US President Donald Trump sought on Wednesday to frame his vague arrangement aimed at ending a questionable war as a major win that would bring the conflict to a close, reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from “ever” obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more,” the US president said at a press conference in France on the sidelines of the Group of 7 (G7) economies.
“When I say permanent, it should be permanent. But if it’s not permanent, they will be bombed,” he added. “I told them, ‘if you don’t adhere to that agreement, we’re going to bomb the hell out of you’.”
Trump’s much-anticipated appearance came as an economically dented world tries to assess how substantive and potentially lasting the Sunday memorandum of understanding (MOU) is, with its terms only released on Wednesday.
An official text of the MOU was released by a senior US official while Trump was speaking, following days of pushback over the administration’s lack of transparency.
According to the 14-point outline, the two sides agreed to “declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”; end the dual blockades and any Iranian claim to charge tolls; and work to return “at least” US$300 billion in seized funds to Tehran.
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Trump thanks China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin for being ‘neutral’ in Iran war
