Iran-US war live: Trump ‘considering military action’ after rejecting Iran’s proposal – The Independent
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A ceasefire was set up for peace talks between Iran and the US – but with Trump rejecting Iran’s response on Sunday there are fears fighting could resume
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Donald Trump is considering resuming attacks on Iran after negotiations between the countries appear to have hit a deadlock, CNN has reported.
The US president has grown increasingly frustrated with the Iranians during peace talks, sources told the outlet. Earlier in the day, he warned that a US-Iran ceasefire is now “on life support”.
He said that the agreement is now “unbelievably weak”, adding that it’s “the weakest right now after reading a piece of garbage they sent us”.
Trump “didn’t even finish reading” Tehran’s latest proposal, he said. “Am I going to waste my time reading it? I would say it’s one of the weakest right now. It’s on life support … I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support.”
Iran hit back earlier after previous comments by Trump, calling their suggestions “totally unacceptable”.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran’s proposals had been “generous” and “legitimate” in a news conference on Monday.
Iran is “demanding an end to the war, lifting the (US) blockade and piracy, and releasing Iranian assets that have been unjustly frozen in banks due to US pressure,” Baghaei said.
Pakistan plans to increase oil imports from Russia amid the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, citing Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi.
The Trump administration has announced sanctions against three people and nine companies, including four based in Hong Kong and four in the United Arab Emirates, for aiding Iran’s shipment of oil to China. The ninth company is based in Oman.
The US Treasury move follows sanctions announced on Friday on individuals and companies aiding Iranian purchases of weapons and components used to make drones and ballistic missiles.
It comes days before US president Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Xi Jinping, where he is expected to press the Chinese leader to help resolve the standoff with Iran and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Treasury said the new designations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control were aimed at individuals and entities that helped Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sell and ship its allotment of Iranian oil to China using a series of front companies.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would keep using sanctions to deprive the Iranian government and military of funding for weapons, its nuclear program or support for proxies in the region.
“Treasury will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilize the global economy,” Bessent said.
As night fell over Europe and the Middle East, US president Donald Trump was still speaking about Iran’s proposals to end the war that began more than two months ago.
Tehran’s response to a US proposal for a peace deal threatened the status of a ceasefire that began on 7 April, Trump said.
“I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to end the ceasefire, told reporters.
The US had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
The US also imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies on Monday that it said were helping Iran ship oil to China, part of efforts to cut off funding for Tehran’s military and nuclear programs, while also warning banks about attempts to evade existing curbs.
And oil prices rose again, with Brent crude oil climbing above $104.50 a barrel, as the deadlock left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed.
We’ve just heard from Ebrahim Rezaei, Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson, on X.
He says Iran could enrich uranium up to 90 per cent purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if the country is attacked once more.
“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted.
The threat comes amid fears growing fears that a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran could collapse.
Donald Trump is more seriously considering a resumption of major combat operations in Iran, CNN reported citing sources.
The US president has grown increasingly frustrated with how the Iranians are handling negotiations to end the war, the report said.
Yesterday, Trump said the fragile ceasefire with Iran was on “massive life support” after negotiations hit a deadlock.
He told reporters that the agreement is now “unbelievably weak”, adding that it’s “the weakest right now after reading a piece of garbage they sent us”.
French defence minister Catherine Vautrin and her British counterpart John Healey will co-chair a multinational meeting on military plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The coalition partners are expected to outline the military contributions they can make to the defensive mission to safeguard the strait in the future.
The UK has already announced the deployment of HMS Dragon to the region so the destroyer can play a role in the multinational mission, should the conditions allow.
Iran has executed a member of the Sunni militant group Ansar al-Furqan active in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
The defendant, named Abdoljalil Shahbakhsh, was convicted on charges including armed rebellion against security forces and membership in a terrorist group, with the death sentence upheld by the supreme court.
Iran says it has deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz amid a series of rejected peace deals between Tehran and the US.
The Islamic Republic has at least 16 of the Ghadir-class midget submarines, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Each has a crew of fewer than 10 people and can carry either two torpedoes or two Chinese-designed C-704 anti-ship cruise missiles.
But they are noisy compared with most modern submarines, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Their crews also have limited experience and the vessels are known to have maintenance issues, the person said.
Iran has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is transported, since the US and Israel first attacked on 28 February.
Its decision to deploy the mini submarines, reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, came as US president Donald Trump told Fox News he was considering a revival of a plan to use the US military to escort ships.
Israel’s parliament passed a law last night establishing a military tribunal to try hundreds of Palestinian militants who took part in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, a step lawmakers said would help heal national trauma.
At least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a surprise attack by Hamas on 7 October.
Israel responded by launching an assault on Gaza that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and displaced millions of people.
Israel has been holding an estimated 200-300 fighters – the precise number is classified – captured in Israel during the attack, who have not yet been charged.
The special military court established by the law, to be presided over by a three-judge panel in Jerusalem, could also try others captured later in Gaza and suspected of participating in the attack, or of having held or abused Israeli hostages.
The new law was backed by a wide majority of 93 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers, in a rare show of Israeli political unity.
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