United States President Donald Trump said his threat to impose 50% tariffs on goods from countries that sold weapons to Iran was aimed at China.
Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that has heard reports of China giving anti-aircraft “shoulder missiles” to Iran. He played down the possibility of China supplying weapons to Iran, but said their goods would be taxed if they did.
He also said that his “civilisation will die” remarks brought Iran to the bargaining table for the now failed peace talks, and predicted that they will come back.
“Let me tell you, that statement got them to the bargaining table, and they have it left. They have left the bargaining table. I predict they come back and they give us everything we want,” Trump told Fox News programme ‘Sunday Futures’.
On April 7, Trump had threatened that the US forces would wipe out the “whole civilisation” and demanded that Iran open up the Strait of Hormuz, the transit route for one-fifth of the global oil supplies, for navigation. “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump posted on Truth Social, remarks that drew condemnation from across the world.
His remarks come after United States and Iran failed to reach a peace agreement after 21 hours of negotiations in Pakistan, casting uncertainty over a fragile ceasefire. The talks, hosted in Islamabad and facilitated by Pakistan, marked the first direct high-level engagement between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, both sides blamed each other for the breakdown.
US Vice President JD Vance, who led the American delegation, said Iran did not accept Washington’s terms despite what he described as a “final and best offer”.
“We have been at it now for 21 hours. We’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians, that’s the good news,” Vance said before leaving Islamabad. “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” he said.
He added, “We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians would accept our terms.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed Tehran’s delegation, said it was up to Washington to build trust. Iran’s foreign ministry accused the US of making “excessive” and “illegal demands”, without giving details.
The collapse of the talks has dimmed hopes of stabilising the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20 per cent of global oil and LNG flows, and raised the possibility of renewed military tensions in the region.
The negotiations followed a brief ceasefire announced earlier this week after weeks of conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday announced that the US Navy would immediately begin a blockade on ships from entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, hours after the peace talks with Tehran failed on the issue of nuclear weapons.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he has directed the US Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.
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