Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East, issuing its own counterproposal instead, as it launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries.
Two officials from Pakistan described the 15-point U.S. proposal broadly, saying it addressed sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, limits on missiles and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is normally shipped.
Iran issued its own plan via state TV, which includes a halt to killings of its officials, means to make sure no other war is waged against it, reparations for the war, the end of hostilities and Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
“No negotiations have happened with the enemy until now, and we do not plan on any negotiations,” Iran’s foreign minister later told state TV.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, 16 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Heavy strikes reported around Isfahan
Activists in Iran reported heavy strikes early Thursday morning around Isfahan, a city some 330 kilometers (205 miles) south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
The pro-reform newspaper Ham Mihan reported online about strikes in the area.
Isfahan is home to a major Iranian air base and other military sites, as well as one of the nuclear sites bombed by the United States during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.
The semiofficial Fars news agency, close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, described the attacks as targeting “two residential areas,” without elaborating.
Earlier, Israel’s military said it had completed “a wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran, including in Isfahan.
US hits over 10,000 targets in Iran war, including two-thirds of Iranian munition plants
U.S. forces have hit more than 10,000 targets so far in the Iran war, the head of the American military’s Central Command said.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper made the comments in a video released early Thursday by Central Command.
“If you combine what we’ve accomplished with the success of our Israeli ally, together, we have struck thousands more,” Cooper said. “Our precision strikes have overwhelmed Iranian air defenses and our combat flights are having tangible effects.”
Cooper added that the U.S. has destroyed 92% of “the Iranian navy’s largest vessels.”
“They’ve now lost the ability to meaningly project naval power and influence around the region and around the world,” Cooper said.
Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through drone and missile attacks on shipping, however.
Cooper also said the U.S. has struck over two-thirds of Iran’s munitions plants.
“Today, we have damaged or destroyed over two-thirds of Iran’s missile, drone and naval production facilities and shipyards — and we’re not done yet,” he said. “We are on a path to completely eliminate Iran’s wider military manufacturing apparatus.”
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press, though delayed by two weeks by Planet Labs PBC, have shown Israeli and U.S. strikes targeting shipyards and missile facilities.
Iran has not acknowledged any of its materiel losses through the war.
German Defense Minister says Iran war is a ‘catastrophe’ for world economies
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius described the Iran war as an economic “catastrophe” and said Germany did not want to get “sucked into” the conflict.
Pistorius said on Thursday Germany was ready to help secure any peace once that was achieved and appealed for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
“To make it crystal clear, this war is a catastrophe for the world’s economies,” Pistorius told reporters at the Australian Parliament House.
“From the beginning on, we have not been consulted before. Nobody asked us before. It’s not our war and therefore we don’t want to get sucked into that war,” Pistorius added.
Pistorius addressed the media in the national capital Canberra following a meeting with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles.
Bahrain reports fire in a Manama neighborhood home to airport
Bahrain reported extinguishing a fire at a site in Muharraq, a neighborhood of Manama home to Bahrain International Airport.
Trump insists Iran is still negotiating
Speaking at a fundraiser for Republicans in Washington, D.C., Trump said Iran is still interested in cutting 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 of Iran’s leaders.
The president added: “They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us,” before quipping that no one wanted to lead Iran for fear of being assassinated by the United States.
Trump’s potential troop deployment is getting pushback on Capitol Hill
At least one Republican lawmaker is making it clear she does not support putting U.S. service members on the ground in Iran following a closed-door briefing with lawmakers overseeing the military.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina posted on social media that she would “not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing.”
While few other Republicans have taken that stance, the GOP chairs of the committees overseeing the military expressed some frustration that they are not receiving enough information about plans as the war enters a potential escalation.
“I am more fearful than ever that we’re on a path to put troops on the ground in Iran,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, adding that “None of the president’s objectives can be accomplished without a physical presence there.”
Iran’s foreign minister says his government does not plan any negotiations to end the war
In an interview with Iranian state TV late Wednesday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said that no talks with the United States have taken place.
“No negotiations have happened with the enemy until now, and we do not plan on any negotiations,” he said.
