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DUBAI – Tensions between Iran and the United States escalated on Thursday, as diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict appeared to be losing momentum. Iran has moved to solidify its control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. is preparing to deploy combat forces to the region, potentially for operations within Iran.
Iran has initiated what experts describe as a “de facto toll booth” system at the Strait of Hormuz, with some vessels reportedly paying in Chinese yuan to navigate this critical maritime passage. This strait is vital as it channels 20% of the world’s traded oil and natural gas during times of peace.
Concurrently, the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, is advancing towards the Middle East, accompanied by approximately 2,500 Marines. Furthermore, around 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been dispatched to the area.
Despite these military preparations, it remains uncertain if U.S. President Donald Trump will order the use of force to ensure Iran reopens the strait and ceases its aggressive actions against Gulf Arab states.
Previously, Trump demonstrated a show of force in the Caribbean, leading to the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. In the current scenario, the U.S. is reportedly considering the possibility of targeting Iran’s oil terminal on Kharg Island or other strategic locations near the strait.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who commands the American military in the region, said his forces have hit more than 10,000 targets since Israel and the U.S. started the war Feb. 28, destroying 92% of Iran’s largest ships and more than two-thirds of the country’s missile, drone and naval production facilities.
“We’re not done yet,” said Cooper, who heads the U.S. Central Command, in a video message. “We are on a path to completely eliminate Iran’s wider military apparatus.”
Iran seen as operating Strait of Hormuz as ‘de facto toll booth’
With its stranglehold on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf toward the open ocean, Iran has been blocking ships it perceives as linked to the U.S. and Israeli war effort, but letting through a trickle of others.
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi as saying that parliament was working to formalize the process of charging fees to let ships pass.
“We provide its security, and it is natural that ships and oil tankers should pay such fees,” he was quoted as saying.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence called it a “de facto ‘toll booth’ regime.”
The shipping intelligence firm said vessels have to provide manifests, crew details and their destination to Iran’s Guard for sanctions screening, cargo alignment checks that currently prioritizes oil over all other commodities, and for what is described as ‘geopolitical vetting.’”
“While not all ships are paying a direct toll, at least two vessels have and the payment is settled in yuan,” Lloyd’s List said, referring to China’s currency.
Iran’s grip on the strait and relentless attacks on Gulf regional energy infrastructure has sent oil prices skyrocketing and concerns of a global energy crisis surging. Brent crude, the international standard, traded at US$104 early Thursday, up more than 40% from the day the war started.
“To make it crystal clear, this war is a catastrophe for world’s economies,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters during a vist to Australia.
US maintains negotiations are ongoing but Iran says there are no talks
Using Pakistan as an intermediary, Washington has delivered to Iran a 15-point ceasefire proposal, which includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, speaking at a fundraiser Wednesday night in Washington, insisted that Iran still wants to cut a deal.
“They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” Trump said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on state TV, however, that his government has not engaged in talks to end the war, “and we do not plan on any negotiations.”
Araghchi said the U.S. had tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, “but that is not a conversation nor a negotiation.”
Press TV, the English-language broadcaster on Iranian state television, said Iran has its own five-point proposal, which includes “sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”
A wave of Israeli airstrikes hits as Iran fires on Gulf neighbors
Israel said it carried out a wave of attacks early on Thursday targeting Iranian infrastructure, and air defenses were heard in Tehran, while heavy strikes were also reported around Isfahan, a city some 330 kilometers (205 miles) south of the Iranian capital.
Ifahan is home to a major Iranian air base and other military sites, as well as one of the nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.
Sirens sounded very early on Thursday morning in parts of Tel Aviv and cities in central Israel. Rescue workers said two people were injured in a blast in Kfar Qasim.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted multiple drones over its oil-rich Eastern Province, the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses also worked to intercept incoming fire, and Bahrain reported extinguishing a blaze in a neighborhood that is home to the Bahrain International Airport.
Since the war began, more than 1,500 people have been killed in Iran, its Health Ministry says. Twenty people have been killed in Israel; two Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have also died.
Nearly 1,100 people have died in Lebanon, authorities said. In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militant groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed.
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Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Florida, contributed to this report.
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