Trump warns Iran of resumed strikes as pact is not final

Middle East Monitor reported on June 17th that US President Donald Trump said the deal announced with Iran this week remains subject to change.

Trump stated that the deal is supposed to be a “memorandum of understanding” but gave warning to Iran that the agreement is not yet fixed.

“If I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

He warned that if Iranian leaders “don’t behave,” the US will resume “dropping bombs” on their territory.

Washington and Tehran agreed to a temporary truce in April with mediation through Pakistan before announcing a framework agreement on June 15th to end the conflict. The agreement is expected to be signed in Switzerland on June 19th.

Trump’s response came days after Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated  “Iran would take its own measures if any breaches are seen from the other side.”

Trump said the main objective of the deal is to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weaponry.

“It’s a great deal for a lot of reasons, but number one, by far, 99.9% is they will never have a nuclear weapon,” he said, while characterizing the pact as “very strong.”

The US president also strongly rejected reports of a $300 billion development fund accessible to Iran through American taxpayers, referring to it as a “false story.”

“We’re not investing. We’re not putting up 10 cents,” Trump said, adding that others may choose to invest. “I would say they won’t be doing it for a while, until they find out (about) the behavior (by Iran),” he added.

The war has had a global economic impact, and Trump said oil prices have “come tumbling down” as markets are reacting to the de-escalation.

The US president added that the Strait of Hormuz is “already partially opened” and that he expects the critical global shipping route to be fully operational within the next two days.

He argued that without a deal, the world would have faced a “depression” because the strait would continue to be in closure due to the risks of rocket attacks.

Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi.