Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran said Attacked by the US in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan represents a “grave violation” of the law fragile fire stop in place since the beginning of April.
The head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force, Seyed Majid Moosavi, said he was ready to respond, criticizing the ongoing talks, saying “negotiations with the enemy is a pure loss” in a post on X.
Recommended Articles
list of 4 itemsend of series
He said the air force — which monitors Iran’s missile and drone systems — remains “alert, ready to respond quickly, quickly,” and is awaiting final orders from its commander-in-chief.
The attacks come amid intense debate
Both sides have shown progress on a deal that could put the deal on hold war and resume shipping through the closed Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s prime minister, Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, his foreign minister and the governor of its central bank were in Doha on Monday for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on possible developments, an official said about the visit.
Qalibaf has now returned to Iran after talks with Qatari officials, Iranian state television said.
He has been seeking an agreement on the release of about $24bn in Iranian funds frozen abroad as part of a memorandum of understanding, Iran’s Tasnim newspaper reported, citing a source close to the negotiating team.
Iran’s Fars news agency cited a source as saying the unfreezing of the funds was the final step for the deal to be finalized.
According to Iranian sources, the first agreement can end the war in all areas, establish a 30-day travel plan through the Strait of Hormuz, and possibly provide financial support, and difficult issues such as Iran’s nuclear program to discuss the second stage.
Iran has been allowing some ships to pass through, preferring ships that are affiliated with countries with close ties or alliances, as well as government-to-government cooperation, Reuters news agency said.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has said that his main goal in the war is to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons that contain high-enriched uranium. Tehran has denied that it has any plans to do so
Trump had said talks with Iran were going “good” in a lengthy interview on Truth Social on Monday, but warned of new threats if they fail. “There will be a Great Union for all, or nothing at all,” he wrote.
Strait of Hormuz to open ‘one way or the other’
Following the attacks on targets that the United States has said include boats that try to plant bombs and missile sites, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on his plane to Jaipur in India that the Strait of Hormuz must be opened “one way or another”.
The US Central Command said on Monday it had carried out new measures “to protect our military from threats by the Iranian military”.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday that an oil tanker reported an explosion outside the port side of the vessel, near the waterway, 111 kilometers from the capital of Oman Muscat.
The UKMTO said the ship and crew were safe, although the tanker also said some bunker fuel had been spilled into the sea.
The war, which began with the US-Israeli strike on Iran on February 28, has caused an unprecedented oil shock, raising oil prices and the cost of fuel, fertilizer and food.
‘Time can’t go back’
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Tuesday it had the right to retaliate.
They said air defense forces shot down a US plane and shot down another plane with a fighter jet, which they said had entered Iranian airspace over the Gulf region.
In a statement sent on his Telegram channel during the annual Hajj ceremony, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said: “Time cannot be turned back, and countries and regions in the region will no longer be the shield of American institutions.”
Israel’s role in regional crises
In another indication of the tensions in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel will intensify the conflict against the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
After the announcement, Israel increased the number of demonstrations and the severity of the violence.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said 12 people were killed in Israel the night it hit the town of Mashghara, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Lorenzo Kamel, a professor of history at the University of Turin in Italy, told Al Jazeera that in order for the US-Iran peace deal to work, Washington must “submit” Netanyahu.
“Although we have seen Israeli officials trying to go up in Lebanon to break any deal with the Trump administration and Iran, the elephant in the room is, as always, Netanyahu,” Kamel said.
“Netanyahu has to play the most important role during the war, until the Israeli elections.”
The US continues to allow Israel to act recklessly, and until Trump orders Netanyahu to cease fire in Lebanon, Iran’s peace deal with the US “will remain unstable”, Kamel told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, an expert at the University of Tehran, Mohammad Eslamy, told Al Jazeera that it is possible that Iran may attack the United Arab Emirates again if Israel continues to bomb Lebanon.
“There are two conflicts right now. The first is in the Strait of Hormuz, and the second is in Lebanon. It seems that Netanyahu wants to have the opportunity to withdraw Lebanon from the agreement before the Iranians and the Americans agree on something,” he said.
When asked about the overnight strike by the US in Iran and whether it is a sign of things to come, Eslamy told Al Jazeera, “Donald Trump is thinking about the escalation of the war in the Persian Gulf to pressure the Iranian people while he is negotiating many important things about the so-called agreement with the United States.”
“I think the Iranians will focus on the US blockade to pressure and challenge the Americans,” Eslamy said of the Strait of Hormuz.