Attacks by both Iran and its allied groups must stop, Arab countries say
While most of their previous statements focused primarily on drone and missile fire from Iran, Wednesday’s statement by five Gulf nations and Jordan also condemned Iranian attacks “whether carried out directly or through their proxies and armed factions they support in the region.”
In a joint statement, they also urged Iraq to stop militias from launching attacks from its territory and reaffirmed their right to self-defense. The Gulf countries on the statement were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
UN chief says a new envoy will be on the ground promoting mediation to end Iran war
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said his personal envoy, veteran French diplomat Jean Arnault, will lead “U.N. efforts on the conflict and its consequences.”
More than three weeks after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran, the secretary-general said, “the war is out of control.”
“My message is that diplomacy must prevail,” Guterres said. “And diplomacy requires sincere dialogue.”
He said Arnault will be doing on the ground what he has been trying to do from New York — supporting all efforts for mediation and peace.
Arnault will be in contact with all the parties and will be looking at the war’s impact on civilians in the region and beyond, Guterres said, including the economic turmoil, especially in less developed countries.
Jordan suspends residency of Iranian diplomat and denies accreditation of another
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi told the state-owned Al-Mamlaka TV Wednesday that this measure is a clear message to Iran that their attacks against neighboring states are rejected.
Several countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, have declared Iranian diplomats persona non grata following Tehran’s attacks against their countries.
Al-Safadi said Iran has launched dozens of missiles and drones toward Jordan during the war. He insisted Jordan does not host foreign military bases, a rationale Iran has repeatedly used to justify attacks against neighboring states, although Jordan does host what the minister described as forces “of allied and friendly nations with whom we cooperate on defense and training.”
White House maintains silence on who the US is negotiating with in Iran
But Leavitt declined to identify which Iranian or Iranians the administration is negotiating with. The press secretary also declined to comment on a 15-point ceasefire plan put forward by the United States that was rejected by Iran.
She cautioned White House reporters about “reporting about speculative points or speculative plans from anonymous sources.”
“The White House never confirmed that full plan,” Leavitt said, adding that “there are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories I read were not entirely factual.”
Egypt’s top diplomat stresses the need for US-Iran talks soon
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the Iranians and Americans have their own views but Egypt believes those “differences are bridgeable” as Cairo keeps up contact with the warring parties.
During a news briefing on Wednesday, Abdelatty said Egypt hopes negotiations can resume soon as “this could be the last opportunity to de-escalate and avoid a full-fledged escalation in the region.”
After an attack on its main airport, Kuwait summons Iran’s ambassador
Kuwait’s acting Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz al-Daihani handed a protest note Wednesday to Iran’s ambassador in light of what he said were recurrent attacks against the Gulf country.
Hour earlier, an Iranian drone struck a fuel tank at Kuwait’s international airport, sparking a blaze that fire crews are still trying to contain, according to the country’s Defense Ministry.
This was the third time Kuwait summoned the Iranian ambassador since the war started. Al-Daihani reiterated his country’s condemnation of the Iranian attacks, and called for their immediate halt.
Kuwait has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War and hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. Army in the Middle East.
Pakistan’s Sharif condemns attacks on Qatar and praises the Gulf nation’s restraint in a call with its ruler
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday and briefed him on Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach and ongoing peace efforts, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
He emphasized that Pakistan has consistently called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and resolve differences through dialogue and diplomacy.
After Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars natural gas field last week, Iran hit Qatar’s massive natural gas export facility, which Qatargas said caused “extensive” damage that will take years to repair.
‘This has gone too far’: UN chief calls for US and Israel to end war against Iran
In a strong statement Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres blasted the various factions of the ongoing Middle East conflict, saying the fighting “has broken past limits even leaders thought imaginable.”
He specifically called on the U.S. and Israel, whose joint strikes last month started the war against Iran, to end the fighting as “human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount, and the global economic impact is increasingly devastating.”
Guterres added, “My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbors.”
He also announced the appointment of a personal envoy to the lead the world body’s efforts on the conflict and the recent peace efforts that are underway.
