(AFP) – Iran said Thursday that Washington’s demands were “maximalist and irrational” and denied any negotiations were under way on a ceasefire to end the war in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump prepared to make a national address on the conflict. Trump claimed Wednesday that Iran’s president had asked for a ceasefire but said the Islamic republic must first reopen the Strait of Hormuz, spurring global attention on his 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday) televised address from the White House.
“Messages have been received through intermediaries, including Pakistan, but there is no direct negotiation with the US,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the ISNA news agency. He accused Washington of making “maximalist and irrational” demands and said Iran was ready for any attack, including an invasion by ground forces. Writing on Truth Social ahead of his address, Trump said the United States would consider a ceasefire “when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!”
But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz, through which Gulf oil and gas exports reach global markets, closed to the country’s “enemies.” One-fifth of global oil normally passes through the narrow strait, and its effective closure has sent energy prices soaring and destabilized the world economy. Trump’s address will be his first since US-Israeli strikes on February 28 sparked the war, and comes amid plunging approval ratings, economic jitters, and spiraling diplomatic fallout. Trump’s tone has see-sawed between combative and conciliatory since the war began. On Tuesday, he said the month-long conflict could be over in “two weeks, maybe three.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said the country has the “necessary will” for a ceasefire, but only if its foes guaranteed hostilities would not resume. Hours before Trump’s address, Pezeshkian asked the American people whether the conflict was truly putting “America First,” accusing Washington of war crimes and of being influenced by Israel. Tehran announced Wednesday evening another barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the Gulf, striking Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Eilat as well as US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. Israel’s military said early Thursday its air defenses were operating to intercept missiles fired from Iran.
As Israel prepared for the Passover holiday, which began at sunset Wednesday, air-raid sirens warning of incoming missiles sounded repeatedly in the Tel Aviv area. Emergency services said an Iranian missile attack Wednesday morning wounded 14 people, including an 11-year-old girl. The Revolutionary Guards also confirmed hitting an oil tanker in the Gulf that they said belonged to Israel. A British maritime security agency said the vessel was struck off Qatar, reporting damage but no casualties.
An AFP journalist reported huge explosions in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon and earlier strikes near the former US embassy. Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since his father was killed in an airstrike on the war’s first day, said “the cruel and ruthless American and Zionist enemy knows no human, moral or vital limits.” Thousands of Iranians gathered in Tehran for the funeral of the Guards’ naval commander, killed in an Israeli airstrike. “We will resist until the end,” said Moussa Nowruzi, a 57-year-old mourner. Iranian media reported that former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi was seriously wounded in a strike that also killed his wife.
Iranian media also reported Wednesday that a passenger airport in Isfahan province and steel complexes in other parts of the country had been damaged in strikes. In Lebanon, seven people were killed in strikes around south Beirut, the health ministry said Wednesday, with the Israeli military saying it had struck a senior Hezbollah commander. AFP correspondents at the scene saw a blackened, debris-strewn street. Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli attacks had killed more than 1,300 people in the country since war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on March 2.
Across the Gulf, strikes in Kuwait caused a large fire at its international airport, Bahrain reported a fire at a business facility, and Saudi Arabia said several drones were intercepted. A Bangladeshi national was killed by falling shrapnel from an intercepted drone in the United Arab Emirates. “Every day, we hear the sound of drones,” said Waad Abdulrazaq, a 31-year-old truck driver near Iraq’s Erbil international airport. “We hear them in the morning, and we hear them at night. We can no longer sleep or live in peace.”
Optimism sparked by Trump’s comments on the timeline for the end of the war pushed oil prices down Wednesday, and stock markets rallied in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Still, average US gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon for the first time in four years, European inflation spiked and more governments began unveiling support measures.
burs-arp/js – AFP teams in Washington, Tehran, Jerusalem, Beirut, Dubai and Sanaa.
© 2024 AFP
