Iranian Negotiation Delegation Leaves Pakistan

On April 12, local time, Iran stated that two U.S. Navy ships—the USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy—had attempted to "penetrate" the Strait of Hormuz the previous day. The U.S. vessels exploited ceasefire conditions in an apparent bid to fabricate claims of a "successful transit" and influence ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations, according to Iran. Iran further alleged the destroyers tried to impersonate Omani commercial vessels operating along the southern Arabian Sea coast. They chose a high-risk route extremely close to the shore in shallow waters, hoping to enter the Persian Gulf via "covert maneuvers" and leveraging what it claimed was Iranian military "negligence" during the ceasefire. Iran’s navy intercepted the ships at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Unable to enter the Strait of Hormuz, the two destroyers were forced to retreat to the Arabian Sea. (Source: CCTV News)

April 12 announcement: Donald Trump will be interviewed in the White House Oval Office Wednesday 6-8 p.m. Eastern Time (6-8 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday) to address economic issues.

On April 12th, in an interview with FOX News, Trump stated: “The most surprising thing to me is that Japan gets 93% of its oil from the Middle East, and both Japan and South Korea depend on that region for 45% of their employment. These countries have never helped us. I asked, ‘Are you going to help?’ We have 45,000 troops in one and 50,000 in the other of those two nations—we’re protecting them. When we ask for even a little help, they don’t step up. NATO doesn’t either; we’ve spent nearly $1 trillion on NATO in a very short time. Oil prices will eventually fall—they might not right away, but they will by the end of this. Look at the stock market: the Dow hit 50,000. It was supposed to take four or five years, but it got there in my first year in office. Frankly, gasoline prices haven’t risen as much as I expected. But even if they did, we have to stop these countries from getting nuclear weapons again.”

In an April 12 interview with Fox News, former President Donald Trump said he wrote a week earlier: “Tonight, Iran’s entire civilization would be wiped out—gone forever, never to be restored.” “I don’t want that to happen, but that’s a very real possibility,” he added. “That statement is what got Iran to the negotiating table.” “I could take out Iran in a day,” he continued. “Wipe out all their power, all their electricity, and they’d be gone in an hour. But I don’t want to do that—once that’s done, they’d never rebuild, never come back. I believe they’ll come back to the table because no one else could play that card. They don’t have the cards, and they don’t have the currency.”

April 12 — Donald Trump told Fox News in an interview that yesterday’s meeting went very smoothly—indeed, extremely so—but noted one sticking point: 95% of the Iranian delegation expressed a desire to acquire nuclear weapons, a outcome he said won’t happen.

April 12 – U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats against Iran, stating: “At the right moment, we’ll be fully prepared—our military will neutralize Iran’s remaining capabilities.” Separately, Trump confirmed in a Fox News interview that the U.S. will block the Strait of Hormuz, though the move will take time. Per PolyBeats tracking, the probability of “commercial vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz without disruption by month’s end” has steadily dropped on prediction market Polymarket, now standing at 13%.