'We are low-keying it': U.S. to let Iran's economic stress do the work, Trump hints

 Tehran says it’s nearing a deal on the Strait of Hormuz while laying out a long list of demands for Washington before shipping can resume

President Donald Trump signalled he’s prepared to let economic pressure on Iran build rather than launch fresh military strikes, saying the U.S. was only “semi-negotiating” with Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz.

“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told Axios in an interview on Sunday, saying that a U.S. naval blockade of the country was deepening its financial woes. “We are low-keying it.”

The president’s comments mark a shift from his repeated threats to escalate the bombing campaign against Iran and come amid lingering talks between the Islamic Republic and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime shipping. Tehran has said it’s nearing a deal on the waterway while laying out a long list of demands for Washington before shipping can resume, including the lifting of sanctions and an end to attacks on Iran-backed groups across the Middle East. Tehran also elevated a hard-line former commander to its top security post over the weekend.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s military adviser Mohsen Rezaee, a former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was named the new leader of the Supreme National Security Council, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported late Sunday. He replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a fellow hard-liner who accepted a new position as political adviser to the supreme leader.

Rezaee has been an advocate for full Iranian control over Hormuz. The council he’ll be heading is where Iran’s leaders coordinate decisions on the war and negotiations to end it.

Over the weekend, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a pact with Oman to establish a shipping route through the strait was “very close,” without providing details on the substance. He ruled out direct talks with the U.S. for now, citing what he described as repeated violations of a short-lived interim peace agreement signed in June, and adding that the two sides are exchanging messages through intermediaries.

he Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transited before the war, has become a key factor in the war the U.S. and Israel started on Feb. 28. Trump has demanded the resumption of open navigation for months.

Oil was little changed on Monday, with global benchmark Brent crude trading at US$83.61 after a rally of more than five per cent over the previous three sessions.

Tehran on Saturday published a list of demands for Washington as conditions for fully reopening Hormuz, indicating any immediate respite for energy supplies may be limited. It wants the U.S. to lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports, withdraw forces from around Iran, remove sanctions, release frozen assets and pay compensation for war damage.

It also demanded a permanent end to attacks on groups it backs in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza.

Some of those demands will be difficult for the U.S. to meet alone. In Gaza, a proposal by U.S.-backed mediators to disarm Iran-backed Hamas and push the Israeli army out of the Palestinian enclave was rejected by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s defiance challenges his complex relationship with Trump not just because the president championed the plan but because Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is an Iranian demand before Hormuz can be reopened.

Axios quoted a White House official as saying Trump isn’t bothered by the rejection because he understands Netanyahu’s political needs ahead of an October election, in which the right is pressuring him not to yield on his original vow for complete victory over Hamas.

The official added that Israel is, meanwhile, restraining its attacks

In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been escalating fighting with forces supported by neighbouring Saudi Arabia, another key American ally. The Houthis claimed they struck Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday, while Saudi authorities reported a fire that was quickly extinguished, with no injuries.

The incident would mark at least the second blaze at the 400,000 barrel-a-day complex in a month. Satellite images in late July showed a tank fire following another claimed Houthi attack.

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/trump-iran-economic-pressure-low-keying-it