Trump says he is willing to end the war even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on the 30th, U.S. President Trump told his aides that even if the Strait of Hormuz is broadly still under a closed status, he is willing to end military action against Iran.

The report, citing U.S. government officials, said that Trump and his aides recently assessed that if action were taken to force a breakthrough of the Strait of Hormuz, the duration of the conflict would exceed the timeline of 4 to 6 weeks that he had set in advance. Therefore, Trump decided that the United States should first achieve its “main goal, to weaken Iran’s naval forces and its missile stockpiles,” while gradually easing the current hostilities and applying pressure on Iran through diplomatic channels to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. government officials said that if the above efforts fail, the United States would instead push its allies in Europe and the Gulf region to take the lead in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. They said Trump could also choose to use military means, but “that is not his top priority.”

The report said that the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the greater the impact on the global economy will be, and it will continue to drive up oil prices.

The report also said that Trump wants to quickly end the war, but the measures he has taken, such as deploying additional troops to the Middle East, run counter to that.

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New rules for the Strait of Hormuz take effect! Trump sets an April 6 final deadline—seeking to make Arab countries foot the bill for the war; Israeli military: The war has entered a “winding-down phase”

According to CCTV News, on the 30th local time, U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran entered its 31st day, with fighting escalating further. On that day, Iran’s parliament passed a bill aiming to charge transit ships through the Strait of Hormuz and prohibit U.S. and Israeli ships from transiting it. In response, the U.S. side threatened to “completely destroy” Iran’s oil facilities. The Israeli military claimed that its strikes against Iranian forces had entered a “winding-down phase,” and shifted to targeting Iran’s economic objectives. Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S.-Iran talks remained unclear. Trump hoped to reach an agreement before April 6, while Iran reiterated that it was not engaging in direct talks with the U.S. The Israeli side used the negotiation window to step up its offensive against Iran, but its air-defense system is facing difficulties from resource overstretch, as anti-war voices at home are beginning to rise.

Iran plans to charge fees for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. keeps pressuring and threatening

The U.S. side has repeatedly claimed in recent days that it is in talks with Iran and even said it has made “progress.” Iran, meanwhile, admits that some “friendly countries” are acting as intermediaries, but emphasizes that the U.S. and Iran have not held formal discussions or negotiations.

A reporter with CCTV (Centrale Television) learned that on the 30th local time, Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission passed a bill proposing to charge transit fees for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The plan includes implementing financial arrangements and a fee system in the form of Iranian rials; banning ships of the United States and Israel from passing through the Strait of Hormuz; maintaining Iran and its armed forces’ dominant position; banning the transit of ships belonging to countries that impose unilateral sanctions on Iran; and Iran will cooperate with Oman to develop the relevant legal framework.

U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said on the 30th that it will never allow Iran to permanently control the Strait of Hormuz or establish a fee collection system, etc. He said that if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz after the war ends, it will “face serious consequences.”

Rubio said the goals of U.S. military operations against Iran are very clear: the U.S. aims to achieve its military objectives against Iran “within weeks, not within months.”

Trump hopes to reach an agreement before April 6

Wants Arab countries to foot the bill for the U.S. to attack Iran

On the 30th local time, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei said that so far Iran has not held any direct negotiations with the United States. Iran has received information about the U.S. expressing a willingness to negotiate through some intermediary channels. The so-called “15-point plan” for a U.S.-proposed ceasefire that has been mentioned externally is, he said, a set of demands that are “excessive and unreasonable.” Baghaei said that unlike the U.S. side’s continual shifting of positions and contradictory statements, Iran’s position has remained clear.

On the same day, White House press secretary Leavitt, at a briefing, said that Iran has agreed to some of the key points proposed by the U.S. in closed-door talks, and said that Trump hopes to reach an agreement before April 6. Leavitt emphasized that dialogue between the U.S. and Iran is still ongoing and that progress has been going well.

Leavitt said that U.S. President Trump intends to call on Arab countries to bear the costs of the U.S. military actions against Iran, and said this is Trump’s own idea. When asked whether Arab countries would help pay for the costs of the war, Leavitt said she believes Trump “will be very interested in urging them to carry this out,” and “to the best of my knowledge, this is a thought he truly had. And I think you will hear more remarks from him about this later.”

