Iran said a return to military conflict war with the United States was unlikely, as growing hopes for a peace deal that would reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz trade route sent oil prices tumbling.
With fighting paused since an April 8 ceasefire, negotiations to bring an end to the conflict and resume trade through the blockaded waterway have stalled, leaving the global economy shaken by the tumult.
Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards official Mohammad Akbarzadeh said: “The possibility of war is low because of the enemy’s weakness, the armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines.”
The statement was made before the US struck fresh targets in Iran today.
The Middle East war erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, spreading swiftly across multiple fronts and engulfing the region.
But hopes of an imminent deal to avoid further hostilities sent benchmark oil contracts falling more than 5% this week.
Adding to optimism was an Iranian state TV report that said Washington had committed in a draft framework to lifting its naval blockade on Iran, as well as restoring traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and withdrawing American forces from the Gulf region.
The report cited what it described as an outline of a potential memorandum of understanding, but the White House swiftly blasted it as “a complete fabrication”.
A White House statement posted online said: “Nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out.”
Iran has accused the US of breaching the ceasefire, and warned it was prepared to retaliate following the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.
The US military said it launched “self-defence strikes” targeting Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats.
Akbarzadeh warned that Iran’s military would turn the area along its coastline “into a graveyard for aggressors”, in quotes carried by the Tasnim news agency.
Tehran’s intelligence ministry, meanwhile, said the US and Israel were still seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic and partition Iran, citing evidence of efforts to foment division and carry out sabotage missions.
Iran and the US have been engaged in a war of words for weeks as they try to negotiate a deal, with mediation efforts led by Pakistan.
Neither side appears ready to compromise on the key sticking points, which include the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Revolutionary Guards’ navy insisted that only ships “willing to abide by Iranian order” would be allowed to pass through the waterway.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said that a peace deal remained within reach but that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened “one way or the other”.
In a statement marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the US was losing its influence in the Middle East and warned countries to stop hosting bases from which the US could launch attacks.
On the Lebanon front of the war, Israel launched broad strikes on the country including near the city of Tyre on Wednesday.
In southern Lebanon, Israel carried out strikes that Beirut’s health ministry said killed 31 people, including at least four children.
Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to Lebanon, where an April 17 truce has failed to stop fighting that began when militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel in early March.
Ignoring the demands, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “crush” Hezbollah, and Israeli forces were reportedly expanding their ground operations deeper inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces “at point-blank range” in a strategically significant town north of the Litani River, just beyond an Israeli-declared “yellow line” in south Lebanon where its troops have been operating.
- AFP