Iran has sent its response to the newest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and desires negotiations to give attention to permanently ending the war, Iran’s state-run media said Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receiving it.
Iran seeks to finish the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel fights the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to make sure the security of shipping, its state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to finish the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, a problem that Tehran would slightly discuss later.
The White House had no immediate comment about Iran’s reply. President Donald Trump is giving diplomacy “every likelihood we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC.
Iran’s latest supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly because the war began, “issued latest and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the pinnacle of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.
Ceasefire is tested by drones
Meanwhile, the delicate ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and nobody immediately claimed responsibility.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called it a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the safety and security of maritime trade routes and vital supplies within the region.”
Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to perform a whole bunch of strikes because the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.
Iran says it’s on ‘full readiness’ to guard nuclear sites
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Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that’s key to the worldwide flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer because the war began, rattling world markets.
The U.S. in turn has blockaded Iranian ports and on Friday struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were attempting to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or industrial vessels can be met with a “heavy assault” on certainly one of the U.S. bases within the region and enemy ships.
The American military said Sunday that it has turned back 61 industrial vessels and disabled 4 because the blockade began April 13.
One other sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has greater than 440 kilograms (970 kilos) of uranium that’s enriched as much as 60% purity, a brief, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
In an interview with state media posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said its forces were on “full readiness” to guard nuclear sites where uranium is stored.
“We considered it possible that they could intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an excerpt of an interview with CBS scheduled to air later Sunday said the war isn’t over since the enriched uranium must be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I need to go in there,’ and I believe it could actually be done physically,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to assist negotiate a settlement stays on the table.
Nearly all of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is probably going at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The ability was bombarded by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes within the 12-day war last 12 months and faced less intense attacks this 12 months.
Pakistan oversaw face-to-face talks between the U.S. and Iran last month and continues to pursue mediation. In rare public comments, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said Islamabad stays committed to helping end the conflict. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone along with his Qatari counterpart.
Drone attacks goal Gulf Arab nations
The UAE’s Defense Ministry said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran.
In Kuwait, Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said hostile drones entered Kuwait’s airspace and forces responded “in accordance with established procedures.” The ministry didn’t say where the drones got here from.
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said a drone targeted a industrial ship coming from Abu Dhabi, setting a small fire that was extinguished. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack happened 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Doha. It gave no details in regards to the ship’s owner or origin, and there was no claim of responsibility.
Several attacks against ships within the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was soon paused.
South Korea announced initial findings from a investigation that said two unidentified airborne objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored within the Strait of Hormuz last week, causing an explosion and fire. A foreign ministry spokesperson said officials have yet to find out who was responsible.
—Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
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