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The Iranian Army firmly rejected the statements made by President Donald Trump on supposed negotiations with Tehran on Wednesday, and issued a direct warning to the American leader.
Don't call your defeat an agreement... The era of your promises has come to an end," stated the statement issued by the spokesperson of the Khatam al-Anbiya Unified Operations Command, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, as reported by the Tasnim agency, linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Zolfaghari accused Trump of trying to "disguise his defeat as an agreement" and stated that Washington "negotiates with itself" to save face after the strategic setbacks in the conflict.
The Iranian statement directly responds to Trump's remarks about a possible agreement with Iran, in which he claimed that Tehran offered him a "very big gift" related to the Strait of Hormuz and oil, and that Iranian representatives "have agreed that they will never have nuclear weapons."
Trump also indicated that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading the discussions.
Tehran had acknowledged indirect contacts with the United States but firmly denied that any formal negotiations exist. The Iranian military went further this Wednesday: "No one like us will reach an agreement with someone like you," the statement pointed out, describing Trump's claims as an attempt at media manipulation. "Today, there are two fronts: truth and lies. And no truth seeker is seduced by your media waves," the text added.
The context in which this exchange takes place is that of an active armed conflict. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched the Operation Epic Fury against Iranian nuclear and military facilities, following the failure of a ten-day ultimatum issued on February 19. During the initial bombings, the Supreme Leader Ali Jamenei was killed; his son Mojtaba assumed leadership on March 8. The offensive destroyed more than 2,000 targets and decimated the Iranian military leadership.
In response, Iran partially blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil transits. The price of Brent crude surpassed 126 dollars —up from around 67 dollars before the conflict— and naval traffic in the area collapsed by 97%, with at least 24 commercial vessels attacked or affected by incidents.
On March 21, Trump issued a new 48-hour ultimatum to reopen the strait, which the Revolutionary Guard dismissed and threatened with reprisals against energy plants in the United States and Israel. On Monday, Trump postponed that deadline by an additional five days before changing his tone towards negotiation.
Zolfaghari also called on the countries in the region to build a new security architecture: “The time has come to establish a security alliance without the presence of the United States and Israel”. He warned that economic conditions will not change until Tehran imposes its terms: “Neither will their investments in the region materialize, nor will they see the energy and oil prices of the past, until they understand that stability in the region is guaranteed by the strong hand of our armed forces.”
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