US President Donald Trump's announcement last night that he has called off planned strikes on Iran and has reached a 'great deal' on the war is a leading topic in British and American media today.
UK
Trump's announcement was a dramatic reversal from his remarks just hours earlier, when he threatened to seize key oil facilities in Iran, including Kharg Island, the British newspaper “Telegraph“ reports. Trump threatened that the US “will seize Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure and take full control of their oil and gas markets, similar to what we did with Venezuela“ in “not far future“.
The content of the peace agreement announced by Trump hours later was not disclosed by the White House, but according to media reports it includes the export of enriched uranium from Iran and the cessation of Iranian support for militant groups such as “Hezbollah“ and the Houthis in Yemen, the newspaper points out.
However, Iran denied that an agreement to end the war had been finalized and accused the United States of sabotaging the negotiation process, the publication notes. In comments to state media, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that “a large part“ of the text of the agreement had been agreed before that, but “the Americans are constantly changing their positions“.
The White House has been trying to conclude a peace agreement with Iran for a long time, the “Guardian“ writes. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is close to an agreement, but ultimately without reaching one, the publication notes.
The American president is under increasing pressure to end the war with Iran at a time when the conflict is becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States, midterm elections are getting closer, and inflation is constantly rising, commented “The Guardian“.
USA
The intensification of clashes in the Strait of Hormuz this week has raised fears of a resumption of a large-scale regional war at a time when world leaders are calling for compliance with the increasingly strained ceasefire - which in theory is still in force, writes the “Washington Post“.
The escalating exchange of blows has threatened to derail negotiations between the United States and Iran to reach a lasting peace agreement, despite Trump saying earlier this week that the talks are in their “final phase”, the publication notes.
Trump has been boasting since the first weeks of the conflict that he has already won the war, but Iran continues to effectively block the Strait of Hormuz, choking off the route that before the war carried about 20% of the world's oil supplies, the “Los Angeles Times“ writes. The Islamic Republic has also stubbornly refused to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program - the main reason that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have cited to justify starting the war.
The newspaper quotes Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group think tank, who said that Trump's threats to escalate US military action appear to be partly aimed at demonstrating to the more hard-line part of his core supporters that the president is ready to “play "hard" with the Iranians if they don't agree to a deal soon.
“I really think Trump wants to end this, but the real challenge for him is that he's looking for both a triumphant victory and a quick way out of the situation, and those two things aren't necessarily compatible,“ Vaez concludes.