Trump ready to ditch Iran nuclear deal push in return for Hormuz reopening: Report
US President Donald Trump is ready to stop its conflict with Iran and give up on a nuclear deal if the Middle East nation decides to open the critical Strait of Hormuz, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The report, citing US officials, said the 80-year-old Republican leader had spent weeks to declare a victory if Iran opens the strategic waterway through which nearly a fifth of global crude transits. It said the Trump administration is now focused on restoring traffic in Hormuz after finding that negotiations regarding the nuclear programme were difficult.
The report comes as Iran presented a long list of demands including the lifting of naval blockade of Iranian ports, ending sanctions, releasing frozen assets “unconditionally” and compensating Tehran for war-related damage. According to The Wall Street Journal, the US is out of options because of the demands, as it realises that Tehran is preparing for a prolonged confrontation.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is nearly 167 km long and its width varies from 97 km to 39 km. From 2023 to 2025, around 20 per cent of world’s total liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 25 per cent of seaborne oil trade passed through here, which highlights the importance of the strait.
The strait has remained closed since the US-Iran war began in February. The US wants Iran to keep the Hormuz open, but the Middle East nation has refused to do so and wants to charge a toll on vessels transiting through it.
On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reiterated that the Hormuz would not be reopened until the US accepts all its demands, including an end to the war on all fronts. The blockade would continue “until the enemy accepts all our conditions… the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway,” a statement by the IRGC read.
Despite this, Trump remains optimistic about a solution and has said that the US is “low-keying it”, adding that his administration is “only semi-negotiating with” Iran.
“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he told Axios on Sunday, adding that it “will work out”. “It’s like a chess game.”
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