By Vaughn Cockayne (The Washington Times)
Iran signaled on Tuesday that it has no interest in entering formal peace negotiations with Washington, as the war settles into an uneasy phase with infrequent attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Mohsen Rezaei, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on social media that recent developments in the war have strengthened Tehran’s hand and that President Trump is attempting to spin a bad situation.
“Don’t get distracted by the U.S. president’s mixed signals — from ’no negotiations’ to ’we’re ready to talk.’ The stakes around oil and the straits have changed. Damage control won’t stop what’s coming,” he wrote on X. “No talks until Iran’s conditions are met. Period!”
Mr. Trump indicated on Monday that he was open to restarting talks with Iran after diplomatic efforts devolved into renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
Iranian officials, including Mr. Rezaei, have for weeks demanded that the U.S. return to the terms outlined in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which instituted a ceasefire and removed the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a blockade Mr. Trump reimposed after talks broke down earlier this year.
Without a return to the terms of the agreement, Iranian officials say, there can be no direct peace talks.
The U.S., for its part, has refused to pull back its naval blockade of Iran’s ports as it continues down a path of financial strangulation under Operation Economic Outcast. The effort also includes a slew of new secondary sanctions on international financial organizations with ties to Iran.
The stall in diplomacy coincides with infrequent fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian forces targeting commercial ships and U.S. Central Command striking Iranian small boats.
On Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, suffering extreme damage. IRGC Naval Command said that the ship had been warned about traversing the strait illegally.
CENTCOM rejected the IRGC’s assertion in a social media post just hours later, writing that Iranian forces had hit the vessel with a ballistic missile last month and again over the weekend as it waited in Omani waters.
Separately, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps allegedly shot down an advanced MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Iran has asserted its forces have shot down hundreds of expensive MQ-1 and MQ-9 type drones since the war began.
In a Pentagon report released Monday, the Office of Inspector General found that at least 30 MQ-9 Reapers have been destroyed during the war.
Fighting over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, has forced global oil prices to rise dramatically over the past month.
Brent crude, the international standard for crude oil, retained most of its gains overnight on Tuesday, sitting at about $109 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon. That’s more than a 20% increase from the same time last week and nearly 60% higher than last September.
The current U.S. national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline stayed high as well on Tuesday, standing at approximately $4.33.
Also contributing to higher energy prices is the escalating Yemeni war, which has impacted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and oil production in Saudi Arabia.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on four of its enclaves in Yemen, after the Iran-backed militia attacked three cities in the kingdom.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi forces launched 54 airstrikes on Lahj, Taiz, al-Jawf and Hajjah, all located in the southwestern or northwestern parts of Yemen.
Strikes also reportedly hit Marib, a city located east of Yemen’s capital, Aden.
Houthi-affiliated media reported that the airstrikes killed at least three children and injured two others in the Taiz province.
Earlier on Tuesday, Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen accused the Houthis of launching drone and missile attacks on provinces in the southwestern part of the kingdom.
The strikes, which reportedly hit Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif provinces, resulted in minor injuries and damaged several homes and vehicles.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for coalition forces in Yemen, promised that government forces would respond “firmly” to the attacks.
The Houthis have not publicly accepted responsibility for the alleged attacks on Tuesday.
However, the Houthis did claim responsibility for a massive attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait on Monday. Houthi officials said the attack, which included dozens of drones and missiles, targeted runways, hangars, radar systems and ammunition depots.
That attack was in response to what the Houthis have called an expansive air campaign against rebel forces in Yemen, with Saudi Arabia allegedly carrying out more than 300 airstrikes in the last week.
Despite the increased military pressure from Saudi-aligned forces in Yemen, the Houthis have seemed to increase appear to have expanded their gains in the country over the past week.
On Friday, the Iran-backed group stormed across the country’s southwestern coastline and seized several key islands and coastal towns, solidifying their control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia has increasingly used the waterway to export oil after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in March.
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
