US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the memorandum of understanding digitally signed this week with Iran is “not final,” warning that Washington would resume military strikes against Iran if “they don’t behave” and adding that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was unavoidable.

Referring to the preliminary agreement with Tehran expected to be physically signed in Switzerland on Friday, Trump reiterated that “it’s not final – it’s a memorandum of understanding,” and that Washington’s military threat remains in place.

“It’s a memorandum of understanding. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay? Because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years,” he warned, speaking alongside Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the G7 summit in France.

The agreement is “a great deal for a lot of reasons,” he said, “but number one by far — 99.9 percent of it — is that they will never have a nuclear weapon.”

“It’s a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong, and most people seem to be very happy,” he added, without specifying which people he was referring to.

“The Strait [of Hormuz] is going to be opening. It’s already partially opened. It’s going to be opening up soon in full over the next day or two,” Trump said.

Despite Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports and earlier threats to use force to reopen the vital shipping lane, Trump suggested a negotiated arrangement on Hormuz was unavoidable: “The alternative would be a worldwide depression.”

“You know, the stupid people want to have a worldwide depression, and they’re stupid people. So you can only go so far,” he said. “You drive somebody into the ground, and a lot of bad things happen… the Strait would never open, because they don’t like floating billion-dollar ships up and down a strait when there are rockets flying over them and mines all over the place… It wouldn’t be open for a long time.”

Trump also denied recent reports that a final deal with Iran would include a $300 billion fund for investment and reconstruction in the country.

“That’s false,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s request to confirm the reports. The reporter noted that the fund would reportedly be funded by Gulf allies, though the Financial Times reported that it would be created for companies eager to invest in the country and not for governments.

“People can invest if they want. I mean, what am I going to do — say nobody’s ever allowed to invest? We’re not investing. We’re not putting up ten cents. People can decide to do that, but that’s up to them… We do not have a fund,” Trump continued.

When asked by the reporter to clarify if he is asking Gulf countries to fund such an initiative, Trump replied, “No, I’m not,” adding that such support would likely not come soon and would depend on Iran’s behavior.

“If they do it, fine, but I would say they won’t be doing it for a while until they find out........

© The Times of Israel