The "present" that US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran had given Washington was allowing the safe passage of a number of fuel tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, a senior Arab diplomat and a US official tell @TimesofIsrael (1/7)
In trying to explain his decision to pursue talks with Iran, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Tehran "did something yesterday that was amazing — they gave us a present… worth a tremendous amount of money... [it] arrived today.” (2/7)
“They gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. That meant one thing to me. [That we’re] dealing with the right people," Trump said, declining to identify the gift beyond that it was oil and gas related and tied to the Strait of Hormuz. (3/7)
The US official tells The Times of Israel that when Washington began passing along messages to Iran through mediators over the weekend in order to test whether a diplomatic off-ramp to the war was possible, it asked Tehran to make a gesture of goodwill. (4/7)
In response, Iran agreed to allow a number of fuel tankers that weren't tied to the US or Israel through the Strait of Hormuz in order to help calm global markets, the Arab official says. (5/7)
The Arab official acknowledged that the safe passage of a small number of tankers is not likely to have a significant or longterm impact on global oil prices — a concession that Iran is not yet prepared to offer while US and Israeli strikes continue. (6/7)
The limited impact of the "present" explains why Trump avoided specifying exactly what it was, the Arab official says.
The White House does not immediately respond to a request for comment. (7/7)
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