Hostilities flare again in Iran war, talks at a stalemate

Tehran is seeking access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, a lifting of a US blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that the US would agree to sanctions relief only if Iran agrees to give up its nuclear activity.

Rubio declared, “The war is over,” during a sharp exchange with Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who disagreed.

ISRAEL KEEPS UP STRIKES IN LEBANON

The war that began on Feb 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. It ​has caused ​global pain ⁠by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas.

It also triggered the latest round of conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.

On Tuesday, Israel kept up strikes on a string of towns in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said, despite a US-mediated partial ceasefire announced on Monday.

The announcement failed to reassure many Lebanese, 1.2 million of whom have been displaced, and an Israeli drone over Beirut kept residents on edge on Tuesday.

“Every time we return to our homes, there is a warning for us to be displaced again,” said Faten Al Chehime, who fled to a displacement camp from her home in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, only two weeks after returning there.

At sea, the world’s largest shipping group MSC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two projectiles while in Iraq’s Umm Qasr port the previous day.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they carried out the attack in retaliation for a US attack on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

The wide-reaching impact of the crisis was laid bare by UN children’s agency UNICEF, which said surging transport costs and supply chain disruptions were hindering life-saving aid for Gaza, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere.