Trump touts 'friendly' talks with Tehran

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that "very friendly negotiations" with Iran were underway and touted the US Navy's "good blockade", even as Tehran warned that a continuous naval blockade would amount to an expansion of the war.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters accused the US on Monday of threatening Iranian vessels, commercial ships and tankers in Iran's coastal and territorial waters over the past three days as part of an "illegal naval blockade".

"We warn that this American action is considered an expansion of war in the region," it said in a statement, adding that Iran's armed forces would respond to any threat posed by the US military.

Trump also told US news outlet Axios that Washington was engaged in "very deep talks" with Tehran, but warned, "If they don't work out, we will go back to very strong military action."

Control of the Strait of Hormuz has remained a major point of contention since Iran and the US reached an interim memorandum of understanding last month, with tensions over the strategic waterway repeatedly fueling regional instability.

Oman has proposed a joint regional mechanism for managing the strait with voluntary fees, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a Gulf source.

The proposal, which reportedly has regional backing, would prevent Iran from exercising sole control over the waterway. It is modeled on the Strait of Malacca, where users voluntarily contribute to navigation, environmental protection and search-and-rescue efforts.

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi held phone talks with his counterparts in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran to discuss ways to advance "practical, fair and sustainable understandings" on navigation and supply chain flows through the strait, Oman's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The developments follow weekend talks between Iranian and Omani officials on navigation security, transit arrangements and sovereign rights, according to Tehran.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington for his eighth meeting with Trump since the US president began his second term, which is "more than any other international leader", according to Netanyahu's office.

"We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, first and foremost, Iran," Netanyahu said before leaving for the US on Monday. "Naturally, our goal is to safeguard our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us."

Sujata Ashwarya, a professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, told China Daily that Netanyahu has little influence over when Washington launches attacks and is unlikely to use the meeting to press for it.

"His purpose is to shape the terms of whatever settlement follows, which is where Israeli absence from the negotiations has cost most," Ashwarya said.

She explained that the interim US-Iran deal lacked any agreement on Israel's main sticking points: limits on Iran's ballistic missile program, preventing the rebuilding of its network of regional allies, and International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of nuclear sites.

Ashwarya added that Netanyahu's departing remarks were "revealing".

A prime minister who measures a relationship in meetings cannot yet measure it in outcomes, she said.

"His stated goal also carries a second clause, expanding the circle of peace, and with Saudi normalization now attached to Washington's nuclear offer to Riyadh, that is where Israeli leverage actually sits," she said.

The two leaders want different things from the same war, she added. "Trump wants closure he can present as an achievement; Netanyahu wants Iranian recovery prevented, which is served by keeping options open."

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com