Washington, Apr 14 (AP) President Donald Trump said Monday that the US military has begun a blockade of all Iranian ports and coastal areas and Iran responded with threats on ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Trump had vowed earlier to block the Strait of Hormuz entirely.
Trump later suggested he was willing to engage with Iran, saying he had spoken to “the other side.” This came after he warned on social media that Iranian warships coming “anywhere close” to the US blockade would be destroyed.
Ceasefire talks between the US and Iran ended Sunday without an agreement, raising questions about what happens when the current two-week truce expires on April 22. The Israeli military, meanwhile, pushed ahead with its offensive in southern Lebanon, engaging in fierce fighting with Hezbollah militants over a strategic town, while the group fires rockets and drones at northern Israel.
Here is the latest:
Vance says Iranians made some progress' in talks on nuclear issues
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Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with FOX News Channel's “Special Report” that negotiations “did make some progress” in the Islamabad talks on the US insistence on the removal of nuclear material from Iran as well as a mechanism to ensure uranium cannot be enriched in the future.
“They moved in our direction,” Vance said in the interview. He said he thought Iranian negotiators were “unable to cut a deal” and needed to get approval from others in Tehran.
Vance also said that US negotiators made clear that Trump “would be very happy if Iran was treated like a normal country, if it had a normal economy,” but he did not go into details about what he meant.
“There really is, I think, a grand deal to be had here. But, it's up to the Iranians, I think, to take the next step,” Vance said.
The White House won't say if talks are in the works
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The White House was not responsive to queries about whether new talks were being weighed.
“President Trump, Vice President Vance and the negotiating team have made the US red lines very clear. The Iranians desperation for a deal will only increase with President Trump's highly effective Naval blockade now in effect,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
US and Iran could be headed toward a second round of talks, AP sources say
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The sides are weighing new in-person negotiations in a bid to reach a deal aimed at ending their six-week war before the ceasefire expires next week, two US officials and person familiar with the development said.
The three said discussions were still underway about a new round of talks, while a diplomat from one of the mediating countries went further to say Tehran and Washington have agreed to it.
All four spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations.
It's unclear if the same level of delegation would be expected to attend, the diplomat and US officials said.
The diplomat and US officials said Islamabad, Pakistan, was once again being discussed as the host location. The US officials also said Geneva was a possibility, and that while the venue and timing had not been decided, the talks could happen Thursday.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Trump told reporters earlier Monday that “we've been called by the other side” and “they want to work a deal.”
Official says Iran is seeking compensation from 5 Middle East countries
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Iran's representative to the United Nations has demanded compensation from countries it says participated in the US and Israeli war effort against Iran.
Iran's state media report the nations include Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Iran's official news agency, IRNA, said that the UN representative, Amir-Saeid Iravani, claimed the countries had violated international law and had to “make full compensation for the damages caused to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including payment of compensation for all material and moral damages resulting from their international violations.”
Global financial organisations warn of oil shock
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The directors of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency said Monday that the war's damage to energy facilities could keep fuel and fertilizer prices high for “a prolonged period.”
Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said the disruptions to oil supplies from the conflict is “the greatest energy security challenge in history.” One-third of the 80 Mideast energy facilities his agency is monitoring have been damaged.
Birol spoke at IMF headquarters after meeting with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, and Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank.
Birol warned that April could be worse than March for the world economy because many fuel shipments from before the war were still arriving in ports last month.
US oil prices were USD 98 a barrel in afternoon trading, after topping USD 100 earlier Monday.
US military has 16 warships in the Middle East
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But military officials have offered few details about how a blockade of Iranian ports would actually work.
Aside from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the US Navy has 11 destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, and a littoral combat ship, all in the waters of the Middle East, a defence official said.
A second defence official says no U.S. warships are in the Persian Gulf — the body of water that forms most of Iran's coastline.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Trump said the blockade had taken effect Monday.
The second defence official pointed to a notice to mariners as a more accurate representation of the military's plans. It says access to Iranian ports is being restricted, but how these measures “will be applied in practice ... are in development.”
Oil prices ease back from their morning spurts as US stocks rally on a still-hopeful Wall Street
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The S&P 500 rallied 1% Monday and is back to within 1.3% of its record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.2%.
Even in the oil market, where prices jumped above $100 per barrel after ceasefire talks failed to end the war, prices pared their leaps as Monday progressed. The moves for financial markets overall were much more modest than the extreme swings that have hit since the war began in late February.
Netanyahu focuses on Iran in Holocaust speech
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The Israeli leader says the war against Iran was a powerful contrast to the Holocaust.
In an address marking Israel's annual Holocaust memorial day, Netanyahu said that while Jews were like an “abused animal crying in agony” at the hands of the Nazis, the modern state of Israel fights back against its enemies.
He then listed several Iranian nuclear sites alongside Nazi death camps.
“Had we not acted, the names Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Parchin might have been remembered eternally in infamy, just like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Sobibor,” he said.
Netanyahu often uses the annual address to lash out at Iran. (AP) SKY
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