The Japan Times - Trump tells AFP 'no sticking points' for deal with Iran

The positive signals from Washington came as a ceasefire went into effect in Lebanon, raising hopes that two of the main obstacles to a US-Iran agreement could have been cleared.

"We're very close. Looks like it's going to be very good for everybody. And we're very close to having a deal," Trump said in a brief telephone call with AFP from Las Vegas, adding there were "no sticking points at all" left with Tehran.

"The strait's going to be open, they already are open. And things are going very well," he added.

The comments came after a series of social media posts in which he touted progress on reopening the key waterway -- through which around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime -- and ending Iran's nuclear program.

He hailed a "GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!" in celebratory posts mixed with shout-outs to mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies -- and a rebuke to NATO to "STAY AWAY" as he rejected the alliance's offer to help secure the Hormuz strait.

After the start of the truce in Lebanon, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic republic would lift its blockade on shipping through the key Gulf energy trade route.

"In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire," Araghchi said.

Military vessels are still banned from the waterway, a senior Iranian military official told state media.

- 'Enough is enough!' -

Trump however warned that the US blockade of Iran's ports would continue until a deal was struck.

Oil prices had already been falling amid hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, in which both Iran and the United States have sought to control shipping out of the Gulf, and the drop accelerated sharply after Iran's announcement.

The ceasefire and the reopening of the strait represent a key step in Washington's efforts to reach a deal to end its war with Iran, after Tehran insisted that halting the Lebanon fighting must be part of any agreement.

In Lebanon, displaced families packed their belongings onto the roofs of their cars and thronged the roads, taking the chance of a 10-day truce to return to homes in bomb-damaged south Beirut or the war-torn south of the country.

Trump declared that Israel had been "prohibited" by Washington from carrying out further strikes.

"Enough is enough!" he said, adding that the United States would itself work with Lebanon "and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner".

But shortly after Trump's post, Lebanese state media said an Israeli drone strike killed a motorcyclist in the town of Kunin in the south of the country. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the report.

The fighting broke out in Lebanon on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel a few days after the start of the Middle East war in retribution for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

- 'Security zone' -

Separately, the Israeli military said it was lifting wartime restrictions, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign against Hezbollah was not over.

"We have not yet finished the job," he said, saying a key objective was the "dismantling of Hezbollah".

Minutes before the ceasefire came into effect at midnight, a series of Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed at least 13 people, a city official said.

Despite this, and despite Israel's warnings, tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians took to the road.

"Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory," 37-year-old Amani Atrash told AFP from her car seat on a road leading to a bridge into southern Lebanon, adding that she hoped the truce would be extended.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks", and it says it will maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said military action could resume if the area between this security zone and the Litani River was not "cleared of terrorists and weapons".

According to details of the truce deal released by the US State Department, Lebanon "will take meaningful steps to prevent Hezbollah" from undertaking hostile acts against Israeli targets.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said now that a truce was in place, direct negotiations with Israel were "crucial".

Beirut's goal, he said in a statement, was to "consolidate a ceasefire, secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied southern territories, recover prisoners and address outstanding border disputes".

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said its finger remained "on the trigger" in the event of any Israeli violations.

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K.Okada--JT