US President Donald Trump claimed on social media that Iran’s “new regime President, much less radicalised and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the US for a ceasefire.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei dismissed the claim as “false and baseless.”
Bahrain, a close US ally that hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is sponsoring a UN Security Council resolution that would seek a “joint force” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The Wall Street Journal reported the UAE is lobbying for a resolution that could authorise it, along with the US and other allies such as Saudi Arabia, to help reopen the strategic waterway. A vote was expected on Thursday. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through the strait in peacetime.
Setting conditions for a ceasefire, Trump said it would only occur when the Strait of Hormuz “is open, free, clear.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the strait “is firmly and decisively under the control” of its forces and “will not be opened to the enemies of this nation.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff but said there were no direct negotiations and Iran had “no faith in talks” with the US. He signalled Tehran’s willingness to continue fighting, saying, “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines.”
Trump has faced growing pressure to end the conflict as oil prices have surged, pushing up costs for gasoline, food and other goods. Brent crude has risen more than 40 percent since the war began, trading above $103 a barrel.
The Israel Defence Forces said the Israeli Air Force had dropped more than 16,000 bombs in Iran since the start of the war, in over 800 waves of strikes targeting air-defence systems, ballistic-missile launchers, weapons production sites, nuclear facilities, headquarters and military commanders.
Iran continued attacks in the Persian Gulf, with a cruise missile striking an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast and other Gulf states also coming under attack.
The US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at securing a ceasefire, including reopening the strait and rolling back elements of Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful and, in a five-point response, insists on retaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
