President Trump has issued some fresh Monday remarks on Iran, after a weekend where he was relatively quiet on the conflict he launched nearly six months ago, which has long been the central controversial decision made as Commander-in-Chief, threatening to define his whole second term.
In a short interview with Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, who frequently reports from Jerusalem and the Middle East, Trump threatened to bomb Oman if the Gulf country "gets in the way" of US efforts to negotiate and strike a favorable peace deal with Iran.
"I asked the president about... parallel talks that are taking place between Iran and Oman about control of the Strait of Hormuz," Yingst introduced. Trump then responded: “if Oman gets in the way [of US control in the Strait of Hormuz], we'll bomb the s**t out of them."
But already, Oman and Iran have been hammering out a nearly finalized Hormuz Strait deal, which essentially cuts the United States out of negotiations and management of the vital energy transit waterway. The deal is widely seen as ceding to Tehran de facto control of the strait, and thus also giving the Iranians major continued leverage in the ongoing standoff and conflict with Washington.
The timing of Trump's remarks are further interesting given that on the same day, 60-day window established in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between the US and Iran in June has finally expired.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday made clear its position that the deadline was "irrelevant" any
