US President Donald Trump says American negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday for talks with Iran.
Trump, in a post on social media Sunday, didn’t detail which officials the US would sending to a second round of in-person talks with Iran is Islamabad. The White House and office of US Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of talks, didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday morning (Sunday night AEST).
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Iran shuts Strait of Hormuz as ceasefire deadline looms
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In his post, Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire agreement by firing bullets on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to destroy civilian infrastructure in Iran if it doesn’t take the deal that the US is offering.
“If they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote.
The Albanese government, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with plans to join a multinational peacekeeping force in the Strait of Hormuz, despite Iran’s reclosure of the critical waterway throwing the mission into doubt.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles declared it’s essential Australia maintains freedom of navigation through one of the world’s most important oil gateways.
“Obviously that is a disappointing development overnight,” Marles said of Iran’s latest move to close the strait.
Iran’s new closure of the Strait of Hormuz represents a significant setback to the proposed UK and France-led mission to keep the critical shipping channel open.
Even as hopes for the multinational force dim, the Albanese government appears committed to an Australian role.
“Obviously we will help and we are clearly going to help. We want to see them open,” Marles said.
The government has expressed concern that Iran could set a dangerous precedent of single countries closing global shipping lanes.
“We can’t have Iran holding to ransom the rest of the world,” Marles said. “Freedom of navigation, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, is paramount. It’s paramount to Australia’s national interest.”
As the US struggles to bring the Iran conflict to an end, some experts argue Australia has become too close to and too reliant on its great security ally.
“We have become so beholden in our perspective of the United States that we find it very difficult to say no, even when it’s in our national interest to say no,” former Australian ambassador to the US John McCarthy said, adding that the “very bad” Trump administration has trashed America’s reputation.
“Our way of life is in the hands, to a very considerable degree, of this administration in the United States.”