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Iranian president says he seeks a diplomatic end to the war even though US has ‘not fulfilled its commitments’
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan where he will hold talks with numerous officials and world leaders.
Pezeshkian, seen as a relative moderate in Iran, has already met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit and told him that Tehran still seeks a negotiated solution to end the war with the US, despite the flare up in hostilities over the last 24 hours.
According to the Tasnim news agency, the Iranian president told Modi that fighting was in no one’s interest and that dialogue and cooperation were the way to resolve existing problems.
But, according to Fars news agency, Pezeshkian said the US has “not fulfilled its commitments”, which he presumably means the US continuing a blockade of Iranian ports and holding on to frozen Iranian assets. He also said “there are currents within America that see their interests in the continuation of war”, without eleaborating.
There are sharp disagreements within Iran on how to proceed in the conflict, with the new hardline leadership reportedly favouring confrontation with the US, wanting to squeeze reparations out of Washington and a right to toll the strategic strait of Hormuz.
Key events
We have a statement from the Iranian presidency detailing what Pezeshkian said during the meeting with Modi on the sidelines of the summit. The statement read:
We continue to strive for a path of agreement and understanding, and we believe that continuing the war is neither in our interest, nor in the interest of the region.
We believe that the solution to the existing problems is dialogue and cooperation, and all capacities must be used to prevent the spread of insecurity and conflict.
Iranian president says he seeks a diplomatic end to the war even though US has ‘not fulfilled its commitments’
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan where he will hold talks with numerous officials and world leaders.
Pezeshkian, seen as a relative moderate in Iran, has already met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit and told him that Tehran still seeks a negotiated solution to end the war with the US, despite the flare up in hostilities over the last 24 hours.
According to the Tasnim news agency, the Iranian president told Modi that fighting was in no one’s interest and that dialogue and cooperation were the way to resolve existing problems.
But, according to Fars news agency, Pezeshkian said the US has “not fulfilled its commitments”, which he presumably means the US continuing a blockade of Iranian ports and holding on to frozen Iranian assets. He also said “there are currents within America that see their interests in the continuation of war”, without eleaborating.
There are sharp disagreements within Iran on how to proceed in the conflict, with the new hardline leadership reportedly favouring confrontation with the US, wanting to squeeze reparations out of Washington and a right to toll the strategic strait of Hormuz.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 73,456, says health ministry
Medics said two people were killed and several others injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a crowd of people near the municipal public park in Gaza City on Monday, an area densely populated with families displaced by Israel’s assault.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 1,320 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since a ‘ceasefire’ was signed between Israel and Hamas last October.
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by the US to end the war on Gaza.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said earlier this month that there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the territory until Hamas first disarms.
In its latest update, Gaza’s health ministry said that 73,456 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 2023, when Isreal launched its assault on the territory following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed.
A number of legal and rights experts have concluded that Israel has committed genocide – considered the most serious international crime – against the Palestinian population of Gaza. Israel denies the charge, despite the widespread evidence that supports the conclusion.
Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.
“The EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.
“The EU will continue to work closely with the United States and other G7 and international partners to maintain pressure on Iran and contribute to de-escalation and regional stability,” the EU statement added.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency is reporting that Israeli artillery shelling targeted the southern Lebanese town of Houla on Monday. It also reported overnight Israeli attacks in the areas of Mansouri and Buyout Al-Sayyad, also in southern Lebanon.
The renewed war on Lebanon started after Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party, struck Israel with rockets on 2 March in response for the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader. Israel responded with an aerial assault and invasion that killed more than 4,300 people and occupied about 6% of the country’s territory, displacing a huge amount of the population, many of whom remain unable to return home.
Attacks have decreased since the signing of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader US-Iran war in June, and a US-sponsored framework deal between Lebanon and Israel agreed later that month.
But, as my colleague William Christou notes in this story, Lebanon still reports intermittent Israeli strikes causing casualties, and the broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.
UAE says Iran drone attack ‘dangerous escalation’
The UAE condemned an Iranian drone attack intercepted over its territorial waters, calling it a “dangerous escalation”.
In a statement on X, the UAE’s foreign ministry “strongly condemned the hostile Iranian attack on the country involving a drone that was intercepted by air defence systems over UAE territorial waters”. The ministry also said the UAE reserved the “full and legitimate right to respond”. See post at 09.51 for more details.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “serpent”, accusing him of tricking Washington into launching the war.
“In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the U.S. Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he ‘influenced’ America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X.
“In English, he praises POTUS’ leadership. Serpent,” he added. A presentation by Netanyahu in the White House Situation Room in February was key in convincing Trump to launch joint strikes against Iran – even despite the skepticism of his vice-president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment, the New York Times reported.
Netanyahu reportedly suggested that the Iranian regime could easily be toppled and it would be so weakened that it could not choke off the strait of Hormuz.
After launching the unprovoked war against Iran on 28 February, which many experts agree is illegal, Trump and Netanyahu fell out when it quickly became clear a quick regime change victory was unlikely to happen.
