In a now-familiar pattern, US President Donald Trump announced an imminent escalation in the stand-off with Iran on Thursday – before reversing course a few hours later in the face of self-declared diplomatic progress. In a post at his Truth Social page that afternoon, the President wrote that ‘at some point in the not-too-distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets’. Kharg Island is Iran’s primary oil export hub in the Persian Gulf. It handles around 90 per cent of Tehran’s crude oil exports.

The President appeared to half walk this statement back almost immediately after making it. In a call with Fox News later that day, he said that his preference had in fact always been for taking the island but that he was not sure if ‘America has the stomach for it’. Then later in the day, he reversed course entirely, announcing that he had cancelled air operations scheduled against Iran for that night because a deal had been reached between the US and Iran. The deal had been approved ‘both in concept and great detail’ by all involved parties, he wrote.  

The place, very clearly, where Trump feels comfortable is where deals are made

The place, very clearly, where Trump feels comfortable is where deals are made

Media channels associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) responded to the announcement with derision. The Tasnim news agency wrote that Trump had already claimed ’38 times’ in the last two months that a deal had been reached and recommended that unless Iran also announces an agreement, this declaration should be treated as similar to previous ones. Fars News, more prosaically, noted that Iranian sources suggested that no agreement had been reached, while holding out hope that agreement might be imminent.  

Israel Channel 12 News, meanwhile, quoted Israeli sources as........

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