Iran says Trump must choose war or diplomacy as talks expected to resume this week

U.K. police said five men arrested in the early hours of Sunday near an air base used by the United States during its war against Iran were being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks.

RAF Fairford, a U.K. Royal Air Force base about 85 miles west of London in rural Gloucestershire, has been used by American bombers to conduct strikes against Iranian missile sites. The British government, under an agreement made under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, granted the U.S. permission to use Farford and other key U.K. bases provided it was only for strikes defined as defensive in nature.

Authorities are investigating a link between the arrests in Fairford and Iran as one possibility. Iranian authorities have declared all bases used to attack Iranian territory as legitimate targets.

President Trump praised those who were involved in making the arrests.

“It was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. And working with the British worked out great,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday. “We had them under view for a long time and we got them.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran was ready for either diplomacy or a return to fighting in the war sparked seven months ago by joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. He said it is now up to President Trump to choose which direction to go.

“We are fully prepared for the time for the war to be resumed, and I repeat, we stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war,” Araghchi told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose,” he said.

President Trump on Saturday rejected Iran’s proposal to return to a ceasefire agreement that collapsed months ago as part of a seven-day plan that would see it reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. 

Araghchi said Tehran would wait for an official response from mediators.

President Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, a day after he rejected a truce proposal put forward by Tehran.

“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make,” Mr. Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Sunday. “It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago.”

Iran said Friday it had submitted a proposal to the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz over seven days, but Mr. Trump asserted that Iranian leaders wanted the deal because “they are losing so badly.”

“They overplayed their hand,” Mr. Trump told Axios.

The president said resuming strikes on Iran was not off the table, adding: “I am always thinking about it.”

CBS/AFP

epublican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Iran’s proposed plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks was “not a serious offer.”

“The president’s not Bambi’s baby brother. He turned it down,” Kennedy said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” 

“We need to continue doing what we’re doing — the sanctions, the blockade,” said Kennedy.

“Now there’s just one problem: The strait is at least partially closed, and it’s affected the price of oil. And oil’s in everything, including gasoline, and it’s painful as hell,” he said, adding: “We’ve got to either figure out a way to settle this thing, to get the strait open, or to escalate.” 

Kennedy said he would not support sending U.S. ground troops into Iran, however.