Washington, DC [US], July 3 (ANI): In a fresh political broadside, US-based businessman Hunter Biden took a sarcastic swipe at Donald Trump by mockingly 'nominating' him for the Nobel Peace Prize while taking aim at the administration's claims regarding the conflict with Iran.

Taking to social media platform X, the son of former US President Joe Biden targeted the current administration's frequent assertions that the military friction with Tehran had concluded.

https://x.com/HunterBiden/status/2072738034311745948?s=20

'I am officially nominating Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize,' Hunter Biden wrote, sarcastically adding that 'no President in history has ended the same war so many times.'

Hunter Biden questioned the administration's narrative surrounding the brief military engagement between the two nations, claiming that the American leader had declared victory on numerous occasions.

'Our Dear Leader has ended the war with Iran at least 38 times, by CNN's count,' he stated in his post.

Mocking the frequency of these pronouncements, he further wrote, 'No President has ever done this before,' before adding, 'And he is nowhere near finished ending it. It's a record worthy of the Nobel committee's recognition.'

The sharp criticism challenges Trump's foreign policy narrative. Trump has consistently defended his geopolitical strategy in the Middle East, asserting that his decisive actions prevented a larger regional conflict.

Trump has previously described the US military operation against Iran as a major triumph, maintaining that American and allied strikes dismantled the core of Iran's conventional military power. According to Trump, the Iranian navy was 'absolutely destroyed', its air force 'knocked out', and its missile and air-defence infrastructure severely degraded, thereby neutralising Tehran's capability to project military power.

Furthermore, Trump claimed the campaign had either 'obliterated' or 'destroyed' Iran's nuclear programme, ensuring that the country could not develop a nuclear weapon.

This high-profile political spar unfolds at a time when Washington and Tehran are attempting to transition the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last month into a more comprehensive and lasting peace treaty. However, despite these active diplomatic channels, severe frictions persist between the two sides.

A major diplomatic bottleneck in the ongoing talks involves control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint accounting for nearly 20 per cent of global seaborne petroleum trade. Tehran recently directed commercial ships navigating the waterway to follow only Iranian-sanctioned transit routes, cautioning of a 'forceful response' against any vessels that stray from these designated lanes.

Washington has pushed back strongly against the maritime restrictions. Addressing an emergency session of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Mike Waltz asserted that any moves to disrupt or close international shipping lanes cannot be validated as self-defence under international law, labelling the manoeuvres as 'global blackmail.'

Conversely, Iran blamed Washington for fuelling instability across the Persian Gulf through its regional military deployment. During the same Security Council session, Iran's UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani contended that American military facilities in the area 'bring nothing but insecurity', warning that Tehran would maintain its inherent right to self-defence if subjected to subsequent aggression. (ANI)