TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran announced on Thursday that it was still reviewing Washington\u2019s response to a proposal under which the Strait of Hormuz could reopen within seven days, as US President Donald Trump indicated that he will not attack Iran before November\u2019s midterm elections amid \u2018productive talks\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran could reply within days, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, emphasising that \u201cthe diplomatic process is still continuing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Washington will not strike Iran prior to the Nov 3 midterm elections, calling talks with Tehran \u201cproductive\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to make it clear to everybody that, while Iran is in very bad condition \u2026 we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections to be held in the United States on Nov 3,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Trump said that his special envoy Steve Witkoff is \u201cdoing very well\u201d in negotiations with Iran, though he indicated that an agreement is not his preferred outcome, Anadolu reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s working on the Iran deal and doing very well. I think the deal isn\u2019t really something that I want to do, but they\u2019re willing to offer us anything to stop,\u201d Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in San Antonio, Texas, adding that Tehran \u201cwill never have a nuclear weapon\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump described Witkoff as \u201ca great negotiator\u201d who has \u201cdone some phenomenal things\u201d, citing the ceasefire deal in Gaza, and said he expects the war with Iran to end soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat war ends \u2014 it\u2019s going to be very soon. It\u2019s got to be very soon,\u201d Trump said, descr\u00adibing Iran as \u201ca failed nation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also reiterated his claim that Iran has been defeated \u201ceconomically and militarily\u201d and said the US naval blockade will remain in place, while claiming that oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz in \u201crecord numbers\u201d with 22 million barrels passing through Wednesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the ongoing talks, Iran will not abandon uranium enrichment or hand over its uranium, state media reported Thursday, citing Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran\u2019s Atomic Energy Organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dismissing renewed US threats aga\u00adinst Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities as \u201cnothing new\u201d, he said enrichment was \u201can inseparable part\u201d of the nuclear process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the aviation front, the first commercial flight operated by a foreign airline to fly into Iran since the outbreak of the Middle East war landed on Thursday, state media repo\u00adrted, after the United States granted a sanctions waiver for Iraq\u2019s national carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The waiver applies to pilgr\u00adims travelling between Iran and Najaf, alongside a separate agreement allowing Iran\u00adian airlines, except Mahan Air, to operate daily flights on the route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At sea, Maj Gen Ahmad Vahidi, commander-in-chief of the IRGC, warned that military forces are ready \u201cwith crushing weapons to deliver a decisive response to any attempt at unauthorised passage in the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Fars reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Central Comm\u00adand rejected Iranian claims that the waterway is closed. However, shipping data from analytics firm Kpler showed the number of vessels transiting the strait fell to seven on Tuesday, the lowest in more than two months, before edging up to 10 on Wednesday, after tanker attacks reached a wartime high last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCrude crossing the strait fell 27 per cent from a wartime high the week before, to at least 10.1 million barrels a day,\u201d Kpler analysts Emma\u00adnuel Belostrino and Yui Torikata wrote Tuesday, though rising exports from the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea kept overall Middle East crude exports at pre-war levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN(National Times)- Iran announced on Thursday that it was still reviewing Washington\u2019s response to a proposal under which the Strait of Hormuz could reopen within seven days, as US President Donald Trump indicated that he will not attack Iran before November\u2019s midterm elections amid \u2018productive talks\u2019. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran could reply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n