U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he had agreed to continue talks with Iran, while stressing that the ceasefire with Tehran was "over."
"Iran asked us to continue talks, we agreed to do so, but the United States told them, in no uncertain terms, that the ceasefire was over," he wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Trump said in Ankara on Wednesday that the cease-fire reached on April 8 that ended weeks of war was over, calling Iranian officials "scum" and "sick."
On Friday, Trump told the New York Post that he had "left instructions" to deal with Iran if it succeeded in carrying out any plot to assassinate him, vowing an unprecedented response.
"I was on their target list for a long time, that's the reality we're dealing with," he said. The only thing is that I left instructions, if anything bad happens to me, that they should be bombed at levels they had never seen before."
Trump denies Israeli reports
Asked about reports that Israel had informed him this week of intelligence about a plot to target him, Trump said he knew there was no new Iranian plan, but stressed that Tehran had been seeking to assassinate him for years.
He added: "No, no. Israel has not offered anything. No, no. I've been number one on Iran's assassination list for a long time, and that's the nature of life, you know," he joked, adding, "I hope you miss me."
Washington has accused Tehran of seeking to assassinate Trump since 2020, after he ordered, during his first term, the strike that killed IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani.
Several plots to target Trump have also been foiled since an assassination attempt on him during a campaign rally in Butler City on July 13, 2024, when a bullet slightly wounded his ear.
Ghalibaf: Iran is ready for "comprehensive defense"
Iran has not yet responded to Trump's post, but its chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in comments posted on his Telegram account that the war would never end with Tehran's surrender.
Ghalibaf added that Iran is ready for "comprehensive defense" if the United States violates the memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries last month.
The interim agreement between the two countries is intended to make room for diplomacy to end the war, which is now in its fifth month, has killed thousands, disrupted global energy supplies and raised fears of a broader global economic recession.
Qatari officials in Tehran
A well-informed Arab source said Qatari negotiators met with officials in Iran on Friday in a bid to calm tensions after Iran and the United States exchanged hostilities and to discuss maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Daily transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have slowed on Friday after a series of attacks raised concerns about the recovery of global oil supplies and shipping, and highlighted the fragility of the interim deal.
The source said the Qatari talks in Iran are aimed at addressing the implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran and the issues that led to the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran, including disputes over maritime traffic in the strait.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York: "We are seeing reports that discussions are ongoing, and we hope they are."
Oil prices fell today, but are still on track to post a weekly gain of 5% in the wake of the hostilities, and U.S. Treasuries fell slightly on fears that rising energy prices would increase inflationary pressures.
Oil supply increases
The Strait of Hormuz transported about one-fifth of the world's oil supply before the war broke out. But after the war, Tehran kept the strait closed, leading to a stalemate in the confrontation between it and the United States, the world's most powerful military.
Under the interim agreement, the United States ended its naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran pledged to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels.
This week, Washington accused Iranian forces of launching attacks on three oil tankers in the region, which responded by targeting military sites on Iran's southern coast and in its eastern provinces, and Iran has not claimed responsibility for those attacks, but analysts believe Tehran is using such moves to strengthen its negotiating position.
Iran responded by attacking what it said were US military sites in Gulf states on Thursday, and the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council on Friday condemned Iran's efforts to impose its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran's "unilateral decision" to establish a traffic control body from it.
Prior to this week's attacks, the number of tankers passing through the strait daily had risen to its highest level since the war began, at an average of 40 ships, but still far from the pre-conflict average of 125 to 140 flights per day.
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