President Donald Trump said Saturday talks with Iran have started, adding global oil shipping is finding alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, who spoke with NewsNation, said Iran still is a “failing nation” but forecasted the strait would reopen in the “not too distant future.”
If negotiations do not go well, the U.S. is prepared to “reset.”
“We’re ready to go,” Trump said.
Trump reiterated empty oil tankers are making their way to the U.S. to get oil.
“Just take a look out at the great seas of our world, they’re all, many of them are heading to the United States to load up with oil,” Trump said. “We have plenty of it.”
Trump said many countries were beginning to explore other options for fuel.
“I think people are seeing that there are other alternatives to going through the Strait,” Trump said.
Vice President JD Vance is leading the U.S. contingent for peace talks in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad.
He is accompanied by Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
All three will meet with Iranian officials at a high-end hotel in the hopes of ridding Iran of its nuclear capabilities and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the talks started, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf issued a demand.
“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf said. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”
The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 1,953 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, the Associated Press reported.
