#us-iran-relations

#us-iran-relations

"But if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island..."

In the wake of President Trump's warning about Iran, the rhetoric has softened, with the U.S. now engaged in negotiations, impacting various financial markets.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei stated that Pakistan was among the 'many countries' to have approached Iran with offers to mediate. He praised Islamabad for its 'good intentions' and confirmed that Iran's minister of foreign affairs has been in contact with his Pakistani counterpart.

Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey have taken the lead in efforts to broker a peace deal between the United States and Iran, serving as intermediaries in talks between Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The backchannel talks between Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, were not a secret in the sense that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry had tweeted that conversations were under way on Sunday.

After Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956, a joint British-French armada of six aircraft carriers destroyed Egypt's air force, while Israeli troops smashed Egyptian tanks in the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. Within less than a week of war, Nasser had lost his strategic forces and Egypt seemed helpless before the overwhelming might of that massive imperial juggernaut.

The other piece of this that I found really disturbing in the messaging around the war recently is some of the language in the description of their opponent. Sort of the way they seem to create this image of the Iranians and all of their sort of proxies or allies, the sort of imagery that they conjure up. And I think that it takes a certain amount of arrogance and I'm also going to say it, a bit of racism, to constantly talk about people like they are savages.

Evidence is building that the strike may be the result of US forces relying on outdated intelligence, according to two US officials familiar with the matter, though they cautioned that the assessment remains preliminary. The officials, who spoke to RFE/RL on March 11 on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said they could not confirm or deny reports -- which have appeared in The New York Times and Reuters, among other media outlets -- on the faulty intelligence, but they added that early findings point in a similar direction.

We also spoke about the current situation in Iran, and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026. During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.

I'm hearing they want to talk badly. It's possible. Depends on what terms, possible, only possible. You know, we sort of don't have to speak anymore, you know, if you really think about it, but it's possible.

Rigid in his anti-western views, Mojtaba Khamenei is not the candidate Donald Trump would have wanted. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Tuesday that Iran was run by religious fanatic lunatics and Khamenei's appointment is hardly likely to dispel that opinion.