In a new turnaround, Donald Trump has stated that the United States will be leaving Iran “very soon,” in “two or three weeks,” regardless of whether an agreement is reached, and that the blocked Strait of Hormuz by the Islamic Republic is no longer his problem.
After over a month of conflict, the ongoing war in the Middle East, which is shaking the global economy and has resulted in thousands of deaths, shows no signs of de-escalation on Wednesday, despite diplomatic negotiations. Tuesday, March 31, was marked by widespread strikes on Iran and a warning from the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, towards American high-tech companies in the region.
President Trump continues to send mixed signals: he, who had promised to “annihilate” the strategic Iranian Kharg oilfield and other targets if an agreement was not reached “quickly,” has backtracked.
Trump stated on Wednesday, “All I have to do is leave Iran, and we will do it very soon.” He then mentioned a deadline of “two, maybe three weeks,” and ultimately suggested that the agreement with the Islamic Republic was “unimportant.”
“We will be leaving very soon. And if France or another country wants to have their oil or gas, they will go straight through the Strait of Hormuz (…) and they will figure it out on their own. I think it will actually be a very safe place, but we have nothing to do with that,” he continued.
He had previously stated that the United States “would no longer be there to help” countries whose oil supplies depend on this strategic strait, blocked by Iran since the beginning of the conflict. The White House announced that Donald Trump would address the nation on Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. to “provide new important information on Iran.”
In the evening, several explosions were heard in the center of Tehran, and according to Iranian media, two major steel complexes were struck. The Iranian government had earlier indicated that a pharmaceutical company and a desalination plant in the Qeshm region were affected.
In Lebanon, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday night that Israeli strikes had killed seven people, five in Beirut and two south of the capital. The Lebanese capital saw more than a thousand people fleeing the bombs seeking refuge in tents under the stands of the sports city.
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