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In brief
- Iran’s foreign minister has argued that the United States is “inviting rather than deterring trouble” in the region.
- Japan says the threshold for sending ships to the Strait of Hormuz, as Donald Trump has requested, is “extremely high”.
Iran has issued a warning to global powers, advising them to stay out of its conflict with the United States and Israel. This caution follows remarks by US President Donald Trump, who called for international support to safeguard oil tankers navigating the strategically crucial Strait of Hormuz.
In a pointed message directed at its neighboring Arab countries, Iran claimed to possess substantial proof that US military bases in these regions are being utilized to conduct attacks. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addressed the issue, emphasizing that these actions could provoke further instability.
“This conflict will cease only when we can be assured it won’t recur and appropriate reparations are made,” Araghchi stated in an interview with the Arabic-language news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. His comments underscore Iran’s determination to prevent future escalations.
Criticizing the presence of US forces, Araghchi argued that their presence in the region acts as a magnet for trouble rather than a deterrent. He used social media platform X to urge neighboring countries to “expel foreign aggressors,” emphasizing the potential for localized security risks.
Reflecting on past conflicts, Araghchi recalled the events of June last year, when Israel launched a 12-day air assault, briefly involving US forces in retaliatory strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. This historical context serves as a reminder of the complexities surrounding regional security dynamics.
Energy prices have soared across the world since Iran responded to the new US-Israeli campaign by threatening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which usually sees passage of 20 per cent of global oil and gas exports to the global market.
Trump responded by urging “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others” to send ships to escort tankers, while the US military continues to pound drone, boat and missile launch sites in Iran on the north shore.
But the countries he listed have given only guarded responses, and Araghchi, in a call with French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, warned them to “refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict”.
The UK defence ministry was non-committal, saying “we are currently discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region”.
Britain’s minister for energy security, Ed Miliband, told the BBC the “plan now has to be to de-escalate the conflict … We are talking to our allies. There are different ways in which we can make maritime shipping possible”.
South Korea said it was monitoring Trump’s remarks on social media, while the policy chief of Japan’s ruling party, Takayuki Kobayashi, said the bar for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing laws was “extremely high”.
Global oil prices have surged by 40 per cent as Iran has choked off the vital sea passage and attacked energy and shipping industry targets in its Gulf neighbours.
The strikes were in retaliation for the US and Israeli air campaign that killed its supreme leader, triggering a war across the Middle East.
Trump says US may strike Iran’s oil hub again ‘just for fun’
As global markets reel, Trump has doubled down, telling NBC News in a weekend interview that he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that the US was fighting on to force better terms.
He said he might, again, bomb targets on Iran’s oil hub, Kharg Island, “just for fun”.
“Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,” Trump told NBC News.
Araghchi, in a separate interview with the US network CBS’ Face the Nation program, denied that Iran was asking for a deal.
“We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people,” Araghchi said. “We don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us.”
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