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Trump said that Iran had ‘misbehaved’ for 47 years and he would not hesitate to restart hostilities if an agreement was not reached
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President Donald Trump has threatened to restart the war in Iran if he doesn’t like the terms of any deal agreed with Tehran.
Speaking from the G7 summit in the French Alps on Wednesday, he said that a memorandum of understanding had not been finalised but that he would go back to “shooting at them and dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head” if he did not like the agreement.
It follows the leak of a 14-point document reported to be the same as one digitally signed by the US leader, a US official shared with CNN.
Meanwhile, Israel reportedly struck targets in southern Lebanon again on Wednesday, brushing off warnings from Trump and threatening to derail the US peace process with Iran.
Israeli forces were said to have carried out an airstrike in the Nabatieh district and raids on the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, according to Lebanese media and Al Jazeera Arabic.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. Iran has warned of a “hard response” if Israel does not stop its attacks on Lebanon, and Hezbollah says Tehran promised it would not sign the final nuclear deal with the US unless Israel stops.
British inflation held at 2.8% in May, unchanged from April’s 13-month low and below forecasts from both economists and the Bank of England, official figures showed on Wednesday, a day before the central bank’s next interest rate decision.
Sterling weakened a little against the U.S. dollar GBP= after the data, British government bond yields fell to a new two-month low and investors slightly trimmed their expectations for a rate increase later this year.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a rise to 3.0% for May, and the BoE in April predicted an increase to 3.3% as the US-Israeli war on Iran kept British inflation almost a percentage point higher than the central bank had forecast in February.
Lower prices than in April for meat, vegetables, dairy products and domestic heating oil helped offset a jump in airfares and petrol prices, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
Financial markets this week have drawn comfort from an interim agreement between the US and Iran which promises to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and is due to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.
Commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz could take weeks to resume, the world’s largest tanker operator has said, despite Donald Trump’s insistence the vital waterway is already “partially opened” to traffic.
Jotaro Tamura, CEO of Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, told the FT that it was not enough for shipping companies to see a “simple agreement between the relevant companies” to resume shipping and assuage down global energy prices.
“Given the experiences in the last couple of months, I think it’s reasonable to assume that it may take at least a couple of weeks or if not a month,” Tamura said, before Trump announced a preliminary arrangement with Iran.
The framework deal between the US and Iran was already under pressure on Monday as Israel suggested it would stay in Lebanon despite the reported agreement stipulating the conflict would be ended on all fronts.
Trump was in France on Tuesday for the second day of the G7 summit with the leaders of France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan. Meetings will focus on ending the Middle East crisis, and security for Europe.
G7 chiefs on Wednesday welcomed the preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran and said they were ready to help implement it.
They said they would make efforts to diversify energy supply routes to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked for most of the duration of its war with the US.
Trump cautioned today that the memorandum of understanding with Iran was not final, and that he could resume a bombing campaign if it was not honoured.
“If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?” he said.
Although European allies appeared supportive of the preliminary memorandum in public, diplomats cautioned that getting a lasting deal on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme as well as its support for proxy forces in the Middle East is no small challenge.
Oil prices edged higher in early trade this morning, clawing back some of the previous session’s losses, as investors assessed whether the Iran war will truly end and the Strait of Hormuz reopen.
Brent crude futures gained 47 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $79.43 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate rose to $76.53 a barrel, up 48 cents, or 0.6 per cent.
Both benchmarks fell about 5 per cent for a second straight session yesterday to three-month lows on hopes a U.S.-Iran deal would allow oil flows through the Strait.
The family of a British couple held in Iran are urging Donald Trump to push for a hostage exchange as part of a deal to end the war.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman, from East Sussex, were sentenced to 10 years in Tehran’s Evin prison last year after Iran charged them with espionage during a motorcycle trip around the world. They deny the charges.
The couple have been on hunger strike for 39 and 30 days respectively, fearing “there is no other way to be heard” having effectively been stranded without legal representation, according to the family.
Joe Bennett, Lindsay’s son, said on Wednesday that “any serious framework deal” between United States and Iran must include the fate of foreign detainees as negotiators inch towards a preliminary agreement to end the war, expected on Friday.
The full text of the memorandum of understanding shared by CNN appears to confirm what an Iranian official told Reuters earlier this week.
It includes an agreement by Tehran not to produce or acquire nuclear weapons, allows it to maintain the current status of its nuclear programme and prevents it from further uranium enrichment and expansion of its nuclear facilities.
Iran has long maintained this, and that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
The United States has agreed to allow Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium on Iranian soil under a more detailed future agreement, according to the reports. JD Vance denied that Iran would receive any payment in exchange for giving up the development of nuclear weapons.
While official details remain scarce, the emerging peace agreement has been criticised by some members of Trump’s own party and by the Israeli government, with some claiming it does little to build on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from during his first term.
Nuclear talks are to continue over the next 60 days, senior Pakistani officials told the Associated Press.
Read the full text below.
A leaked memorandum of understanding reportedly agreed between the US and Iran appears to confirm reports that the US has agreed to finance Iran’s economic development and rehabilitation to the tune of $300bn.
A US official shared the agreement with CNN and it has reportedly been digitally signed by president Donald Trump and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf.
Point 6 of the document states: “The United States undertakes, together with its regional partners, to create a comprehensive plan agreed upon by both parties for the rehabilitation and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while ensuring financing of at least $300 billion. The implementation mechanism of this plan, as part of the final agreement, will be formulated within 60 days.”
During comments at the G7 on Wednesday, Trump had denied the claims saying that Iran would not receive “ten cents”.
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