Iran warns the US against ship attacks as dozens killed in Lebanon strikes
Adam Schreck And Sammy Magdy
Updated ,first published
Iran has sent its response to the latest US ceasefire proposal through Pakistani mediators and wants talks to focus on ending the war permanently, Iran’s state media said on Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receipt of it.
State television said Iran aims to end the war and ensure the safety of shipping on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Washington’s final proposal included a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, an issue Tehran would prefer to discuss later.
The White House had no comment on Iran’s response. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told ABC that US President Donald Trump was giving diplomacy “every opportunity possible before returning to hostilities.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy, meanwhile, warned that any attack on Iran’s oil tankers or merchant ships would be met with a “heavy attack” on an American base and enemy ships in the region, even if a tenuous ceasefire appeared to hold.
Iranian state television reported the warning on Saturday, a day after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, casting doubt on a month-long ceasefire that Washington insists is still in effect. The Pentagon said the tankers were trying to break through the blockade of Iranian ports.
A new wave of Israeli attacks in Lebanon has killed 39 people and further threatened the weak ceasefire that has been in effect since April 17, the BBC reported, citing the country’s Ministry of Health.
At least seven people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli attack on the southern town of Saksakiyeh, the ministry said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and was “aware of reports of harm to unrelated civilians.”
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel struck Iran. Talks between Israel and Lebanon will take place in Washington this week.
The Trump administration is awaiting Iran’s response to its latest proposed deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and roll back Tehran’s controversial nuclear program. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow’s offer to buy enriched uranium from Iran to assist in agreement negotiations remained on the table.
Bahrain says arrests linked to Guard funding
Meanwhile, Bahrain, which hosts the regional headquarters of the US Navy, announced that it arrested 41 people who it claimed had connections with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The country’s Interior Ministry said investigations confirmed they were in contact with the Guard and were collecting money “with the intention of sending it to Iran” to support “terrorist operations.”
The small island in the Persian Gulf is ruled by a Sunni Muslim monarchy but, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population. Rights groups said the kingdom was using the war between Iran and the United States, which bases its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as an excuse to suppress dissent.
Ibrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of the Iranian parliament, made a warning to Bahrain in a statement on social media: “Standing by the US-backed decision will have serious consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it to yourself forever.”
Iran has largely blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the US and Israel launched a war on February 28, causing a global rise in fuel prices and roiling world markets.
Washington imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports. U.S. Central Command said Saturday that its forces have turned away 58 merchant ships and “disabled” four since the blockade began April 13.
UK deploys warship
Britain’s defense ministry said it would deploy a warship to the Middle East to take part in a potential mission to protect merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.
The ministry said HMS Dragon would make “preliminary preparations” in the region, ready to join the British and French-led security plan. France announced this week that it would move its aircraft carrier strike group to the Red Sea in preparation.
Britain and France led meetings attended by several dozen countries that formed a coalition to restore freedom of navigation in the strait. However, they underline that the ceasefire will not begin until a sustainable ceasefire is achieved and the maritime industry is assured that ships can pass through the Bosphorus safely.
Diplomacy continues ‘day and night’
US President Donald Trump repeated his threat to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept a deal to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the country was not paying attention to “deadlines,” according to state-run IRNA.
Diplomacy continues. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country was in contact “day and night” with the United States and Iran to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace agreement.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it, as well as Saudi Arabia, had called for diplomatic efforts to reach a “sustainable, long-term agreement” to end the war.
Separately, Putin told reporters in Moscow that buying enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a deal would allow everyone to see “how much there is and where it is located” and that “all of this would be put under the control of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.”
Senior Egyptian and Qatari diplomats reiterated that diplomacy is the only way to a solution, according to information obtained from their phone conversations.
Iran’s new religious leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is a name that has still not been publicly announced or heard since the start of the war. This fuels speculation about his status.
On Friday, a senior Iranian official said Khamenei was in “full health” and would eventually appear in public. Mazaher Hosseini, who was attached to the office of Iran’s late religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the beginning of the war, made the comment at a pro-government meeting.
Hosseini said Khamenei’s son Mojtaba was injured in his knee and back in the opening attacks of the war but has largely recovered.
access point
Take notes directly from our foreign country reporters about things that make headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
