Trump: "All mines in Hormuz have been removed, any ship that lays new ones will be destroyed"
After claiming for months that the strategic strait was safe for passage, the US President announced that all mines in Hormuz had been "removed or detonated," and warned Iran that any attempt to lay new mines would be met with "immediate and systematic" destruction. Simultaneously, Tehran claimed: The Pakistani Chief of Staff did not arrive with a threatening American message, but to open a channel for negotiations.
US President Donald Trump announced this afternoon (Tuesday) that he had "received an update" that all mines laid in the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz had been "removed and/or detonated." According to Trump, "Iran has been notified that any ship or boat that lays new mines will be destroyed immediately and systematically. Through the Space Force, we are monitoring every square meter in the strait, just as we do with Mount Peakax and the three other nuclear sites that have already been destroyed. A zero-tolerance policy toward mine-laying exists and is in full effect."
Trump made the remarks after claiming for months that the Strait of Hormuz was open for passage. Meanwhile, the Iranian "Tasnim" agency, which is affiliated with the regime, quoted "a source close to the negotiating team" who said that "contrary to reports published in some media outlets," Pakistani Chief of Staff Asim Munir, who arrived yesterday for a short visit to Tehran, "did not carry a threatening message or anything similar on behalf of the US. Instead, he asked to open channels for negotiations, and his goal was to convey Iran's conditions and positions to the American side."
Earlier, it was reported that the US is offering a reward of up to 10 million dollars for information on senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, and is also adding Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, to the wanted list. Shortly thereafter, President Trump tweeted on his social network, Truth Social, that "the failing Islamic Republic of Iran is not paying large parts of its military, while simultaneously killing protesters, even when they are not protesting, at levels never seen before. This is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and it must be stopped, now."
US returning representatives to the Middle East
Meanwhile, the US State Department is preparing to send diplomats back to embassies in the Middle East that were evacuated before and during the war with Iran. This was reported today by the "New York Times," citing an internal document from the department. According to the report, the return of foreign service representatives and the reduction of emergency measures at US missions in the region could begin as early as this week.
According to officials who spoke to the newspaper, the redeployment of staff signals a reduction in tensions and may indicate that the Trump administration does not expect a return to war with Iran. The document notes that among the embassies scheduled to return staffing levels to normal are those in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq, and Kuwait.
According to the document, the first diplomats to return will be at the US Embassy in Lebanon, although under the plan it will not reach full staffing. Eventually, the documents state, staff will fully return to three embassies - in Israel, Jordan, and Oman. In the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Lebanon, staffing levels will initially be limited to 85%, and in Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain to 75%. In the six Gulf states and Lebanon, the State Department will enforce restrictions on bringing family members, the document noted.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of new US threats of economic war against Iran, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said that "our efforts are continuing to ensure a return to negotiations regarding Iran, but for now there is nothing new on the subject. The economic steps we are taking are circumstantial and are not structural in the Qatari economic system. The region and the world will be victims of any possible escalation in light of the current economic circumstances."
According to him, "what is important for Qatar is the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the securing of supply chains through diplomatic solutions. We do not have a decision regarding support for sanctions on Iran and we hope that all parties will be involved in talks. Iran, by closing the Strait of Hormuz, violated international laws, and it must return to its previous state." Regarding Israel and the future of Gaza, he said that "it wants to be part of the region, but in practice it acts in the opposite way. Our position is clear: pressure must be applied on Israel to accept the Trump plan regarding Gaza."
