Donald Trump Photo © Wikipedia / The White House
“President Donald Trump derailed important negotiations with Iran in Switzerland by publicly threatening new strikes. This forced the Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to leave the meeting room,” reports The Guardian.
The U.S. president threatened to bomb Iran and even kidnap the Iranian negotiating team if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened, forcing the mediators—Qatar and Pakistan—to continue the talks behind the scenes.
Iranian state media reported that the talks had entered a “difficult phase” and were suspended following “an offensive statement by the U.S. president.” It was also reported that the Iranian delegation met with Qatari mediators and then left the negotiating venue.
However, high-level talks continued and concluded early Monday morning, with Pakistan and Qatar stating that technical talks between the two sides would continue through the end of the week, the British publication reports.
The incident was triggered by a statement from the U.S. president on the social media platform Truth Social, in which he threatened to launch a “very strong strike” against Iran if it did not force its allies in Lebanon—in particular, Hezbollah—to stop “causing trouble”.
The Iranians left the meeting room about 80 minutes after the start of the first round of direct talks. In response to Trump’s threats, delegation head Mohammad Bakir Galibaf declared that Iran’s armed forces were prepared to respond to any U.S. actions.
