WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has said the Strait of Hormuz will reopen “very soon” as negotiations with Iran continue while warning Tehran earlier Washington would take strong military action if a deal is not reached.Trump said on Tuesday a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as soon as Wednesday as negotiations are underway between the US, Iran and Oman.A deal with Iran to reopen Hormuz could happen “tomorrow or the next day,” he told reporters in California, adding that negotiators “had a very good day.”Earlier, he struck a more threatening tone.”The Strait is going to be open very soon — or they’re gonna hit very hard, and then the Strait is going to be open,” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday. “All you can do is fight your way out.”Trump said he had previously been prepared to launch a major attack against Iran but agreed to negotiations after Iranian officials requested talks.”We were going to a tremendous attack, the biggest since World War II, and they called me and said, very politely, ‘Please, can we talk? Can we talk?’… I said, ‘Yes, we can talk. Let’s get it done. Finally, let’s get it done,'” he added.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States was involved in negotiations between Oman and Iran on increasing traffic through the strait.News outlet Axios reported Tuesday that the US, Iran and Oman were nearing an interim deal to reopen the strait.Axios, citing unnamed regional officials and a US official, said the deal on the table would be a 60-day arrangement for safe passage in the strait between Iran and Oman.The deal, which has been under negotiations for several weeks, is aimed at resuming the ceasefire between the US and Iran and restarting negotiations over a nuclear deal.The US leader said there was an “all-day negotiation” on Tuesday with Iran, and characterized the talks positively.Iran has tightened its grip on Hormuz and wants to control the strait and charge tolls — powers it did not exercise before the war began on February 28.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC earlier “there is a chance we may have a deal” by Wednesday or Thursday.Underlining the volatile situation, one crew member was listed missing Tuesday on a merchant ship hit by a projectile in Hormuz, while an Indian ship in the Red Sea sank following an unattributed attack.In what has become a regular pattern, Trump last week threatened to hit Iran “very hard,” potentially with attacks against civilian infrastructure, only to pull back, hinting a deal was near.Iran’s foreign ministry has denied negotiations with Washington, even as Trump insisted they were happening.Qatar, which has been mediating negotiations, said diplomatic efforts were ongoing but that no direct Iran-US talks were planned.Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani spoke with Trump by phone on Tuesday, with Doha saying they discussed “efforts to de-escalate tensions.”Washington’s diplomatic goals include reopening Hormuz and the denuclearization of Iran, which Trump accepted could “take a little while.”The president previously called Tehran “duplicitous” for saying it was not negotiating, adding that a US counter-blockade of Iranian ports would remain “unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”More than five months into a war that has cost Washington billions of dollars, Iran remains able to fire missiles and drones at US and allied targets in the region, as well as at commercial shipping.Early on Tuesday, Britain’s maritime security agency UKMTO said an unnamed cargo vessel had been struck by an “unknown projectile” in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.Iran continues to impose an effective blockade on the strait and insists ships coordinate crossings with it.The disruptions in Hormuz have only placed greater importance on shipping lanes through the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia.But since the Houthis announced their blockade, they have claimed attacks on multiple ships they say are in violation.On Wednesday, the militia claimed it struck Saudi oil tanker Wafaa with several ballistic missiles off the coast of Yanbu in the northern Red Sea.The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a statement on X that the missiles hit the tanker “accurately.”On Tuesday, the Indian ship MSV Faize Noore Oliya sank in the Red Sea off Yemen following an unattributed attack, with all of its crew rescued.The Red Sea is a gateway to the Suez Canal, and a previous campaign of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels during the Gaza war forced shippers to instead take lengthy detours around the southern tip of Africa.
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