"Iran suspects Trump is plotting new escalation"... Armistice talks in a fog

U.S. President Donald Trump

Iran suspects that U.S. President Donald Trump is plotting a new escalation using negotiations as bait, the British daily Telegraph reported on the 19th (local time), citing Qatari satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera.

According to the newspaper, an Iranian source told Al Jazeera that "there is a discrepancy between Trump's statements about holding talks and what is actually happening between Iran and the United States," adding, "We believe the enemy is using deception and is about to start a new phase of escalation."

With U.S. military reinforcements continuously being deployed to the Middle East, and President Trump convening a sensitive security meeting in the White House Situation Room on this day, Iran's suspicions appear to be deepening.

Mediating countries such as Pakistan hope to resume the truce talks, which broke down in Islamabad on the 11th, at the same location on the 20th.

The U.S. stated that it has sent its negotiation delegation, but Iran has not yet confirmed whether the talks will resume.

U.S. Vice President Vance (left) and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament

Iran's state-run Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that it launched drone attacks on some U.S. warships in response to the U.S. military's attack on the Iranian-flagged container ship Tuska in the Gulf of Oman.

This announcement came shortly after a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Military Headquarters, which commands integrated operations of the entire Iranian military, including the IRGC and regular forces, condemned the U.S. attack on the Tuska as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and an act of maritime piracy, and announced through state media that immediate retaliatory measures would be taken.

Earlier on the 18th, Reza Talaei, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Defense, emphasized that the war with the U.S. was not over and that Iran would respond to "diplomatic deception."