Tehran (AFP) – Iran’s chief negotiator said Wednesday the United States wanted to restart the Middle East war after President Donald Trump said he would attack again unless Tehran agreed to a peace deal. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who warned of a “forceful response,” was speaking after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said any renewed war would spread far beyond the Middle East.
“The enemy’s movements, both overt and clandestine, show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not abandoned its military objectives and is seeking to start a new war,” Ghalibaf said in an audio message carried by Iranian media. A ceasefire on April 8 brought a halt to the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which has roiled the global economy, but with Washington and Tehran seemingly reluctant to resume the fighting, a war of words has taken its place.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with renewed military action, while Iranian officials have hit back with their own warnings of devastating action. Nevertheless, despite sporadic outbursts of violence, the two countries have continued to take part in diplomatic exchanges, mediated by Pakistan, aimed at bringing a formal end to the war.
On Tuesday, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that “a lot of good progress is being made” and “we’re just going to keep working at it,” even as he told Iran the US military was “locked and loaded.”
The Revolutionary Guards issued their own threat on Wednesday, saying, “if the aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you.” “The American-Zionist enemy…must know that despite the offensive carried out against us using the full capabilities of the world’s two most expensive armies, we have not deployed the full power of the Islamic revolution,” the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website. Citing diplomatic sources, official news agency IRNA meanwhile announced a visit to Tehran by Pakistan’s interior minister, his second in less than a week.
On Tuesday, Trump insisted the US retained the upper hand and that Iran was desperate for peace. “You know how it is to negotiate with a country where you’re beating them badly. They come to the table, they’re begging to make a deal,” he said. “I hope we don’t have to do the war, but we may have to give them another big hit. I’m not sure yet.” He has previously made similar claims without a deal being concluded.
The US leader is himself under pressure, with rising energy costs beginning to bite at home. While the ceasefire brought a halt to the fighting, it has not reopened the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually pass. The future of the waterway is a key sticking point in negotiations, but without a deal, fears are growing for the global economy as pre-war stockpiles of oil are used up.
Rising fuel prices have caused widespread pain, with protests erupting in Kenya, which like many African countries is dependent on imports from the Gulf and where the public transport system has ground to a halt. “It’s unfortunate that we lost four Kenyans in today’s violence, which also saw more than 30 people injured,” Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told reporters.
The strait is also a conduit for around a third of global fertilizer, the loss of which is pushing up food prices and could cause shortages. On Wednesday, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned of “a severe global food price crisis” and a “systemic agrifood shock” from the closure of the strait.
© 2024 AFP
