Trump tries a new approach in Iran war: Disengage

For weeks, President Donald Trump has tried willing positive developments with Iran into existence, without much success. On Tuesday, he seemed to adopt a new approach. Trump told top administration envoys to halt their conversations with Iran, according to a US official. Additionally, White House officials have recently communicated to political allies that they are shifting their strategy — going from “hammer Iran ASAP” to “strangle them” over time, according to a source familiar with the matter. And instead of claiming talks were proceeding well, and that a new deal was just around the corner — as he’s asserted repeatedly since the ceasefire signed in June fell apart — Trump announced there was no diplomacy underway whatsoever. “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote on social media. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” In fact, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a trickle, and ships transiting the key waterway continue to come under fire from Iranian projectiles. Yet frustrated at deadlocked attempts to reopen the channel and facing intensifying questions about the toll the unpopular war has taken on the US military, Trump is signaling he is ready to put the conflict at arm’s length. Officials said Tuesday that Trump’s instruction to his negotiating team — which includes Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — to not engage with Tehran came after some “positive discussions” with the country. But Trump has still been unsatisfied with Tehran’s unwillingness to bend to his demands, the officials said. He wants to wait until the country’s leaders signal fresh willingness to strike the deal he is seeking before reengaging. A day before Trump’s social media post, Kushner offered a more optimistic assessment of the negotiations during a trip to the Middle East. He said in an interview on Fox News that conversations between the US and Iran were “probably more robust” than ever, adding the American team was talking with various figures within the regime. “They’re engaging in a very strong way and that’s quite positive,” he said, adding: “We are having very positive and active conversations.” Iran officials have repeatedly declared it untrue that they are engaging in direct talks with the United States. Trump had previously vented anger at the denials, saying Iran was playing games and that officials were eager to strike a deal in more private conversations. And behind the scenes, Trump has grown displeased at the emerging contours of the arrangement Iran is attempting to strike with Oman on managing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to people familiar with the matter. He lashed out at Oman this week, threatening to hit the Gulf nation with bombs even though it has acted as a strategic partner to the US for decades. “I don’t think they behaved very well, but we’d handle them very easily — just like we do others,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Both Iran and Oman have coastlines along the strait, and the deal as described by regional officials would denote control to each country on traffic going in and coming out of the Persian Gulf. There are concerns inside the White House that the plan, which hasn’t been finalized, could harden Iran’s control over the waterway. Some officials believe Oman has been more favorable to Iran than to the US in the negotiations, rather than acting as a neutral partner. Among the proposals that Trump and senior US officials oppose: the collection of fees on vessels looking to transit the strait. Trump has insisted no tolls or other payments can be allowed, but some versions of the deal that have circulated include charges related to environmental protection or security. That is not how Trump envisions the channel working. He wants a deal that would fully restore the passageway to its prewar status, which saw unrestricted traffic flowing through the international waterway. His administration has repeatedly said allowing any nation to assert control over the strait would set a dangerous precedent. Restoring traffic in the strait has become the central challenge of the war, even though Trump claimed this week his chief goal is still to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The US is expected to soon slap crushing new sanctions on Iran, perhaps as early as this week, US officials have said. Military officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have said American forces in the region are prepared to enforce the US blockade of Iranian ports into perpetuity. Trump and his team believe the economic pressure on Iran will eventually cause the regime to accept his conditions for ending the war. But Iranian officials similarly view Trump as under political pressure to withdraw, leading to the standoff. Military pressure has also built on Trump to negotiate an exit to the war. Historically long deployments of US military assets in the region — including of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier — have drawn scrutiny for the toll they’ve taken on the ships and the sailors aboard them. And Trump has acknowledged that stockpiles of the most advanced munitions are not where he’d like them to be after six months of war. But, so far, he has resisted increasing calls from Republicans to find an off-ramp to the war, insisting he feels no time crunch. And in another social media update Tuesday, Trump posted a map of the strait underneath the words “US Territory” — a proclamation that didn’t suggest an American military withdrawal anytime soon.