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Talks productive, but ‘war not off the table’: US

• Pentagon chief says Trump is ‘patient’, wants to make a ‘great deal’ to ensure Iran doesn’t have nukes • US military fires on Gambia-flagged ship ‘violating Iran blockade’ • War secretary asserts Iran under pressure to open Strait of Hormuz with or without deal • Iran asks vessels traversing vital waterway to comply with its regulations • Hegseth lauds PM Shehbaz, CDF Munir for role in US-Iran peace talks, says ‘true friendship’ developing with Islamabad SINGAPORE: As negotiators from Washington and Tehran worked to bridge major differences blocking an agreement to end the weeks-long war, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday warned that the US was ready to restart attacks on Iran if a deal was not reached. “Our ability to recommence if necessary…we are more than capable,” Mr Hegseth said while speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place,” he claimed. The Pentagon chief said President Donald Trump was “patient” and wants to make a “great deal” that ensures Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. “Those goalposts haven’t shifted at all,” he said, referring to the US demand that Iran abandon any nuclear ambitions it has, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes. “We think we’re in a good place to make that deal,” he said, while also warning that the Pentagon was “postured even stronger today than we were on Day One”. “The talks have been productive,” Mr Hegseth further said. At the Singapore dialogue, he also assured his Asian allies, saying that the US had not turned its back on the Asia-Pacific region despite being engaged in conflict with Iran. “We can do two things at one time. We’re super-charging our defence industrial base so that we’re building 2X, 3X, 4X the munitions very soon to ensure that all of our (operations) plans are properly funded throughout the world,” he said. Meanwhile, US Central Command claimed to have disabled a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel, M/V Lian Star, attempting to sail to an Iranian port by launching a missile into its engine room. “A US aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after Lian Star’s crew failed to comply. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” Centcom said on X. The statement did not mention if there were any injuries aboard the Lian Star following the strike. The war launched by the US and Israel on Feb 28 has killed thousands of people in Iran and Lebanon, and caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A White House official said that US President Donald Trump would only make a peace deal with Iran if it met all his conditions. “The Situation Room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines,” the White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.” However, Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said that US President Donald Trump was “betraying diplomacy for the third time” by continuing “naval blockade and adop­ting increasingly excessive demands in negotiations”. In a post on social media platform X, Mr Rezaei said the US president also “demonstrated that he is not genuinely interested in negotiations and is pursuing other objectives”. US-Pakistan ties The Pentagon chief also praised Pakis­tan for its role in facilitating the peace talks. He said Washington and Islamabad are developing a “true friendship”, praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and CDF and COAS Field Marshal Asim Mun­ir for their role in the US-Iran peace negotiations. Responding to a question at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, he said, “I mentioned India here, but I very easily could have mentioned Pakistan and the role that the field marshal and the prime minister are playing in peace negotiations. I think an unexpected development and a true friendship [is] developing there, which I think is important.” Mr Hegseth also reiterated the US and Pakistan’s stance of President Donald Trump brokering a ceasefire between Pakistan and India during the May 2025 conflict. “I think both sides are going to see understandable threats coming from the other, maybe some of which we see differently, and countries are going to want to develop ICBM threats,” he said, clarifying that Washington was not “pointing a finger” at either country right now or terming either of them a threat to the US. Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz blockade, which has become a sticking point in the peace negotiations, was also addressed by the defence secretary. He said various countries were “putting pressure on Iran” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once a peace deal was agreed on, or even if it was not. Responding to a media query in Singapore, he said that Hormuz would be “an open strait, a toll-free strait that the entire world could use”. The secretary asserted that the US-imposed blockade of Iranian ports was “ironclad” and had “put the real pressure on Iran”. “They want to say that they control the strait, but we do, and everything behind the scenes shows that we are in control when it comes to that,” he added. Qatar, meanwhile, rejected proposals for permanent transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, warning that such measures would ultimately drive up costs for consumers worldwide, Al Jazeera reported. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud says Doha and its Gulf partners oppose any long-term toll system for ships passing through the strategic waterway. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Head­­quarters, however, reasserted Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, warning commercial and military vessels to comply with regulations governing passage. “All ships, commercial vessels, and tankers are only required to travel through the designated routes and obtain permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Any violation of these regulations will seriously jeopardise the security of their traffic,” it added in a statement reported in the Iranian media. Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2026