JERUSALEM, Israel – Five suspects arrested near a British air base used by American bombers are out on bail, drawing a sharp response from President Trump. The planned attack comes as Washington and Tehran trade messages over a possible nuclear agreement.
President Trump claims that reports of a sanctions offer to Iran are false.
Axios, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that the president was willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds if Iran took steps to end its nuclear program. However, Trump called the report “a hoax,” and wrote on Truth Social, “I offered them nothing.”
When asked about the prospect of talks with Iran, the president responded, ” No, no. We’re gonna win. As far as I’m concerned, it’s gonna be one way or the other. It’s gonna go pretty quickly, too.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is projecting confidence of his own. In a statement read on television, he claimed that Iranian forces have driven enemy forces back from the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. CENTCOM insisted that Iran’s claim to control the Strait is false. It noted that thousands of ships and more than a billion barrels of oil have passed through in recent months.
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In Britain, five men arrested near R.A.F. Fairford were released Monday on bail. The base has been used by American bombers during conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.
Detectives are investigating a possible link to Iran, among other leads. Trump remarked that he would have kept the men in custody.
“I’m surprised that they released them,” he said of the U.K. government, and added, “I wouldn’t have done that. Look, they’ve been very good. They worked with us very closely. We know everything about them. We would not have released them.”
Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio also pointed to possible foreign involvement
“It’s a serious situation, and it’s one that is a very serious situation,’ he observed. “It’s one that clearly involved the hands of a foreign actor.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has resumed oil exports through its east-west pipeline after repairs to damage from drone strikes. The route carries oil to the Red Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Middle East crude exports are at their highest since the war began and are nearly 80% of prewar levels.
At the United Nations, more than 40 countries boycotted an event marking 25 years since the Durban Conference in South Africa. That 2001 meeting was meant to combat racism, but it was overshadowed by attacks on Israel and antisemitism at a parallel activist forum.
The United States, under the George W. Bush administration, walked out. Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said the fight against racism should never become a vehicle for antisemitism.
