Trump warns of war with Iran amid peace talks

Iran has argued that Washington failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon

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US president Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to restart war with Iran even as vice president J.D. Vance met Iranian officials for the first talks under an interim peace deal, overshadowed by Tehran’s announcement it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz.

The talks in the Qatari-owned mountaintop resort of Buergenstock in Switzerland were the first to be held under the terms of a memorandum of understanding agreed a week ago.

It calls for the strait to be reopened and a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which US ally Israel invaded in March. But Iran, arguing that Washington had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, said it had shut the strait again and that Sunday’s talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.

“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump said, apparently referring to Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and to an escalation he ordered earlier this month.

Fox News reported that Trump had gone further in an interview, saying he had told Iranian officials if they closed the strait “you won’t have a country”, and threatening to take over the waterway.