The Associated Press
Donald Trump is about to give the American people an update on the war in Iran as the US president and his administration flag that hostilities between the two countries could soon be over.
Trump will deliver a prime-time address on Wednesday at 9pm, Washington time (12pm Thursday AEDT), after saying earlier that the war in Iran would end in the coming weeks, with the US having largely completed its military goals.
The US president on Tuesday (US time) also said he wanted countries that rely on the Strait of Hormuz for their energy needs should take responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open.
He said the US “will not have anything to do with” what happens next in the strait that has been closed by the Islamic Republic. Gulf states rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply flows through it.
Trump also expressed frustration with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the US war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil.” Trump recently has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war.
US gas prices has jumped past an average of $US4 a gallon ($1.53 a litre) for the first time since 2022, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide.
The US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, which includes a demand for the strait to be reopened. Iran’s own five-point response includes it retaining sovereignty over the waterway.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has acknowledged receiving direct messages from US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. However, he insisted the messages didn’t constitute negotiations.
Donald Trump has repeatedly described Iran and America has having talks over the war, while Pakistan has been a key intermediary along with Egypt and Turkey during the conflict.
“I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” Araghchi said in an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera.
While the diplomatic tussle bubbles away, the US has continued to expand its military presence in the region. Thousands of Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the region in possible preparation for an assault on Kharg Island.
Hostilities in the region continue to mount, with more than 3000 lives already lost. On Wednesday, a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit with a projectile, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. The crew was reportedly unharmed. A fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
Meanwhile, Bahrain sounded two alerts for incoming missiles, and said an Iranian attack had caused a fire at a business facility. In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone had hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “large fire” that crews were working to control.
Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, which has come under repeated Iranian attack, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel, though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Israel on Wednesday sounded warnings of incoming fire from both Yemen and Iran, while launching its own attacks in Lebanon that killed at least five people. The strike in Lebanon came without warning, and Israel did not declare the target.
Israel also struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.
Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.
Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions. The US previously pointed to Iranian academic research studying how Russia probably used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 Moscow theatre hostage seizure by Chechen militants.
Israel alleged Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The US alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.
With Bloomberg and staff reporter
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