Trump says Iran will have to pay the price
DUBAI/WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Iran had taken too long to negotiate a deal and would now “have to pay the price,” while Tehran said it would reassess diplomatic engagement with Washington after tit-for-tat strikes overnight.
“Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!” Trump latest comments come amidst Tehran’s criticisms that diplomatic efforts with the United States cannot advance under repeated ceasefire violations, following overnight clashes in the Gulf between Tehran and Washington.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of undermining diplomacy through contradictory messages, shifting positions and repeated ceasefire violations, and said Israel was also damaging the process through repeated ceasefire breaches in Lebanon.
“Following overnight events, we need to re-assess (the diplomatic path with Washington) … any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” he said. The United States launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter, prompting new attacks from Iran and further widening the retaliatory strikes that threaten to derail talks to end to the war.
Iran launched attacks on sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, which both sounded alerts and fired air defenses in response. Jordan also reported shooting down five missiles that Iran shot at an air base hosting US forces. Iran’s foreign ministry warned that its neighbors in the Gulf had a “legal and moral responsibility” to prevent American and Israeli strikes.
Iran’s Mehr news agency late Wednesday reported explosion was heard near Qeshm Island, but did not mention the immediate cause. Since the US and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive.
Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
The downing of the Apache attack helicopter and the strikes by the US military further strained the ceasefire a day after Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the fragile truce took effect. Iranian state television said Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defense units.
