Washington has not said what its next steps are
Tehran has sent its latest proposal for talks with the United States to Pakistani mediators, Iran’s IRNA news agency said on Friday, May 1, a move that could improve prospects for breaking the deadlock in efforts to end the Iran war.
IRNA gave no details, but global oil prices, which have risen sharply since Iran began closing the Strait of Hormuz, fell after its report.
The blockade of the vital sea channel has cut off 20% of the world’s oil and gas supply, and the US Navy is blocking Iranian crude oil shipments. This has increased the price of energy and increased the concern that there will be an economic crisis.
It was not immediately clear whether Iran’s proposal had been passed on to Washington yet.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 8, but the report US President Donald Trump which would be informed of plans for new military strikes to force Iran to negotiate has pushed global oil prices to a four-year high at one point on Thursday, April 30.
Iran has developed defense and space programs broad response in case of attackafter assessing that there would be a short, sharp US strike, possibly followed by an Israeli strike, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
‘Physical aggression’
Washington has not said what its next steps are. Trump said on Tuesday, April 28, he was not happy with the previous proposal from Iran, and Pakistan has not set a date for new talks on ending the war that has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.
After US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28, Iran fired on US bases, infrastructure, and US-linked companies in the Gulf states, while the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel, which responded by attacking Lebanon.
Underscoring the concerns of the Gulf states, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said “the international collective will and the provisions of international law” are the main guarantors of freedom of navigation in the sea.
“And, of course, none of Iran’s unilateral plans can be trusted or relied upon following its treasonous aggression against all its neighbors,” Gargash wrote.
Trump faces a formal U.S. deadline on Friday to end the war or file a case with Congress for an extension under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
That date appears likely to pass without changing the course of the war after a senior administration official said that, for the purposes of the resolution, hostilities have ceased as a result of the April ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.
Financial and energy markets remained on edge due to concerns about the impasse in talks and concerns that there could be a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
International benchmark Brent crude for July LCOc1 shed 0.4% to $109.96 a barrel after the IRNA report, but were still poised to gain 4.5% for the week after hitting $126 a barrel on Thursday, the highest level since March 2022.
Iran says it should not expect immediate results from the talks
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned Thursday against expecting quick results from the talks.
A senior official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said any new US attack on Iran, even if scaled back, would trigger “long and painful attacks” in US regional areas, while Air Force Commander Majid Mousavi was quoted by Iranian media as saying: “We have seen what happened to your regional bases, we will see the same thing happen to your warships.”
Trump reiterated on Thursday that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and said gasoline prices – a key issue for his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections – would “drop like a rock” once the war is over.
Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
The conflict has exacerbated Iran’s deep economic problems, risking disaster after the war, but it appears to be able to weather the crisis in the Gulf for now, despite US sanctions that have restricted its energy exports.
News website Axios reported that one plan to be shared by Trump during a meeting with top US military leaders scheduled for Thursday involved using ground forces to take part of the strait open again to commercial shipping. Trump is also considering extending US sanctions or declaring a unilateral victory, officials have said.
Washington did not immediately announce any details of its plans.
In a situation that shows that the United States was also considering a situation where hostilities would cease, a cable from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was to be delivered orally to allied nations by May 1 invited them to join a new alliance, called the Maritime Freedom Construct, to enable ships to cross the sea.
France, Britain and other countries have discussed contributing to the alliance but said they would only help open the strait once the conflict is over. – Rappler.com
