‘Low-Keying It’: President Trump Reportedly Shifts From Military to Economic Pressure on Iran
By The Media Line Staff
President Donald Trump said the United States is “low-keying it” in its confrontation with Iran and is focusing on the Islamic Republic’s mounting economic problems, backing away from the threat of renewed large-scale military action he raised more than a week ago.
He made no new military threats during a brief phone interview with Axios and instead pointed to Iran’s financial difficulties and the effects of the US naval blockade.
“We are low-keying it,” President Trump said. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
The shift in tone comes more than a week after President Trump threatened a massive military operation against Iran and appeared close to ordering a resumption of major combat operations.
President Trump told Axios that Iran “is in very bad shape” economically and lacks the money to pay its troops. He said the US naval blockade has worsened the Iranian government’s economic crisis.
The president also pointed to the decline in oil prices as reducing the impact of the conflict on Americans, saying oil had fallen to slightly more than $75 a barrel.
“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump said of the continuing exchanges with Iran.
President Trump also did not appear angered by Tehran’s latest demands concerning the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.
His comments followed the announcement over the weekend of a framework agreement between Iran and Oman concerning control over the strategic waterway.
Iran and Oman are close to reaching a technical agreement establishing geographical coordinates for new inbound and outbound shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran, however, has said that agreement on the shipping lanes would not result in the immediate reopening of the Strait. Iran maintains that restoring full passage through the waterway remains dependent on major US concessions and the lifting of naval blockades.
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