US President Donald Trump stated this Thursday (26) that Iran authorized the passage of around ten oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as a sign of goodwill within the scope of negotiations between Washington and Tehran to try to end the war.
“They said, ‘To show that we are real, solid and that we are present, we are going to let you have eight oil tankers, eight ships, eight large oil tankers,'” the Republican leader said, adding that the concession was “real” and the ships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz flying Pakistani flags.
Trump considered that his government is negotiating with “the right people” now, after disagreements with other regime leaders, citing the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in Israeli attacks at the beginning of the war.
“In fact, they even apologized for something they had said and announced ‘we are going to send two more ships’, and in the end it ended up being ten ships,” the American leader added about the current dialogue, in which Pakistan is acting as a mediator and which is taking place after, on Monday, he said he would postpone attacks on Iranian power plants, due to positive progress in the negotiations.
The passage of these ships is what Trump classified two days ago as “a great gift” granted by Iran as part of the negotiations. Last Tuesday, Trump declined to give further details and limited himself to saying that this gift has great economic value and is linked to the Strait of Hormuz, a passage through which 20% of the world’s crude oil exports transits and which Tehran has kept partially blocked since the start of the war, which caused a significant increase in the price of oil.
“I hope I didn’t ruin the negotiations, but I thought it was appropriate to say this, as the other day I made fun of you a little by saying that you would give us a gift,” he said regarding his comment earlier in the week.
