Iran’s diplomacy confirmed last Wednesday night that it had received and was “considering” the latest US proposal to end the war, via Pakistan, whose government has taken on a mediating role along with others, while Donald Trump warned that the situation was “on the brink”–of a deal or a resumption of armed conflict.
“We have received the views of the American side and we are considering them at the moment,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bagaei told state television, while noting Tehran’s “great distrust” of Washington.
He reiterated the Islamic Republic’s demands, in particular the “release of Iranian resources frozen” abroad and an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports.
These statements were recorded after Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi’s second visit to Tehran in a few days.
On the other hand, US President Trump left the door to diplomacy open, assuring that he is not “in a hurry”.
“We’ll see what happens. Either we come to an agreement, or we take a little tougher measures. But I hope it doesn’t come to that,” the U.S. president told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C.
“We are right on the edge, believe me. If we secure good answers, this could evolve very quickly. We are all ready to act. We need to get good answers. They have to be totally, 100% satisfactory,” he insisted.
The Republican tycoon added that the deal would allow Iran to save “a lot of time, energy and lives”, and that it could be concluded “very quickly, within a few days”.
The hope that there will be progress in the negotiations lowered oil prices. North Sea Brent, a benchmark variety in international markets, fell 5.63% to $105.02. European and U.S. stock markets closed posting net gains.
US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a tense meeting the day before yesterday (Tuesday) over Iran, Axios and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (Wednesday). They clashed over the proposal to end the war; Netanyahu was furious after the discussion, the two media outlets noted.
“Perran’s area”
On Tuesday, Donald Trump said he was giving Tehran a “two or three day” deadline to strike a deal. The ultimatum was rejected by the Iranian side.
“Iran will never back down because of intimidation” and “is stepping up (its) preparations to give a strong response to any new attack,” Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bayr Galibaf said. He warned that the enemy “has not abandoned its military objectives” and is “seeking a new war.”
The Revolutionary Guards–Iran’s ideological army–have for their part predicted that if the war resumes, “this time it will extend far beyond the region and our devastating blows will crush you.”
Since a fragile ceasefire was announced on 8April, after more than a month of war, the talks between the two sides have been going on and the exchange of threats and insults has intensified.
The only meeting so far between delegations of the two sides, on 11April in Islamabad, was fruitless. Since then there have been ferment in the corridors.
The war that broke out with the attack by the US and Israel against Tehran on February 28 28, has claimed the lives of thousands of people, the vast majority of them in Iran and Lebanon, where the pro-Tehran Shiite Hezbollah movement is active.
It has simultaneously caused serious turbulence in the global economy, triggering skyrocketing oil prices and major shortages of raw materials due to Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Ευκαιρία”
In the Gulf, hard-pressed by war, Riyadh is stepping up pressure on Iran. Expressing satisfaction because US President Trump “gave diplomacy a chance”, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan suggested Tehran should seize the opportunity to avoid further “escalation”.
In retaliation for the strikes against it, Iran has launched a counterattack across the region, specifically targeting the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, allies of Washington.
In Israel, the army has raised its level of vigilance to its maximum level, declaring itself “prepared for any development”.
The major stakes of the war were the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the crude oil and LNG exported from the Middle East to the rest of the world passed before the war, remains under the control of Tehran, which earlier this week formalised the establishment of an agency responsible for overseeing the sea route and paying tolls.
About 26 ships crossed it in 24 hours, the Revolutionary Guards navy said, including a South Korean tanker “in coordination with Iran” for the first time since the outbreak of the armed conflict, according to Seoul.
For its part, the U.S. military said it has sent forces to board an Iranian-flagged crude oil tanker because there were “suspicions” it was trying to violate the Islamic Republic’s blockade of its ports
