Trump says US keeps up pressure on Iran

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 19 that Washington was hitting Iran “economically as well as militarily,” while praising what he described as Russia’s restraint in the conflict.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Kansas, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “laying off Iran.”

“Russia has done nothing there that we can see,” he said, defending his continued negotiations with Moscow.

At a campaign rally in Kansas later that day, Trump said his request for NATO assistance in the Iran war had been a test of the alliance.

“When we asked for help in Iran, help which we didn’t need, but I was testing,” he said.

Trump also repeated claims that Iran’s navy and 229 fighter jets had been destroyed and much of its leadership eliminated, saying he did not know whom to negotiate with.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said on Oct. 20 that Tehran and Moscow were working more closely than ever, following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Tehran the previous day.

Lavrov said Russia remained ready to help find a mutually acceptable resolution to the conflict between Iran and the United States.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also warned that undersea communications cables in the Strait of Hormuz could become targets if further U.S. attacks endangered Iranian security.

Spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi pointed to seven major cables beneath the waterway and warned that insecurity for Iran would mean insecurity for the wider region.

Despite the disruption to regional shipping, Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair said exports had exceeded 3.4 million barrels per day in October.

Shipments were moving through the Strait of Hormuz, Türkiye’s Ceyhan port and by tanker trucks through Syria, he told the Iraqi News Agency.

Oil prices reversed earlier losses on Oct. 20 as concerns over Middle East supply disruptions persisted. Brent crude futures rose 0.5 percent to $110.10 a barrel by 03:19 GMT, while the more actively traded December U.S. crude contract gained 0.4 percent to $98.93.

Prices had initially fallen as traders assessed Trump’s executive order waiving some sanctions and tariffs linked to Russian energy exports. Brent touched $110.70 during the previous session, its highest level since May 20.