The US will not lift its blockade on Iranian ports until a deal has been reached with Tehran, US President Donald Trump has said, amid continuing uncertainty over whether fresh talks to end the war will take place.

The blockade, which began a week ago, is "absolutely destroying Iran", Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding his country was winning the conflict "by a lot".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxd88r2wjzo

“While one of Iran’s demands for ending the war is the unfreezing of billions of its funds in overseas bank accounts, Trump has insisted that no money will change hands as part of a negotiated settlement. On Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced an additional freeze on $344 million in “multiple” cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran. It also imposed new sanctions on a Chinese refinery it said was “one of Iran’s largest customers, having purchased billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum.”

After Trump said he would extend the current tenuous ceasefire because it was hard for an Iranian government fractured between radicals and moderates to have a unified negotiating position, Tehran fired back Friday with identical posts from senior officials on X.

“In Iran,” it said, “there are no radicals or moderates; we are all ‘Iranian’ and ‘revolutionary,’ and with the iron unity of the nation and government, with complete obedience to the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, we will make the aggressor criminal regret his actions.””

Excerpt From

“Iran talks to resume this weekend without Vance”

The Washington Post

https://apple.news/Ahb0Erq7ZSWGMs_Cmpw4xCg

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