Trump Still Has Leverage Over Iran Says Rep. Malliotakis

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Iran as Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pakistan for talks to end the war, with Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz’s effective closure looming over diplomatic efforts.

Trump posted on social media Friday that Tehran’s only leverage is “short term extortion of the world by using International Waterways” — a reference to Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for oil and natural gas that remains largely shut, raising global energy prices. Trump declared that the “Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards.”

While the two-week ceasefire was broadly holding across the Middle East, the situation with the strait and continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to complicate negotiations due to begin over the weekend in Islamabad.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf insisted in a social media post that a ceasefire in Lebanon is one measure that “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.” The other is the “release of Iran’s blocked assets,” he added, without being more specific.

Trump countered by telling the New York Post on Friday that US warships are being reloaded with “the best ammunition” to launch fresh attacks if the talks falter. When asked if he believed negotiations would be successful, Trump said: “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours.”  Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis joined Balance of Power stating higher gasoline prices are painful for Americans, but it's a temporary spike and its part of a long-term investment in eliminating the threat posed by Iran. Before departing for Pakistan, Vance told reporters Trump had provided “clear guidelines” for the talks and the vice president urged Iran to take the negotiations seriously, warning Tehran not “to try to play us.”

An Iranian delegation is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Friday night, officials in Pakistan’s capital said. Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will lead the delegation, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

The Middle East war has killed thousands of people and damaged energy infrastructure across the oil-rich Persian Gulf in the past six weeks, while Iran’s ongoing shuttering of Hormuz has choked global fuel supplies. The strait — which handled about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war — remains a central sticking point.  Traffic through the strategic waterway has shown little sign of a meaningful pickup since the truce began, as shipowners await clarification of its status. A Russian-flagged supertanker passed through the strait late Thursday, ship-tracking data show, but that was a rare example.

The ongoing blockage has maintained pressure on oil prices. US crude swung between losses and gains all session as traders unwound positions into the weekend to stay neutral ahead of the talks on Saturday. Prices settled below $97 a barrel.

Wall Street traders bracing for the talks left stocks wavering. An advance in equities faded after Trump’s comments to the New York Post about preparing for further military action.

Trump on Thursday accused Iran of “doing a very poor job” of allowing oil to move through the strait and warned against charging fees on tankers. Despite the challenges, Trump has said he’s optimistic about a deal with Tehran, describing Iran’s leaders during an NBC News interview as “much more reasonable” than their public comments would suggest.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father was killed on the first day of the war, said in a statement on Telegram that Iran “will definitely bring the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new stage,” though it was unclear whether he was referring to previous Iranian demands to retain control of the waterway that the US has rejected.

Khamenei also reiterated that Iran wants

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