Iranians 'professional chess players', says ministry in response to Trump analogy

TEHRAN: Tehran on Monday said Iranians had shown “they are professional chess players” in response to remarks by US President Donald Trump comparing his dealings with Iran to the board game.

Trump on Sunday signalled he was prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from more military strikes after Tehran issued a list of demands for opening the Strait of Hormuz.

“Lights out or lights on, Iranians showed they are professional chess players,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said during a weekly press conference.

Trump had earlier been quoted by news outlet Axios as saying he was “low-keying it” with Iran.

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said.

“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump added.

The president’s remarks came after Iran issued over the weekend a list of conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has remained largely closed since the start of the Middle East war in late February.

Iranian official Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday laid out Tehran’s demands including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq”.

He also demanded the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets and compensation for wartime damage, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Baqaei on Monday reiterated that “as long as the US naval blockade continues… as long as other violations by the United States continue, the necessary conditions for saying that the Strait of Hormuz has become a safe waterway will not exist”.