Iran and the United States appear at an impasse over the possibility of ceasefire talks, setting the stage for another escalation in the Middle East war.
Thousands more US troops have neared the region, Israel poured more troops into southern Lebanon to fight the Iran-backed militant group Hizbullah and Tehran tightened its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles and Gulf nations worked to intercept fire. Heavy strikes were reported in Iran’s capital and other cities.
In a war that appears defined by who can take the most pain, the US has offered shifting objectives, including ensuring Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes are no longer a threat and ending Tehran’s support for armed groups in the region. Washington at one point also pushed for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.
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While the US-Israeli campaign has hit Iran’s military and government hard, killing top leaders and striking scores of targets, Iran continues to fire missiles and there is no sign of an uprising against the government.
A US proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting is “one-sided and unfair”, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, while US president Donald Trump said Iran must make a deal or face a continued onslaught.
[ Why Trump’s rehashed 15-point Iran plan will not appease TehranOpens in new window ]
The Iranian official said the proposal, conveyed to Tehran by Pakistan, “was reviewed in detail on Wednesday night by senior Iranian officials and the representative of Iran’s supreme leader”.
It lacked the minimum requirements for success and served only US and Israeli interests, the official said, while stressing that diplomacy had not ended despite the lack for now of a realistic plan for peace talks.
Trump described the Iranians as “great negotiators” but added that he was not sure he was “willing to make a deal with them to end the war”.
Iran has launched strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states as well as effectively blocking Middle East fuel exports via the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28th.
“They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“We’ll see if they want to do it. If they don’t, we’re their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we’ll just keep blowing them away.”
Oil jumped to $105 a barrel on Thursday and stock markets fell on renewed pessimism over ceasefire prospects as global plastics, technology, retail and tourism struggled with the impact.
Trump suggested on Thursday that Iran let 10 oil tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture in negotiations, including some Pakistan-flagged vessels, elaborating on what he had described as a “present” from Iran.
The president, who is expected to send thousands of troops to the Middle East, driving expectations of a ground invasion, also said taking control of Iran’s oil was an option but gave no further details.
A note seen by Reuters on Tuesday to the United Nations from Iran said “non-hostile vessels” could transit the strait if they co-ordinated with Iranian authorities.
A Thai oil tanker has passed through the strait following diplomatic co-ordination with Iran, and Malaysia said its vessels were also being allowed to transit in a sign that restrictions were loosening for some countries.
Iran would be receptive to any request from Spain related to the strait, its embassy in Madrid said, in the first such offer to an EU state.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed that the US had sent a “15-point action list” as a basis for negotiations to end the war.
– Reuters and AP