Since then, the two leader’s relationship has become increasingly strained, with their goals sharply diverging, especially over the Israeli assault on Lebanon, which has threatened to derail US diplomatic efforts to end the war in Iran.
Julian Borger
In making the sanctions threat last Monday, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced an initial set of sanctions on 60 individuals, entities and vessels for alleged involvement in trade with Iran, but there were no Chinese financial institutions on the list, despite their involvement in financing the Iranian oil trade. The omission reflected US caution.
Asked why the Trump administration had not declared immediate sanctions and had stopped short of naming potential sanctions targets, Bessent replied: “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”
Financial and trade experts say the administration is well aware of the risk of Chinese retaliation before a scheduled summit next month between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. China could strike back through financial markets or with limits on its export of critical minerals.
Iran has been economically wrecked by the war and the accompanying US blockade, but it maintained its defiance in response to Bessent’s threats of total isolation. You can read more here:
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is due to host meetings of the G20 finance ministers in North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday. He will attempt to rally countries around Washington’s new economic strategy against Iran, which is continuing to disrupt the global economy by blocking traffic through the strategic strait of Hormuz.
Bessent has been at the heart of the US’s efforts to economically isolate Iran after the Trump administration recently signalled a shift away from military strikes which failed to force Tehran’s capitulation or collapse (this lull in direct strikes was broken yesterday).
Last week, the US threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, while Tehran vowed retaliation against any country that took part in the US-led isolation campaign.
But there remains huge uncertainty over how the US president, Donald Trump, will handle China, Iran’s biggest trading partner and leading buyer of its oil.
Speaking ahead of the G20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent told the Associated Press that he would speak to his Chinese counterparts during the talks, adding that “all options are on the table” in terms of sanctioning Beijing for its continued purchases.
According to Fars news agency, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said after the US assault on Larak Island last night that:
The foreigners must be cut off from the region and learn a serious lesson so that they do not repeat their aggressions.
UAE denies Iranian claim that al-Minhad airbase was targeted in attack
The UAE’s defence ministry said in a social media post published two hours ago that the country’s air force intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters on Monday. The ministry said the armed forces remain on high alert to combat any future threats.
It came after Iran’s army said it launched a drone attack on US forces in the United Arab Emirates’ al Minhad airbase early on Monday. It said the attack was in response to the US striking Iran’s Larak island, which sits very close to Iran’s coastline in the strait of Hormuz, on Sunday.
The IRGC said the US attack on Larak island killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and vowed “response and punishment”. A US official claimed the strikes were launched after “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz.”
However, in a second social media post this morning, the UAE’s defence ministry denied the claim that the al Minhad airbase in Dubai had been targeted with missiles, saying it was “unfounded”. Iran also said it had struck US military bases in Jordan in response to the Larak assault. As we mentioned in the opening post, Jordan’s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
Head of National Iranian Oil Company dismisses Trump’s claim of Kharg Island attack
Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post – featuring an AI video showing oil infrastructure exploding – that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg island was being “blown to smithereens”, without any supporting evidence.
Hamid Bovard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, mocked Trump’s post, saying that oil operations there are continuing.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Nournews cited him as saying, adding that the island had been bombed repeatedly by US and Israeli forces in the past, but oil workers had not allowed operations to stop “even for a moment”.
Kharg Island is a major Iranian energy hub responsible for handling about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports, making it among the country’s most sensitive economic targets.
Trump has previously threatened to seize the island, which hosts vast storage facilities, but has rowed back on his threats, perhaps knowing that any takeover would require the US to put boots on the ground, exposing American forces to Iranian attacks.
US and Iran trade strikes for first time in a month
Welcome to our live coverage as hostilities between the US and Iran flared again for the first time in a month, with American strikes on Iran prompting retaliation from Tehran.
A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after hitting two naval mines in the southern strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV reported on Monday, citing a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It did not identify the vessel or provide information about its crew. It warned that other ships violating its security rules would face the same fate and said compliance with its regulations for passage through the strait was mandatory.
On Sunday, the US said it carried out airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the strait, with an American official saying the IRGC was preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the narrow waterway.
The IRGC said on Monday it attacked two US military airbases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing “heavy damage”, state media reported. Jordan’s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
Iran said later it had targeted US military personnel at an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump later claimed on social media that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was “being blown to smithereens”.
In other developments:
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Iran’s supreme leader called the US and Israel enemies of all Islamic nations. In a written message issued six months on from the start of the war, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also urged rulers of Muslim nations to “know your real enemy, understand its plans and confront it”, the official Irna news agency reported.
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Israel’s Shin Bet security agency says it urgently evacuated prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oldest son from the US due to a threat against him. In a brief statement the Associated Press obtained on Sunday, the Shin Bet confirmed there had been a “significant threat” to Yair Netanyahu, without elaborating.
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US treasury secretary Scott Bessent will step up efforts to isolate Iran economically as he hosts G20 counterparts this week, a US official has said.
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Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is due to take part in a summit starting on Monday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional bloc that seeks to be a counter-influence to the west. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and China’s Xi Jinping, among other leaders, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
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