DUBAI – Iran and the United States find themselves at a stalemate once more as they grapple with concluding their ongoing conflict. On Monday, tensions escalated further with both nations exchanging fire and recent skirmishes involving ships and Gulf states. Concurrently, hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have reignited.
The escalating situation threatens to plunge the Middle East back into full-scale warfare, exacerbating the global energy crisis that initially arose from the conflict. Iran continues to exert control over the critical Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. maintains a blockade of Iranian ports. As President Donald Trump prepares for his upcoming visit to China, he is anticipated to urge President Xi Jinping to exert influence on Iran. China, Iran’s largest purchaser of its sanctioned crude oil, holds significant sway in the matter.
However, reaching a resolution appears challenging. Iran demands the lifting of the U.S. blockade and sanctions as prerequisites for any negotiations regarding its enriched uranium stocks. The U.S., backed by Israel, insists that this material must be removed due to its potential use in nuclear weapons development, despite Iran’s claims of a peaceful nuclear program. Notably, Iran has enriched uranium beyond levels necessary for civilian energy production.
Israel remains firm on the necessity for Iran to relinquish its enriched uranium.
President Trump expressed his dissatisfaction on Sunday, labeling Iran’s response to his proposal as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Lifting the blockade prior to nuclear discussions would diminish a critical bargaining chip for the U.S. in these negotiations.
Meanwhile, the ongoing tension over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil and natural gas shipments, has driven fuel prices to new highs, unsettling global markets.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war with Trump on Feb. 28, insisted that the conflict was “not over,” telling CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday that a critical goal is getting the nuclear material out of Iran. If that can’t be accomplished with negotiations, Netanyahu said that Israel and the U.S. agree “we can reengage them militarily.”
Netanyahu also said the current Iranian government’s “days are numbered — but it could take a lot of days.”
The U.S. and Israel have killed dozens of high-ranking Iranian officials, including the country’s supreme leader in the opening salvos of the war, and the conflict has inflicted heavy damage to Iran’s economy, but its theocracy maintains its grip on power.
Iran and the US blame each other for the impasse
Trump immediately rejected a new Iranian proposal sent Sunday to him via Pakistan. In it, Iran demanded war reparations from the U.S., full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions and the release of its seized assets abroad, Iranian state television reported.
Iran also called for an immediate end to the war, including the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — which have repeatedly exchanged fire though technically also in a ceasefire. That conflict has seen Israeli strikes into Lebanon, its occupation of Lebanese territory and deadly Hezbollah attacks, including one that killed another Israeli soldier, the Israeli military said Monday.
“We did not demand any concessions — the only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday. “The American side still insists on its one-sided views and unreasonable demands.”
Iran did, however, offer to dilute part of its highly enriched uranium, and transport the rest to a third country, and called for 30-day negotiations to finalize details, two regional officials involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy taking place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to take the uranium from Iran.
Russia runs Iran’s sole nuclear power plant at Bushehr and also took some of Iran’s uranium stockpile in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Asked Monday about Putin’s comments, Baghaei said: “At the current stage, our focus is on ending the war.”
Iran keeps up its executions
Meanwhile, Iran executed another man it accused of spying for both the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency identified the prisoner as Erfan Shakourzadeh, saying he had worked on satellite communications and relayed classified information to those intelligence services.
Iran has carried out a string of executions since nationwide protests swept the country in January. Activist groups have long accused Iran of carrying out closed-door trials during which defendants are unable to fully defend themselves. Iran’s judiciary chief has repeatedly said that Tehran would increase the speed with which it carried out hangings to fight back against its enemies at home and abroad.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
