(AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
US President Donald Trump said he does not care if Iran comes back to negotiations with the United States after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to produce a deal. “I don’t care if they come back or not. If they don’t come back, I’m fine,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, upon his return from Florida.
The US military said it will blockade all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, effectively seizing control of maritime traffic in the critical Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the global oil supply passes. “The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” US Central Command said in a post on X, adding the United States would “not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports”. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Iranian security forces had full control over the Strait of Hormuz and warned enemies would be trapped in a “deadly vortex” in case of any “wrong move”. Iran’s navy chief Shahram Irani called Trump’s threat “ridiculous and funny”, according to state TV, adding the country’s military was “monitoring and supervising all the movements of the aggressive American army in the region”.
Iran’s parliament speaker, who led the weekend talks, said his country would not give in after Trump’s earlier threats to blockade the strait. “If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, cited by several Iranian news agencies. “We will not bow to any threats, let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson.”
The US oil benchmark rebounded above $100 a barrel on Monday after peace talks failed and Trump ordered the blockade of Iranian ports. Shortly after trading began, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery rose around eight percent to $104.50, while June delivery of international benchmark Brent rose seven percent to $102.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had been just “inches away” from a deal with Washington during weekend talks in Pakistan. “Iran engaged with US in good faith to end war,” he said in a post on X. But when “just inches away” from an agreement, “we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade,” he added.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he was working to stop the Israel-Hezbollah war and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces. “We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands, the return of all the prisoners, to rebuild our destroyed villages and towns, and the safe return of the displaced,” Salam said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting troops who invaded southern Lebanon, said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. “The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said an Israeli tank twice rammed peacekeeping vehicles in the country’s south where Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since last month. Israeli soldiers had also blocked a road in south Lebanon’s Bayada “that is used to access UNIFIL positions”, it said in a statement.
Lebanese official media reported extensive Israeli strikes across the country’s south as the health ministry said at least five people were killed and the war’s overall toll on that front rose to 2,055 dead. Israel insists the current Middle East ceasefire does not apply to its military operations in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
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