Tehran (AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday he believes Iran will hold talks with Washington “this week” as the US-Israeli war against Tehran entered its second month. The war began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sending shockwaves across the globe. A month later, the conflict showed no sign of ending, with US-Israeli strikes hitting two Iranian nuclear facilities on Friday and an AFP journalist in Tehran reporting around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke early Saturday.
A brief military statement said Israeli forces were “currently striking Iranian terror regime targets across Tehran,” without elaborating. The near-closure of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz has sent markets into turmoil and pushed oil prices to levels not seen since the start of the war in Ukraine. “We think there will be meetings this week, we’re certainly hopeful for it,” Witkoff told a business forum in Miami. Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he said. “It could solve it all.”
The diplomatic hopes came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio left G7 talks in Paris to declare Washington expects its military campaign to prove victorious within weeks. “When we are done with them here in the next couple of weeks, they will be weaker than they’ve been in recent history,” he told reporters. Trump meanwhile reiterated his disappointment with NATO allies over their refusal to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, warning Washington may not help them if asked to do so. “Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us?” he said.
Rubio said he had won G7 support to oppose Iran’s attempts to impose a toll on Strait of Hormuz shipping, a key sea lane for Gulf oil and gas exports. “Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable, it’s dangerous to the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it,” he said. G7 foreign ministers expressed the “absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation” in the waterway and called for “an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.” Iran had sent “messages” to the American side but had not formally responded to the peace plan, Rubio said.
– ‘Heavy price’ – US-Israeli strikes on Friday hit two Iranian nuclear facilities — the Khondab heavy water complex and a uranium processing plant in Ardakan — as well as two steel plants, with Israeli forces confirming the attacks and Iranian sources saying there was no radioactive release. Iran “will exact (a) HEAVY price for Israeli crimes,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, adding the attack “contradicts (Donald Trump’s) extended deadline for diplomacy.”
Israel’s military reported missiles fired from Iran as a man was killed in Tel Aviv and at least four others wounded across the country, with air raid sirens sounding in Jerusalem and explosions heard from Jericho in the occupied West Bank. A witness shared video footage with AFP apparently showing an inbound missile barrage over Jerusalem as the military scrambled search and rescue teams to impact sites in central Israel. Trump, swinging between threats of obliteration and optimistic talk of dealmaking, has insisted the Islamic Republic wants to “make a deal” and extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face destruction of its energy assets to April 6.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would strike industrial sites across the region, urging civilians in such plants to “leave their workplaces immediately,” having earlier issued similar warnings to those near American military bases and hotels hosting US troops. Iranian strikes have shattered the Gulf’s reputation for stability, hitting Dubai’s airport, Bahrain’s capital, and energy facilities across the region during the course of the war. Iran’s Vice President Esmael Saghab Esfahani threatened to attack Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port and the UAE’s Fujairah oil complex should a ground invasion take place. The Guards said the strait remained “closed” to vessels travelling to and from enemy ports, adding they had turned back three ships.
– ‘Fingers on trigger’ – Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on aligned regional groups — a reference to Hezbollah, among others, Tasnim reported. Lebanon was drawn into the war after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel. Israel renewed strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. The UN refugee agency warned Lebanon faced a deepening humanitarian crisis risking catastrophe, with over a million people displaced. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli strike on south Beirut’s Tahouitet al-Ghadir area, where another raid without warning earlier Friday killed two people.
AFPTV footage showed smoke rising from the area, a Hezbollah stronghold largely emptied after previous Israeli evacuation warnings and heavy strikes. Yemen’s Houthi movement warned Friday it would join the war if US-Israeli attacks continue hitting Iran or if more countries enter the conflict. “We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention,” the group said.
© 2024 AFP
