Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The USS New Orleans enforcing a maritime blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas on April 28.
PHOTO: AFP
- US disabled Iranian tankers in Gulf of Oman on May 8, enforcing a blockade and prompting retaliation, straining a shaky truce.
- The US deems Iranian control of the vital Strait of Hormuz unacceptable, awaiting Iran's response to its truce extension proposal.
- In Lebanon, Hezbollah retaliated with missiles against Israel on May 8 after attacks killed a commander, further jeopardising a ceasefire.
AI generated
TEHRAN – Iran questioned the seriousness of American diplomacy on May 9 in the wake of renewed naval clashes in the Gulf, while keeping Washington waiting for a response to its latest negotiating position.
US President Donald Trump had said on May 8 that he was expecting Iran’s response to Washington’s latest proposal on a deal to extend a fragile truce and launch peace talks – “supposedly tonight”.
But if Iran did send the talks’ Pakistani mediators a response, there was no public sign of this, and Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called into question the reliability of the US leadership in a call with his Turkish counterpart.
“The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” Mr Araghchi said, according to an Iranian account of the call published by the ISNA news agency.
In an incident on May 9, a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of challenging its naval blockade of Iran’s ports.
An Iranian military official told the local media that the country’s navy had “responded to the violation of the ceasefire and to American terrorism with strikes”, and “the clashes have now ceased”.
The latest incident came after another flare-up overnight on May 7 and 8 in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international sea lane that Iran is seeking to control to extract tolls from foreign vessels and to wield economic leverage over the US and its allies.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on May 8 that it was “unacceptable” for Tehran to control the key oil route.
Washington has sent Iran, via Pakistani mediators, a proposal to extend the truce in the Gulf to allow talks on a final settlement of the conflict launched 10 weeks ago with a US-Israeli strike on Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqhaei on May 8 said the proposal was still “under review”, according to ISNA.
Oil slick
Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met US Vice-President J.D. Vance in Washington on May 8 and discussed the Pakistani-led efforts to broker a permanent peace.
Iran has attacked sites in Qatar during the war, pointing to the wealthy emirate’s role as host of a major US airbase.
Meanwhile, satellite images have shown that an oil slick is spreading off the coast of Iran’s Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal for the Islamic republic.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the apparent spill, which was located off the island’s west coast and appeared to cover more than 52 sq km, according to global monitor Orbital EOS.
A Britain-based non-governmental organisation, the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told AFP that by May 9, the slick was “much reduced”, and may have been caused by leaking oil infrastructure.
Kharg Island is at the heart of Iran’s oil export industry, a linchpin of the country’s battered economy, and lies in the Gulf, north of the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
Following the start of the war on Feb 28, Iran largely closed the strait, throwing global markets into turmoil and driving up oil prices. The US later imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports in response.
On May 3, Mr Trump announced a US naval operation designed to reopen the strait to commercial shipping, only to abandon it on May 5 in favour of a return to negotiations.
Saudi sources told AFP on May 8 that the kingdom had refused permission for the US military to use its bases and airspace for the Hormuz operation, with one saying Riyadh “felt it would just escalate the situation and would not work”.
Lebanon front
A parallel ceasefire in Lebanon is also under strain.
Lebanese state media reported three strikes south of Beirut on May 9 despite a three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
An AFP correspondent saw two stricken cars and emergency workers in attendance on a highway that links Beirut with the country’s south, 20km from the capital.
The strikes come as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, are to hold direct negotiations, which Hezbollah vehemently opposes, in Washington next week. AFP
