Trump: Iran’s offer on Hormuz ‘simply is not enough,’ attacks could come after the elections

U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for managing the Strait of Hormuz, calling it “simply not enough,” in a new interview with Time magazine, as Al Jazeera reports in its live blog today on the war in Iran.

Tehran’s proposal envisaged that Iran would allow American fleets to transport oil through the strategic strait. “What I refused a year ago, I will not accept today,” Trump said, adding the harsh warning that “Iran could be destroyed.”

According to the U.S. president, new attacks on Iran could come after the midterm elections. He dismissed reports of ammunition shortages as “by far mostly fake news” and claimed that the United States “has closed the Strait of Hormuz to Iran and controls it.”

Trump reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and said oil prices will fall once an agreement is reached. His statements come at a moment when diplomacy appears to have little chance of success and both sides are preparing for a possible military escalation.