The ceasefire agreement regarding the war in the Middle East has prompted a confident declaration from United States President Donald Trump, who asserts that “Big money will be made.” On his Truth social media account, President Trump proclaimed that it was “A big day for World Peace! Iran wants it to happen, they’ve had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else!” adding that the U.S. would be “helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made.” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters welcomed the news, stating that while it is “encouraging news, there remains significant important work to be done in the coming days to secure a lasting ceasefire.”
The ceasefire agreement was reached just hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump posted on his Truth social media account where he said “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the complete, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
Earlier this week Trump had also stated that if Iran did not open the Strait by his deadline on Tuesday that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will”. His statements drew criticism from international leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon “They’ve been unprecedented comments for a US president. You haven’t seen those remarks being made before, but the key thing is, right here, right now, we now have the prospect of a ceasefire in place.”
Foreign Minister Winston Peters met with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio discussing a number of issues including the conflict in the Middle East “This conflict has had wide-ranging impacts and disruptions – for both those in the Middle East and further afield including in New Zealand and the Pacific region.”
International law expert, Professor Al Gillespie specialises in laws of war and armed conflict and says from the outset, the war was illegal “If you look at the United Nations Charter, I think that the practices of the war are tantamount often to war crimes. And also now you’re at the point where some of the things that Mr. Trump was saying this morning are genocidal. The problem is not whether he’s breaking the rules, because there’s enough rules to show that the war is illegal, the practices are illegal. The problem is that there’s no compliance with international law, and there’s no accountability with it.”
President Trump confirmed on his Truth platform that the ceasefire included a 10 point proposal “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated”
While Peters said New Zealand will stand in support of all efforts to bring a lasting and durable end to this conflict, Gillespie says the government should be clear about the role the country may play in the future “New Zealand has no position to play in any military conflict that involves Iran, Israel and the United States. We may have a role to play in a peacekeeping part after the conflict has ended, if the Security Council agrees to that. But the challenge you’ve got there is that the UN Security Council last night vetoed any possibility of armed intervention to try to solve this problem. This means what we’re looking at is it has to be a bilateral solution between America and Iran. And that’s going to be a hard ask.”
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