As near as can be discerned by the postings and un-postings today by U.S. President Trump, reasonable negotiations proceeded for many hours, before a decision was made late in the 21-hour proceedings to blow up the negotiations and have the U.S. negotiators depart. Trump then ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and threatened any ship that Iran had allowed through the Strait to be interdicted in international waters.
In a morning post, deleted later in the day, Trump began by saying that this weekend’s marathon talks in Islamabad, Pakistan “went well.” He claimed that “most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not….” Hence: “Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade.... Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!”
Trump added that Iranian negotiators yesterday “were very unyielding” on uranium enrichment (that is, they insisted on the right to have 3-5% enriched uranium for the nuclear energy plant). In the Trump-world, this means: “IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!” ... So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.
In yet another post that seems to have now gone missing, Trump, who has bragged about being above and beyond international law, ordered Iran to get the Strait of Hormuz “OPEN AND FAST! Every Law in the book is being violated by them.”
What remains online at this point is a “Rapid Response” posting where he limited his objection only to Iran’s insistence on their civilian nuclear energy program. Trump wrote: “The meeting with Iran began early in the morning, and lasted throughout the night—Close to 20 hours. I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters—IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!” But then he revealed:
“In many ways, the points that were agreed to are better than us continuing our Military Operations to conclusion, but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people.” Trump slipped here, revealing it is nuclear power, not nuclear bombs, that is what Iran wants. Then: “My three Representatives, as all of this time went by, became, not surprisingly, very friendly and respectful of Iran’s Representatives, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Abbas Araghchi, and Ali Bagheri, but that doesn’t matter because they were very unyielding as to the single most important issue”—that is, the nuclear issue.
Through the first two sessions on April 11, it appears that various matters were agreed to and Iran offered concessions agreeable to Washington, and then late in the night, in the third session, the decision was made to deploy the “poison pill” tactic to blow up any progress.
