(AFP) – Negotiations to end the Mideast war appeared in deep trouble on Monday, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatening to open new fronts in the conflict hours after the US and Iran exchanged overnight strikes. Iran’s news agency Tasnim reported Tehran had suspended dialogue with mediators in protest at Israel’s expanding offensive in Lebanon. Speaking to US broadcaster NBC, President Donald Trump said, “I think it’s fine if they’re done talking,” adding that Tehran had not told Washington it was suspending negotiations.
Weeks of indirect talks marked by threats and several waves of air strikes have so far failed to bring about an end to the war or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas. The latest exchange of fire coincided with Israel expanding its ground offensive in Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to push deeper into the country and instructing his military to strike “terror targets” in a south Beirut district. Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman posted on X that residents of Dahiyeh should evacuate “to preserve their safety,” and AFP images showed huge traffic jams as residents tried to flee.
The United States has backed Israel’s operations against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, while still trying to come to an agreement with Iran to end the war it launched in late February, and to reopen Hormuz and impose controls on Iran’s nuclear programme. But Iran again said on Monday it had not engaged in any nuclear negotiations and insisted that Israel must halt its offensive in Lebanon before any wider deal to end the war could be agreed. Ahead of a UN Security Council emergency meeting on Lebanon, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said: “We are deeply alarmed by the escalation in military activities across southern Lebanon and beyond.”
The US naval blockade on Iran’s ports and the escalation in Lebanon were “clear evidence of US non-compliance with the ceasefire,” Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X. Late on Monday, Tasnim reported that “the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators,” blaming Israel’s actions in Lebanon. In a message carried by state TV, the Revolutionary Guards intelligence body stated that “Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war.”
It added: “In return, it is determined to carry out defensive operations by taking meaningful actions and opening new fronts, in addition to preserving the Strait of Hormuz equation.” Speaking to NBC, Trump said, “It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there,” and insisted Washington would maintain its naval blockade. “It’s OK for me if they don’t want to talk anymore; I don’t particularly want to talk either. We’ve talked too much,” he said.
Tasnim also reported that Iran would continue to block the Strait of Hormuz and, with its allies, “activate other fronts, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait” at the entrance of the Red Sea. Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen have previously attacked shipping in and around the latter strait, the closing of which could disrupt millions more barrels of oil that Saudi Arabia exports daily through its Red Sea port of Yanbu. Meanwhile, Mohsen Rezaee, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, posted on X that “the escalation of tensions in Lebanon will not be tolerated.” “The patience of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has a limit,” he added.
In a sign of the ongoing danger to shipping in the Gulf, the UKMTO maritime agency reported a “large explosion” on a cargo vessel off the coast of Iraq, “following a hit from an unknown projectile.” Speaking at a weekly briefing, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said: “No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file. At this stage, our priority is ending the war.” Trump has insisted that Iran’s nuclear programme be part of the deal, stating that Tehran must not get nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied having such ambitions.
“We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war,” Baqaei said, adding: “The United States is also violating the ceasefire, including this morning.” The US military stated it had carried out “self-defence strikes” on Iranian radar and drone control sites over the weekend — its third such wave in just over a week — after a US MQ-1 drone was downed. Shortly afterwards, the Revolutionary Guards told state media they had targeted an airbase used by the US military for the attack. They did not identify the country hosting the base, but Kuwait’s military said its air defence had intercepted “hostile missile and drone attacks.”
– AFP teams in Tehran, Washington, Beirut, Jerusalem
© 2024 AFP
