Tehran (AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned civilians across the Middle East Friday to stay away from areas near US forces, in a mark of defiance after President Donald Trump claimed talks to end the month-long war were “going well”. The Guards’ warning came after Trump again extended a deadline for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy assets, pushing it from Friday to April 6.
With war engulfing the region four weeks after the United States and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28, Tehran resident Ensieh said every day she was “losing more hope”. “We’re caught between three mad powers, and war is terrifying,” the 46-year-old dentist told AFP journalists outside Iran. “I know I’ll never be the same person again.”
Local media confirmed fresh strikes rained down overnight on Iran’s capital — muffled by the sound of thunderstorms according to an AFP correspondent — as well as the holy city of Qom further south and Urmia in the northwest. A month of US and Israeli attacks have damaged at least 120 museums and cultural and historic sites nationwide, a top Tehran official said, including the UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace — sometimes likened to Versailles.
In announcing a new reprieve over the Hormuz blockade, which threatens lasting damage on the global economy, Trump insisted the Islamic republic wanted to “make a deal”. But the Iranian side, which has made it clear it wants to end fighting on its own terms, indicated no let up in reprisal attacks against Israel and targets across the Gulf. Accusing US-Israeli forces of resorting to “human shields”, Iran’s Guards told civilians to “urgently leave locations where American forces are stationed so that no harm comes to you” — as Iran’s military threatened to target hotels housing US soldiers across the region.
Markets have been upended by Iranian attacks on trade and energy targets in the Gulf, with Kuwait saying Friday its main commercial port was damaged in a drone attack at dawn. A top Iranian official threatened to attack Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, home to the Samref oil refinery, as well as the coastal Fujairah oil complex in the United Arab Emirates, should a ground invasion take place. “Step onto Iranian soil, and $150 becomes the floor for oil,” Vice President Esmael Saghab Esfahani wrote on X. “Destruction of Fujairah and Yanbu are just our entry tickets.”
Iran’s message on Hormuz was just as defiant, with the Guards saying the strait was “closed” to vessels travelling to and from enemy ports, and that they had turned back three ships seeking to cross. Oil prices and stocks were mixed after Trump pushed back for a second time his ultimatum, while in the latest sign of the economic fallout the Bank of Spain warned the country faced a “significant slowdown” due to the war.
With America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio in France for G7 talks, counterparts pressed him for clarity on American plans for Iran. UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper called for a “swift” conflict resolution and an end to Iran’s block on Hormuz that was holding “the global economy hostage.” Without revealing his source, German top diplomat Johann Wadephul said a “direct meeting” between Washington and Tehran was expected “very soon” in Pakistan, which is acting as a go-between. Iran has reportedly replied to a 15-point US plan and is awaiting a response, having made its own demands including war reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over Hormuz.
The Tasnim news agency said Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on its territory and on aligned regional groups — a reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others. But analysts at the Soufan Center warned the United States cannot “make any guarantees on behalf of Israel.” And in spite of the push for diplomacy, America’s Israeli ally showed no sign of wavering, with Defence Minister Israel Katz vowing to “intensify and expand” strikes on Iran in response to missile attacks on its soil. “They will pay a heavy price, an increasingly heavy one, for this war crime,” Katz said in a video message. The escalation threat came despite opposition leader Yair Lapid warning its military was “stretched to the limit and beyond” especially on the front with Lebanon — drawn into the war after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.
© 2024 AFP
