Despite the declaration, Iran and Israel return to exchange bombings this Monday (20) as the conflict maintains tension in global markets
Iran and Israel announced bombings again this Monday (30)despite the statement by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that would be close to an agreement to end the conflict.
Trump’s statement was a attempt to calm markets, nervous about the lack of prospects for an end to the conflicto, which left thousands dead and caused an economic crisis, with oil prices above 100 dollars.
The Israeli Army announced on Monday morning that its forces are “currently attacking Iranian terror regime military infrastructures throughout Tehran.”
At the same time, the country’s Army reported that there was missiles launched from Iran detected and that its “defense systems are operating to intercept the threat.”
Despite the persistence of the conflict, with attacks across the Gulf region, Trump insisted that he is close to an agreement with Iran.
“I believe we will reach an agreement with them, I am quite sure (…) but we have already had a regime change,” Trump declared to journalists aboard Air Force One, highlighting the number of Iranian leaders killed in the war.
“We’re dealing with people unlike anyone you’ve ever dealt with before. It’s a totally different group of people. So I would consider this a regime change,” Trump said.
It was not clear who Trump was referring to. On the first day of the war, on February 28, the Bombings by Israel and the United States killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The American president also stated that Iran will allow 20 oil tankers to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial point through which 20% of world oil production passes. Iran has kept the strait blocked since the start of the conflict.
A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, a reference in the American market, rose 3.23%, to 102.86 dollars, in Asian market negotiations, while Brent from the North Sea, a reference in the world market, rose 2.95%, to 115.89 dollars.
“People wake up every day worried about an uncertain future,” Farzaneh, a 62-year-old Iranian from the city of Ahvaz, told AFP. And all this while “no one really wants war”, he lamented.
American troops in Iran?
Speculation about the possible deployment of American troops to Iranian territory is intense. President Donald Trump maintains some ambiguity regarding this possibility.
According to the Washington Post, which cites US government sources who requested anonymity, the Pentagon is preparing to carry out ground operations lasting several weeks that would not be a large-scale invasion, but special forces incursions into Iranian territory.
On Friday, the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, had ruled out this possibility, insisting that the “objectives” of the war in Iran can be achieved without sending ground troops.
An American amphibious attack ship, leading a group of 3,500 sailors and members of the Marine Corps, arrived in the region on Friday.
“Publicly, the enemy sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while, in secret, planning a ground offensive“, said the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a statement.
“Our men await the arrival of American soldiers on land to attack them and punish their regional allies once and for all,” he warned.
At the same time, diplomatic efforts continue to try to end the war, which began on February 28 with the joint offensive by Israel and the United States against Iran.
Lebanon under fire
The foreign ministers of Türkiye, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been meeting since Sunday in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, to discuss the conflict.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar declared that his country is willing to mediate and host “substantial talks” between the United States and Iran to end the conflictand highlighted growing support for his peace efforts.
However, Iran continues to attack Gulf countries. At the same time, the Israeli army said it launched an attack on an area in Tehran where Iran’s Defense Ministry produces essential components for manufacturing ballistic missiles.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it bombed an industrial complex in southern Israel with ballistic missiles in response “to the attacks by the American-Zionist axis on Iranian industrial centers”.
In Lebanon, Israeli attacks have caused 1,238 deaths since the start of the war on March 2, including 124 children, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered this Sunday that the Army “expand” the security zone in the neighboring country to “neutralize” the threat from the Shiite Islamist movement Hezbollah.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced this Monday the death of one of its soldiers, an Indonesian, after a projectile hit one of its positions in the south of the country.
*AFP
