US President Donald Trump administration is demanding that Iran issue a public statement by Saturday committing to halt all attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, warning of “severe consequences” if Tehran refuses to comply with the ultimatum. According to Axios citing three US officials, the immediate deadline centers around a scheduled Saturday meeting in Muscat between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The US asserts that Iran violated a Memorandum of Understanding signed three weeks ago by repeatedly targeting commercial shipping in the strategic waterway. After launching two rounds of retaliatory strikes, the US halted military operations to allow space for diplomatic negotiations. Now, Washington is demanding concrete public assurances following the Saturday talks in Oman. “We want them to state publicly that they will stop shooting at ships and to explicitly, or at least implicitly, acknowledge that they messed up. We are working on that right now,” one US official stated. “We expect the Iranians to say... that all channels in the strait will be open and that passage through them will be free.” Another US official warned that failure to issue the statement immediately following the Muscat meeting would carry “severe consequences.” While Iranian representatives reached out to the administration earlier this week expressing a desire to resolve the maritime dispute, Iranian negotiators and officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have maintained a hardline stance, demanding Tehran retain control over the Strait.