Trump Offers Mixed Messages on Iran War04/21 06:23

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump offered mixed messages on Monday 
about the path ahead for the U.S. war against Iran, declaring that he was in no 
rush to end the conflict while also expressing confidence that further 
negotiations with Tehran will soon take place in Pakistan.

   With the 14-day ceasefire to expire Wednesday, Trump whipsawed in telephone 
interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could 
soon be reached and warning that "lots of bombs" will "start going off" if 
there's no agreement before the ceasefire deadline.

   Trump indicated that he still expects to dispatch his negotiating team, led 
by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad for a second 
round of talks, even as Iran insisted it would not take part until Trump dialed 
back his demands.

   Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, 
accused the United States of wanting Iran to surrender and added that on the 
contrary, Iran has been preparing "to reveal new cards on the battlefield."

   "We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats," Qalibaf wrote 
in a post on X early Tuesday.

   Trump insisted he feels no pressure to end the war until Iran agrees to his 
terms.

   "I am under no pressure whatsoever," Trump said on his Truth Social 
platform, "although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!"

   Pakistani officials moved ahead with preparations for a new round of talks 
between the U.S. and Iran as the tenuous ceasefire was further strained over 
the weekend by renewed conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.

   Trump told Bloomberg News he was "highly unlikely" to renew the ceasefire.

   Iran holds out on resuming negotiations

   Tensions flared after the U.S. Navy attacked and seized a ship on Sunday 
that it said was trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. On Saturday, 
Iran fired at vessels and abruptly stopped traffic in the strait, abandoning 
its promise to allow some ships to pass and claiming the U.S. was not holding 
up its side of the ceasefire.

   The U.S. actions are "incompatible with the claim of diplomacy," Iranian 
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday in a social media post.

   He gave no indication what Iran will do after the ceasefire expires or 
whether Iran will return to a second round of negotiations with the U.S.

   Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from the U.S. but 
suggested that a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that derailed the 
last round of negotiations included Iran's nuclear enrichment program, its 
regional proxies and the strait.

   Iran has throttled traffic through the strait, which connects the Persian 
Gulf to the open seas, since shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on 
Feb. 28 to start the war. The U.S. has also instituted a blockade of Iranian 
ports. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil trade normally passes through the 
strait.

   Trump swipes at war critics, seeks to calm investors

   The U.S. president lashed out at war critics at home who are urging him to 
wrap up the conflict that began more than seven weeks ago.

   "How bad is it that when you are in the middle of negotiations and you have 
got the Iranians in a perfect position, including being militarily defeated, 
and you have Democrats and some Republicans asking to settle it now?" Trump 
told the New York Post.

   Even as Trump bristled at his detractors, he sought to soothe jittery 
investors as U.S. stocks slipped modestly Monday, following the chaotic weekend 
in the Persian Gulf.

   The president found himself remonstrating his energy secretary, Chris 
Wright, who on Sunday said American motorists might not see gas prices fall 
back into the $3 per gallon range until late this year or next year.

   "I disagree with him totally. I think it'll come roaring down if it ends," 
Trump told PBS. "If we end it, if Iran does what they should do, it will come 
roaring down."

   Israel-Lebanon talks to resume, official says

   Meanwhile, historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were set to 
resume Thursday in Washington, an Israeli, a Lebanese and a U.S. official said. 
All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes 
negotiations.

   The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the first direct 
diplomatic talks in decades. Israel says the talks are aimed at disarming 
Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon.

   A 10-day ceasefire began Friday in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel 
and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days after the U.S. and 
Israel launched their war on Iran. Fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 
2,290 people.

   In two separate encounters on Monday, the Israeli air force struck and 
killed Hezbollah militants that the military said approached its troops in a 
threatening way. Israel has carried out several airstrikes since the ceasefire 
went into effect.

   Hezbollah said it detonated explosives Sunday in an Israeli convoy inside 
Lebanon.

   Iran says more than 3,000 have been killed in the country so far

   Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, 
according to a new toll released Monday in official Iranian media by Abbas 
Masjedi, the head of Iran's Legal Medicine Organization.

   He did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces, saying 
instead that 2,875 were male and 496 were female. Masjedi said 383 of the dead 
were children 18 years old and younger.

   Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf 
Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members 
throughout the region have been killed.

   Oil prices on the rise again after renewed conflict in Strait of Hormuz

   Iran's grip on the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to 
one of the worst global energy crises in decades.

   Oil prices were up again Monday, with Brent crude, the international 
standard, at just over $95 a barrel -- up from about $70 a barrel before the 
war started.

   Iran said it had reopened the strait to ships Friday, but traffic halted 
after Trump refused to lift the U.S. blockade.

   Sunday's U.S. seizure of the Iranian cargo was the first such interception 
under the blockade. Iran's joint military command called the armed boarding an 
act of piracy and a ceasefire violation.

   Trump said the blockade will remain "in full force" until Tehran agrees to a 
deal. The U.S. military said on Monday that it has directed 27 ships to return 
to Iranian ports since the blockade began last week.