Trump Calls off Iran Strike Threats    06/12 06:22

   U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military 
strikes on Iran, claiming a breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just 
hours after the American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing 
control of Iran's oil industry.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said 
Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a 
breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the American 
leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control of Iran's oil 
industry.

   Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have 
been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson 
for Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that 
mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict that 
began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.

   Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: "We just made a 
great settlement of the war with Iran." He offered scant details, other than to 
say he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April 
to be finalized "over the next few days."

   Extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to 
negotiate over Iran's nuclear program, the main reason Trump and Israeli Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war. Netanyahu's 
office said Thursday that Israel is not a party to the emerging agreement 
between the U.S. and Iran.

   The announcement came after two days of back-and-forth attacks between the 
U.S. and Iran had pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a 
full-scale war.

   Trump had threatened further escalation earlier Thursday, posting on social 
media that the U.S. would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT" and take "total control" 
of its oil and gas industries. A few hours later, Trump posted on social media 
that significant points in the negotiations "have been brought to the highest 
level of Iranian leadership and approved."

   Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said in his 
phone call on state television that the text of a deal is "mostly finalized."

   "The problem is that the contradictions in America's position have caused 
turbulence to this process," he said Thursday night.

   A major sticking point in negotiations has been Iran's nuclear program, 
which the U.S. and Israel fear could lead to an atomic weapon, but which Tehran 
says is for peaceful purposes. Another key issue is Iran's stranglehold on the 
Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for transporting oil and natural gas.

   Trump again moves quickly from threats to negotiating

   Trump's rapid shift Thursday from dire threats to promoting peace 
negotiations again underscored his whipsaw approach to the war. He suggested on 
Monday that a deal to end the conflict could be reached in a matter of days.

   Then back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East this week. The first 
involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire 
between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries where U.S. troops are 
based. The U.S. strikes began after Trump blamed Iran for downing an American 
attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Both pilots were rescued safely.

   Iran's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. attacks had "effectively rendered the 
ceasefire ... meaningless," without saying it was abandoning it.

   After Trump threatened more attacks were to come on Thursday, Iran's 
parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, responded on social media that 
"wrong strategies and impulsive decisions" would wreak havoc on energy markets 
and "create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years."

   It wasn't the first time Trump threatened escalation before giving 
negotiations another chance. In April, he warned Iran that "a whole 
civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" if it didn't 
agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.

   Trump threatened to seize Iran's main oil terminal

   Iran's monthslong disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has 
crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other 
basics more expensive well beyond the region.

   Trump had threatened Thursday to seize Kharg Island, the heart of Iran's oil 
industry, through which 90% of its exports pass.

   But Trump himself soon voiced doubts about taking over the oil terminal, 
saying in an interview with Fox News: "I don't know that America has the 
stomach for it, to be honest."

   "I don't want to have boots on the ground," Trump said. "But if I wanted to, 
we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place."

   Tensions persist over Iran's nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz

   U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the 
U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of 
damage to American allies and any tolls Iran imposes for ships to transit the 
Strait of Hormuz.

   Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over 
Iran's nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The 
U.S. and Israel fear Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be 
used to build an atomic weapon.

   Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in 
Lebanon between its ally militia Hezbollah and Israel. But Netanyahu appears 
intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.

   Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate

   A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing "chaos" 
amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.

   The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are 
struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and triple-digit 
food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.

   "Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people," the 
student added.

   The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he 
participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief 
concern is that Iran "maintain territorial integrity and deterrence" in the 
face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

   US fires on another merchant ship to enforce blockade

   The U.S. military's Central Command said Thursday that it struck a 
Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on 
Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was 
disabled late Wednesday after its crew failed to obey U.S. orders.

   It's the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to enforce 
the blockade.

   Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the 
Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India's minister overseeing ports and 
shipping said Thursday on X.

   U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on 
the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.

   The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations 
agency, condemned the attack.