Trump says Iran strikes 'highly unlikely' if talks progress
Both sides report new attacks on shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz while Qatar keeps mediating an end to the war.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was highly unlikely to order new attacks on Iran while talks to end the war progress, as Washington and Tehran both reported attacks on shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz, the channel that carries Gulf energy to world markets.
In a phone interview with CNN, Trump said: "It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement." He added: "The answer is, highly unlikely it's going to be necessary." CNN did not say what it had asked him.
Trump said that if strikes resume, the US has identified potential targets in Iran including 38 bridges "that we can knock down in literally one hour." He had hinted at renewed major attacks after last week's US midterm elections, and no large-scale operation has followed. Iran has said it would answer any attack by striking US and Israeli targets.
Both sides reported new action at sea. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said two oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while trying to pass through an "unauthorised route" in the Strait of Hormuz, and the semi-official Fars news agency later reported a third tanker had exploded and caught fire. The US military said its air force fired at the stern of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman beyond the strait, disabling it as it tried to get through a US blockade of Iranian ports. Reuters said it could not confirm any of the reported strikes.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a bulk carrier and military forces were involved in an incident about 18 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, with damage unknown.
Explosions were heard in several areas of southern Iran, including Qeshm Island in the strait, on Saturday evening. Tasnim news agency said two missiles struck Qeshm, with no official word on damage. Iranian state television said officials had not confirmed any missile strikes on Iranian territory and suggested the blasts might relate to Iranian military activity in the waterway. Neither Iran nor the US commented on the Tasnim report. Washington said on November 2 that it had struck the island in what it called a limited defensive measure.
The US and Israel began attacking Iran in February. Tehran has since hit vessels in the strait to block Gulf energy exports, and US forces began blockading traffic to and from Iranian ports in April.
Qatar, which is mediating, denied on Saturday that the US and Iran had failed to reach a deal, and its prime minister said both sides were still working towards an agreement. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran had given Washington a nuclear proposal through Qatar, and that talks depended on the US meeting seven Iranian demands including sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and war reparations. Washington insists nuclear issues must be in the initial talks.
The US military said on Saturday it was setting up a task force to stop advanced weapons and other sanctioned goods reaching Iran by land and across the Caspian Sea. Iran's Revolutionary Guards dismissed the plan as "wordplay", saying Tehran had prepared for it and was in close contact with its neighbours.
Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said an administrative building belonging to state oil company Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was damaged by falling debris after an attempted attack, with no injuries. Fighting between Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia has escalated this month.
How the reports differ
Reuters first put Trump's words at "highly unlikely", then filed a second version saying "unlikely" and crediting CNN with the interview that produced them. CNN and Haaretz both kept "highly unlikely" in quotation marks in their headlines, while CNA's headline matched Reuters and its standfirst led instead with the continued attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the resulting restrictions on energy exports. The CNA report was the only one of the five to carry Trump's figure of 38 bridges, Tasnim's account of two missiles hitting Qeshm Island and Qatar's denial that the talks had failed.
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