Trump said on the 30th that if no agreement is reached with Iran, he would “completely destroy” all of the country’s power plants, oil wells, and Halk Island. In response, Iran’s speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Kalibaf, said the same day that threats to Iran from the United States and Israel were a “serious mistake.” Iran’s first vice president, Areif, also warned that while the U.S. can decide whether to send troops to Halk Island, whether it can withdraw troops from there would not be under its control, because “no one can come back alive from hell.”

A reporter with CCTV (Centrale Television) learned on the 30th local time that Israeli military forces and other Israeli leaders said that one month after Israel began its war with Iran, Israel’s military forces have almost completed bombing of all targets they set on their own at the start of the conflict. Israel’s military targets in Iran have entered a “winding-down phase.” Israel’s political leadership has ordered the troops to shift to targeting the “economic” objectives of the Iranian regime.

The U.S. and Israel increase the intensity of strikes

Iran: Precise strikes on U.S. military command centers

According to the most recent reports from various parties, over the past month, U.S. forces have carried out attacks on more than 10,000 Iranian military targets, while Israeli forces have attacked more than 3,000 related Iranian targets. Iran has launched more than 80 rounds of offensives codenamed “True Promise-4.”

A reporter with CCTV (Centrale Television) learned that late on the 30th local time, multiple explosions occurred in the eastern part of Tehran, Iran.

That day, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it carried out a new round of airstrikes on Tehran not long ago, and that the targets of the strikes were infrastructure of the Iranian regime.

The Israel Defense Forces announced on the 30th that another round of strikes against Iran’s defense-industrial companies had been completed. In the past 24 hours, the Israeli military struck a total of 170 Iranian targets.

According to a report from Xinhua News Agency, on the 30th, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying that the Guard Corps navy launched its 87th round of “True Promise-4” operations on the day, carrying out four strikes on targets of the United States and Israel.

The statement said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used precision-guided missiles to strike a U.S. military command and control center located in the United Arab Emirates, where there are more than 200 U.S. military commanders and mid-level officers; it used drones to precisely strike the location of a secret meeting in Bahrain where the commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet was holding talks.

The statement also said that a container ship of Israel bearing the flag of a third country and the air-defense early warning radar deployed by the United States in Saudi Arabia were also targets of the strikes.

Unclear outlook for U.S.-Iran talks

Israel uses the window period to step up its offensive

News about the United States holding talks with Iran has recently become a focus of attention for various parties. In a cabinet meeting that day, Iran’s President Pezeshkian said that any decision to end the war will be made based on meeting all the conditions that have been proposed, and will be made within the framework of safeguarding national dignity, security, and interests. Previously, U.S. President Trump had said on multiple occasions that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran, but at the same time the U.S. is continuing to deploy additional troops to the Middle East.

In response, analysts believe that the U.S. has prepared two sets of options: “fight” and “talk.” If the U.S. can carry out an operation to seize the island successfully and break through the Strait of Hormuz, then the current negotiations and contacts are very likely just a delaying tactic and distraction; if the U.S. is eager to disengage from the Middle East, then the currently assembled main forces will become bargaining chips for negotiations with Iran, aiming to force Iran to compromise and give way through military pressure.

At present, Israel’s official narrative remains that military strikes are at their peak, with no clear end timeline. In his latest remarks, Prime Minister Netanyahu also emphasized that Israeli forces will still “spare no effort to strike Iran,” especially in destroying its missile and nuclear programs. This “race against the clock” strike posture displayed by Israel has clear characteristics of a political window period. There are reports indicating that the Israeli government is clearly worried that U.S.-Iran talks could reach a ceasefire, so during the current window period with an uncertain outlook, it is doing everything possible to weaken Iran’s strategic assets to the maximum extent.

But behind what the Israeli side calls “results announcements,” the sustained tightness of Israel’s air-defense system and the rapid depletion of strategic resources are also exposed. Over this past period of time, Iran has not gone a day without firing missiles at Israel in retaliation. Across the country, from south to north, air-defense alerts have been sounded continuously, and there have been multiple instances where air-defense systems “missed coverage.” This shows that no matter how high-profilely Israeli forces claim to have destroyed Iran’s launch sites, they still cannot guarantee their own airspace is “absolutely safe.” Moreover, some media have disclosed that amid high-intensity consumption, the Israeli military has begun to limit use of the expensive “Arrow-3” long-range intercept missiles and has instead relied on the medium-range intercept system “David’s Sling” to deal with threats from long-range missiles.

（Source: Xinhua News Agency）