mario parker and Arsalan Shahla
Updated ,first published
Israel has claimed to have killed Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday night (AEDT) that Tangsiri had been killed along with other senior naval commanders in an overnight attack.
Katz said Tangsiri was responsible for bombing operations that prevented ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz. He said the attack should serve as a “clear message” to senior Iranian military officials that the Israeli military would pursue them.
The White House has insisted that peace talks with Iran are ongoing, even as Tehran publicly rejected US proposals and issued new conditions of its own to end the conflict that has wreaked havoc across the Middle East and global markets.
US President Donald Trump said Iran was desperate to reach a deal to end hostilities that have lasted almost a month. “You want to make a deal so badly, but you’re afraid to say it,” Trump told congressional Republicans on Wednesday night (Washington time).
“The United States has had productive conversations over the past three days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier in the day. “It is beginning to be seen that the regime is looking for an exit ramp.”
His comments contradicted Iran’s earlier statements through state media publicly rejecting Trump’s push for talks.
“So far no negotiations have taken place with the enemy and we are not planning any,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television, although several messages had been exchanged through intermediaries, “explaining our positions or issuing necessary warnings.”
The guarantees Tehran sought included that the United States and Israel would not resume their attacks, reparations for war damage and recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, state-run Press TV said.
Iran is also seeking to formalize a transit fee for the Strait of Hormuz, and politicians are working on a bill to impose a toll in exchange for providing security for ships passing through the key waterway, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Tehran has already started charging a limited number of commercial vessels for transit, with ad hoc payments of up to $2 million per voyage being requested, according to people familiar with the matter. Since the war began nearly four weeks ago, Iran has effectively shut down the pipeline to about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, causing a global supply shock.
As the war has progressed, each side has kept up attacks even amid renewed efforts to force the other to reach a resolution. And so far, Tehran is showing few signs of backing down despite the daily bombings.
The Israel Defense Forces completed a wave of attacks in Isfahan, in what they described as an attack targeting infrastructure. According to Fars, several homes were destroyed and several homes were severely damaged.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses were responding to Iranian missile and drone threats on Thursday, while Bahrain said an Iranian strike caused a fire at a facility in Muharraq. Two people were killed and three injured in Abu Dhabi after falling debris from an intercepted ballistic missile.
Early Thursday, Iran’s military said it had carried out missile attacks against U.S. forces and separatist groups backed by the U.S.-Israeli alliance in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.
As Trump’s Friday deadline for Iran to negotiate a deal to end the war approaches, questions remain about the status of the negotiations and the likelihood of a deal.
The United States compiled a 15-point peace proposal that Pakistan delivered to the Islamic Republic, according to people familiar with the matter, highlighting the urgency within the Trump administration to resolve a conflict that began with Israel nearly a month ago.
The US plan calls for eliminating Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile program and cutting funding to regional allies, according to three Israeli cabinet sources. In exchange, Iran would retain certain concessions, including sanctions relief.
On Wednesday, Leavitt said there were “elements of truth” in the US proposal, but warned against speculation about plans provided anonymously.
US Vice President JD Vance could travel to Pakistan for talks with Iran this weekend, CNN reported. Asked for comment on that report, Leavitt said, “This is a fluid situation, and speculation about the meetings should not be considered final until they are formally announced by the White House.”
The conflict has caused fuel and fertilizer prices to rise, commercial tankers have avoided crossing the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian attacks have damaged energy infrastructure. It has also raised fears of an inflationary crisis and food shortages around the world.
Brent oil is on track to post the biggest monthly gain since 1990. The global benchmark crude rose above $103 a barrel after losing more than 2 percent on Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $91.
The risks of further escalation of the conflict remain substantial. The White House has stated that Trump is keeping all options open for expanded military action. Washington has ordered more troops to the region, with some arriving before the weekend.
“If Iran does not accept the reality of the current moment,” Leavitt said, “Trump will ensure that they are hit harder than ever before. President Trump is no bluster and is prepared to unleash hell.”
On Wednesday, Leavitt also announced that a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would take place in May, scheduled for later this month. Trump had postponed the meeting to focus on the war, which caused new tensions in relations between the United States and China. Iran is a major trading partner of China, the world’s largest crude oil importer.
Leavitt said the administration “has always estimated approximately four to six weeks” for the conflict when asked if the new dates indicated Trump would seek to end the war by then. And he avoided a question about whether ending the war was a precondition for rescheduling the Trump-Xi meeting.
Trump has said he hopes to reach a deal by the end of the week. That may be difficult given the wide differences that remain between the sides, even if talks officially begin.
It is also unclear who the United States is negotiating with, as several senior Iranian military and government officials have been killed, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the conflict. On Mondays, axios identified the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, as the likely leader of the talks, although he denied that negotiations had taken place.
“We are closely following all US movements in the region, especially troop deployments,” Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Wednesday. “Do not test our determination to defend our land.”
There is little clarity on whether Iran would immediately allow all commercial ships to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz without paying, nor on how Israel would respond to any deal. Israeli officials have said they will continue attacking Iran for now.
According to several people familiar with the situation, Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are considering joining the war against Tehran. They would only do so if the Islamic Republic attacked vital energy and water infrastructure, a high threshold, the people said.
Meanwhile, Türkiye is conducting intense diplomacy to try to prevent Gulf Arab countries from getting involved, according to people familiar with the matter.
According to governments and non-governmental agencies, more than 4,500 people have died in the conflict. About three-quarters of the deaths have occurred in Iran, while more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. Dozens of people have died in Israel and the Arab Gulf States.
Bloomberg, AP, Reuters
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