Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: In the fourth week of the US-Israeli war against Iran on March 26 it is still not clear who is winning or who will blink first. While US President Donald Trump administration’s claims swing from total victory to talks are under way, Iran said that it is reviewing a US proposal conveyed through Pakistan to end the war. But it has made it clear that it has no intention of holding talks to wind down the widening Middle East conflict, the country’s foreign minister said on March 25.
Additionally, Iran has told intermediaries that Lebanon must be included in any ceasefire agreement with the US and Israel.
Trump, speaking at a March 25 night event in Washington, said that Iranian leaders “are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they will be killed by their own people. They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us.”
Trump’s 15-point proposal calls for removing Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile programme and cutting off funding for regional allies, according to three Israeli cabinet sources familiar with the plan.
Iranian officials, on their part, have reportedly outlined five conditions for ending the war, Iranian state media reported on March 25. Those demands include concrete assurances that hostilities will not resume, compensation for war damages and a guarantee that Iran can exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
Israel was skeptical Iran would agree to the US terms, and was concerned US negotiators might make concessions. Israel also wants any agreement to preserve its option to conduct pre-emptive strikes.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the Central Command chief leading US forces in the Middle East, said in a video briefing that the US had hit over 10,000 targets inside Iran.
*Iran keen to negotiate: Trump * We have our own demands: Iran *Both sides continue strikes in Middle East
Still, the war has raged on with no let-up in air attacks against Iran, as well as Iranian drone and missile strikes against Israel and US allies.
Fluctuating oil prices
Since the start of what the U.S. calls “Operation Epic Fury”, Iran has attacked countries that host US bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
More than 1,750 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.