The United States and Iran exchange attacks, while Israel intensifies the offensive in Lebanon
Stocks fall and oil rises on frustration over ceasefire prospects
BarcelonaNew US attacks against Iran early Thursday, added to Donald Trump's latest belligerent statements about Iran, Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, highlight how far apart Washington and Tehran remain in negotiations to end the war. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel has launched a new air offensive and has declared an extensive strip of the south of the country as a new combat zone.
The US military has attacked a military facility in southern Iran and shot down four attack drones that had been launched over American ships, according to Pentagon officials. Iranian state media were the first to report three explosions east of Bandar Abbas, an Iranian southern port city near the Strait of Hormuz, early in the morning. An operation that Washington has justified as "self-defense." Iran has responded by launching an attack against a US air base in Kuwait, according to the Revolutionary Guard, which stated that the target was the base from which they had been attacked. At the same time, Tehran has reported that it has blocked passage through the Strait of Hormuz to four US vessels that attempted to "cross it without authorization," according to the official Tasnim agency. On the other hand, early this morning the US Treasury Department has sanctioned the body created by Tehran to collect tolls from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.
In parallel, despite the official ceasefire in effect, Israel has intensified its offensive in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army has reported new attacks in the city of Tyre, in the south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced an escalation of attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and, according to military sources, they have hit 550 targets in the country in the last week alone.
Stock markets fall and oil rises
The news of the latest attacks is already causing nervousness in the markets. The main Asian stock exchanges registered generalized declines this Thursday, weighed down by the increase in tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude, the European benchmark, rose 3.74% to $97.82 a barrel. The reaction is explained by the frustrated expectations of an agreement that had been generated in recent days.
After assuring over the weekend that an agreement was close, Trump threatened on Wednesday to "finish the job" if Tehran does not accept his conditions. In a government meeting at the White House broadcast on television, Trump said that Iran "negotiates without room" and insisted that the November midterm elections will not precipitate him into closing an agreement. Trump and his senior officials had said and repeated that the war would end in four to six weeks, in the days following the launch of the first attacks jointly with Israel on February 28.
During the cabinet meeting, Trump also warned Oman, a US ally, when asked about a possible temporary agreement that would allow Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz, which remains blocked. This Thursday, the head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, is meeting in Washington with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, a mediator in the talks between Washington and Tehran.
Iranian state television had previously stated that it had obtained an unofficial draft of an agreement that would restore commercial traffic through the strait to pre-war levels within a month, with Iran and Oman jointly managing the maritime passage. The White House has called the information a "complete fabrication."
Another key issue still unresolved is whether an eventual ceasefire between the US and Iran would include Israeli operations in Lebanon. Tehran has insisted that attacks against its ally, the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, must be included in the agreement.
