President Donald Trump on Monday issued a strong warning to Oman against getting “in the way” of the United States while negotiations continue with Iranian counterparts about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s comments came on a call with Fox News Channel’s Trey Yingst.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the (expletive) out of them,” the president said.
Negotiators in Iran and Oman have been looking to finalize details of a new deal that would set up shipping lanes in the strait, which is a crucial waterway for transport of the world’s oil supply.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei reportedly said that Iran had reached an understanding with Oman about the transit route for the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent weeks, in exchange for reopening the strait, Iran has demanded that the U.S. end its naval blockade on Iranian ports, demanded to be compensated for damages from the war, said the U.S. should unfreeze its assets and for the U.S. to lift economic sanctions placed on Iran.
Officials in Iran, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, are reportedly looking to project unity despite U.S. officials insisting that leadership was fractured and not working together. Pezeshkian told state media that the U.S. aims to create division.
In Trump’s conversation with Yingst, he reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and that’s why the U.S. military operation is justified. He said Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender.”
The interview also focused on the impacts in the U.S. of the war continuing on.
Trump ‘not in a hurry’ to end conflict
Earlier this month, Trump pushed back on Iranian claims that no negotiations were happening. He said the U.S. was “semi-negotiating” and they were “low-keying it.”
Asked by reporters about what is changing between the two countries after the U.S. held off on an attack, Trump replied earlier this month that he was giving Iran a chance to make a deal. He said he was “under no time constraint” to get the deal across the finish line.
He reiterated that message to Yingst, saying he has “no time schedule.”
“I’m not in a hurry,” Trump said.
It’s likely not something Republican strategists and leaders want to hear, particularly as Trump’s approval rating nationwide — and in Utah — is underwater.
Voters are expressing concern in the surveys about gas prices and cost of living and that is likely something of concern to the president with just a few months left until the November midterm elections.
Jeremy Pope, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, noted that Trump is trying to “manifest” that things are going well, both with his approval rating and with the Iran negotiations. He said he’s not confident that the war will wrap up and Americans won’t feel the impacts when it’s time to cast ballots come November.
“It’s like an open sore on his presidency and he doesn’t know how to fix it,” Pope said in an interview with the Deseret News.
Still, Trump portrayed confidence on the call with Yingst and said “midterms have nothing to do with my thinking.”
However, the president continues to face criticism over the ongoing war, particularly after reports detailed living conditions on the USS Lincoln, which has been deployed at sea for more than 260 days and was diverted to the Middle East in January ahead of the war with Iran.
Trump, last week, tried to downplay concerns about the living conditions for the approximate 5,000 officials onboard. When asked if the naval deployment had gone on for too long after being stationed at sea since last November, Trump said it hadn’t gone on “nearly long enough.”
Still, Trump said the Lincoln would be moving “right now or very shortly” and replaced with another ship.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced Friday the “warriors” were painted as “victims” by the media and that the USS George Washington would go to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln.