out a deal,” Trump again said at the cabinet meeting.
As of Thursday, Trump had extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait to Monday, April 6, after previously threatening attacks on its power plants if Tehran failed to unlock the waterway by earlier this week.
In response to those threats, Iranian representatives had issued defiant replies on their own, including warnings about possible strikes on other energy facilities in the region in retaliation.
Throughout the war, Iran has used the strait as leverage because of the waterway’s key role in transporting the world’s oil. It’s done so by suggesting that it could hit passing commercial oil tankers, bringing traffic in the strait to a standstill.
Roughly one-fifth of the globe’s oil flows through the strait, so its closure has meant that much of this fuel supply is stuck in the Persian Gulf. That’s led to far higher oil and gas prices, which are adding to backlash against Trump and his decision to pursue the war.
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