U.S. Demands Iran Publicly State That Strait Of Hormuz Is Open

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is demanding Iran make a public statement. Strait of Hormuz The agreement is clear and ships passing through the vital corridor will no longer be attacked, senior US officials said on Friday, adding that internal power struggles in Tehran had made it difficult to reach and maintain a deal.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told journalists about the incident. Current situation with IranHe said the resumption of strikes this week came after a rogue group of Iranian hardliners tried to sabotage a ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

This comes after US President Donald Trump tweeted on social media on Friday that the temporary ceasefire agreement was “OVER!” It came after he reiterated that he saw it as. But he said the United States would continue talks aimed at putting a permanent end to terrorism. war.

Trump gave U.S. negotiators a limited time to reach a deal with Iran, officials said Friday, but underlined that the president has a wide range of options if talks fail, in a sign of the challenges ahead. They also said a real-time power struggle was taking place in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed Iran’s longtime leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US is trying to pressure Iran to make a public statement. Strait of HormuzOfficials said that the waterway, which is vital for world energy markets, is open and free for ships to pass through.

In the meeting with journalists, officials suggested that leaders in Iran had told their US counterparts that the ship attacks were a mistake and that the country hoped to continue negotiations despite this.

Officials said Trump did not care that the firing on the ships came from a hard-line group and responded with stronger counterstrikes, showing Iran that there would be consequences no matter who was behind it.

But minutes before U.S. officials spoke, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including clearing and demining operations, “belongs exclusively to Iran.”

“Any attempt by external actors to interfere with or establish a force arrangement would violate (the interim agreement) and undermine its implementation, delay the restoration of normal commercial navigation, endanger maritime security and escalate regional tensions,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said outside the UN Security Council.

Iran has said the strait should now be fully under its control and that ships should start paying fees to Tehran, even though the world has considered it an international waterway for decades. Before the war began, approximately one-fifth of traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait.

Iran’s control of the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis. Oil prices fell sharply $120 a barrel is the highest since wartime.

U.S. officials told reporters on Friday that any deal on Iran’s nuclear program would require Tehran to hand over its nuclear program. highly enriched uranium stockpile. If the United States cannot reach an agreement with Iran to hand over nuclear material, it has military options to keep Iran underground indefinitely, officials said. They did not detail these options.

Highly enriched material that could potentially be used to make nuclear weapons is believed to have been buried following US attacks on Iran last summer. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Officials say they will never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it does not comply with the terms of the ceasefire agreement and stop new attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The fight underscores the long-term challenges the Trump administration faces in the wake of the war it launched and was expected to wrap up months ago. Trump broke off talks with Iran over its nuclear program in late February and launched military action, saying Tehran was trying to rebuild its program and develop long-range missiles.

He faces political pressure in the United States to end the conflict and its economic impact and avoid the protracted Middle East conflict he has been campaigning against.

No one claimed responsibility for Friday’s airstrikes Iranian after US says it has ended its attacksIt leaves questions about who else might target the Islamic Republic.

On Friday, Iranian state media quoted Esmail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee and a former commander of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as warning that the UAE “will pay the price for cooperation with the United States.” He accused the Emirates of playing a “behind the scenes” role in recent US attacks.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said there were “no operational updates” following Trump’s announcement about the ceasefire.

Gulf Arab states, which Iran has repeatedly targeted since the war began on Feb. 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the attacks on Friday. Israel, which participated in the Iran war, has not claimed responsibility for any attack against Iran recently.

Thursday’s attacks came just as Iran was preparing to bury it. late KhameneiIt hit the southern regions of Iran. The country’s theocracy did not directly blame anyone, but a lawmaker warned the United Arab Emirates over its alleged support for the US campaign against Iran.

Iran responded to the attacks on Thursday by launching a broader barrage of attacks across the Middle East, targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. It was reported that one person was injured in Kuwait as a result of air defense systems targeting the fire coming to the region.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to discuss the strait issue with his Omani counterpart at the meeting in Oman on Saturday. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution could be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which sit on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

The United States continues to urge sailors to travel a southern route through Omani territorial waters to avoid Iran.

UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan traveled to Kuwait immediately after the Iranian attack to meet with the ruling emir of the small, oil-rich country. Gulf Arab countries also held talks with the Qatari foreign minister. He played a profound role in mediating the Iran-US negotiations with Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he met separately with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Qatar’s ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Friday and emphasized the need for both restraint and diplomacy.

The Israeli government said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Trump on Thursday night and that Trump informed Netanyahu about “America’s moves in the Gulf.”

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz also repeated his threats that his country is ready to confront Iran if necessary.

In his speech at the military ceremony, Katz said, “If we have to return, we will return with even greater force.”

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnush Amiri in New York contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.