US President Donald Trump struck a more conciliatory tone about Iran over the weekend, saying it was “highly unlikely” he would order extensive strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Still, that depends on Iran signing “a very strong agreement,” he said on Sunday to CNN, underscoring how high tensions remain. His comments came shortly before the US launched limited attacks on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, played down the chances of rapid progress in negotiations, saying Tehran’s demands to date are unacceptable and in some cases “outrageous and ridiculous.”
Overnight, the US again struck Qeshm Island, state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported, citing the deputy governor of Hormozgan province. There was no damage to essential infrastructure and the situation is under control, IRIB said.
Those followed similar strikes last week the US described as defensive operations. Since a truce in April, the warring sides have skirmished regularly but managed to avoid an escalation.
Any resumption of all-out war between Washington and Tehran would likely push up oil and energy prices, and see American allies in Middle East targeted by Iranian drones and missiles, further weakening their economies.
Trump is set to meet the prime minister of Qatar on Monday, as the Gulf Arab state leads diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation. He is scheduled to have talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House at midday.
Late last week, the US and Iran were closer to breakthrough after Tehran showed willingness to discuss issues related to its nuclear program that were previously off the table, according to a diplomat with knowledge of the talks.
Sheikh Mohammed, the Qatari prime minister, separately said the US and Iran needed to accept a deal, even if it was flawed.
“We will never have a perfect peace deal but you can’t wait for that perfect moment,” he said in a speech on Friday in the UK.
Gulf Arab states such as Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have urged the US against more mass strikes on Iran. They have been targeted by thousands of Iranian drones and missiles since the conflict erupted in late February with the US and Israel bombing the Islamic Republic.
A senior adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said that, while diplomacy must continue, the region needed to be patient.
“We should prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor a stable regional order can be taken for granted,” the adviser, Anwar Gargash, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Trump has been threatening a fresh bombing campaign against Iran for weeks, with Tehran vowing to retaliate fiercely.
Many oil traders and analysts took the rout of the Republican party in last week’s midterm elections in the US as a sign that Trump will face greater pressure to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Brent crude prices sunk below $100 a barrel soon after US Vice President JD Vance said the war was the main reason the Republicans lost both houses of Congress to the Democrats.
Brent fell another 1.8 percent to around $96.50 early on Monday, though it is still up 60 percent this year.
“You have a number of countries that continue to engage them with different ideas, but I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio said on Sunday in Florida before leaving to meet Group of Seven counterparts in Paris, where the Iran war will be high on the agenda.
Iran has previously said the US must end a naval blockade of its Persian Gulf ports and lift sanctions as preconditions for peace talks. Washington is pressing Iran to cease attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and make concessions on its nuclear program.
While Trump would always prefer a diplomatic solution, “it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous and really unrealistic,” Rubio said, without specifying which of Iran’s demands he was referring to.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday “there has been no activity or movement from the mediators” in recent days following the elections in the US.
Aramco Attacks
What “remains to be seen is how long it will take them to come to terms with the result and what direction they will take,” Araghchi told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is facing daily strikes from the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group based in Yemen, in what’s effectively a second front in the US-Iran war.
The main Riyadh office of oil giant Saudi Aramco came under attack on Sunday and was damaged by falling shrapnel, according to authorities in the kingdom. There were no deaths or injuries, but it was perhaps the most significant targeting of the capital since the Houthis struck the main airport last month, killing more than a dozen people.
