The Supreme Leader of Iran has declared that the United States will find no refuge in the Middle East, asserting that Israel’s demise is imminent. This declaration comes despite ongoing peace negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
In a statement coinciding with the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj to Mecca, Mojtaba Khamenei issued stern warnings and criticisms directed at Western countries.
He emphasized that nations in the region would no longer act as protective barriers for American military installations.
“The United States will no longer find a safe haven for its activities or military bases in this region. Its influence is steadily waning,” Mojtaba stated.
He continued by expressing, “The destabilized Zionist regime and the malignant presence of Israel are nearing the final chapter of their unfortunate existence,” according to the statement on his official website.
Threats amid peace talks
The remarks from Mojtaba on Tuesday coincided with Iranian officials participating in discussions in Doha. These talks aim to reduce tensions and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said Tehran and Washington reached understandings on many issues in exchanges over a deal for ending the war, but warned an agreement was not yet imminent.
However tensions have been flaring, as US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperiling the fragile ceasefire in place.
And Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday claimed to have attacked a US F-35 fighter jet and intercepted an American drone.
The IRGC said it has the right to retaliate against any actions which violate a ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday negotiating a deal with Iran could ‘take a few days,’ quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict.
Describing the US strikes against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz has to be open ‘one way or the other.’
‘The straits have to be open, they’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,’ Rubio told reporters on his plane in India’s Jaipur.
‘Solid’ proposal on the table
Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in ‘another way’.
He said there was a ‘pretty solid thing on the table,’ referring to talks over reopening the strait and a ‘very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter.’
The discussions in Doha focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while Iran’s central bank governor attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.
Around $24 billion of Iranian funds frozen overseas must be released under a memorandum of understanding being negotiated with the US, a source close to Tehran’s negotiation team said, according to report by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Tuesday.
The agency said Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, had travelled to Qatar to reach agreement on a mechanism to implement this demand.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated after the framework accord was agreed.
‘Great deal or no deal’
Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
Baghaei said the potential Iran deal contained no specific details on management of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows.
Iran would not charge tolls for ships to pass through but there would be a cost for services offered such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said talks with Iran were going ‘nicely’, but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. It ‘will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,’ he wrote.
In another indication of the region’s tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday Israel would intensify strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Speaking yesterday, Netanyahu said he had ordered an ‘even greater acceleration’ of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon following Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli forces.
He said any final deal with Iran ‘must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely,’ a position echoed by Washington.
Israel’s military soon thereafter said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and other areas.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in mid-April, but Israel has continued airstrikes it says are acts of self-defence against Hezbollah, which was not party to the truce.
And Asian stock markets fell in value and oil prices diverged after fresh US strikes cast doubts over a deal to end the war.
Markets had rallied as the price of crude dropped below $100 a barrel amid reports an agreement between the Iran and US was near.
But these hopes were dashed when US forces said they attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines.
North Sea Brent, the international benchmark that establishes pricing for a majority of globally traded petroleum, jumped more than three per cent today while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate meanwhile was down around four per cent
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