WASHINGTON, (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will keep Iran under the U.S. naval blockade until Tehran agrees to a deal with Washington on its nuclear program.
“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing,” Trump told U.S. online media Axios in a phone interview, stressing that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
The president claimed that Iran wants to reach a deal in order to lift the blockade.
“They want to settle. They don’t want me to keep the blockade. I don’t want to (lift the blockade), because I don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
For now, Trump sees continuing the blockade as his primary source of leverage, but he would consider military action if Iran still will not cave, according to the Axios report.
U.S. Central Command has prepared a plan for a “short and powerful” wave of strikes on Iran in hopes of breaking the negotiating deadlock, Axios reported, citing three sources with knowledge.
A senior Iranian security source, quoted by the country’s state media PRESS TV, said Wednesday that the U.S. naval blockade “will soon be met with practical and unprecedented action.”
In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion with top security officials in the White House, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly told aides that he will not accept Iran’s three-step offer which seeks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and leave nuclear talks for later negotiations.
The United States imposed its anti-Iran blockade in the Strait of Hormuz after post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on April 11-12 failed to yield an agreement.
