Iran military official says renewed war with US ‘likely’

Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran that “the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach”.

Iran, he said, was “prepared for both paths”.

“LIKE PIRATES”

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Friday that his country had “never shied away from negotiations”, but added it would not accept an “imposition” of peace terms.

The White House has declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments putting Tehran’s nuclear programme back on the negotiating table.

Iran’s mission to the UN pointed to the United States’ massive nuclear arsenal, accusing it on Saturday of “hypocritical behaviour” towards Iran’s own atomic programme.

It went on to insist there was no legal “restriction on the level of uranium enrichment, so long as it is conducted under the IAEA’s supervision, as was the case with Iran”.

News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five per cent, though they remain about 50 percent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Speaking at a rally on Friday, Trump said “we’re like pirates” as he described an earlier helicopter raid on an oil tanker under the blockade.

The vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, said Iran would not “relinquish our rights in the Strait of Hormuz, and the movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz will not be the same as before”.

Ali Nikzad added that under legislation before parliament for managing the waterway, 30 percent of tolls collected would go towards military infrastructure, with the rest earmarked for “economic development”. 

“Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons,” he said.

Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting has continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separate truce with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanese state media reported a fresh series of strikes in the south on Saturday, while Hezbollah claimed new attacks targeting Israeli troops.