The belief that it will eventually be forced to sign an agreement with the United States to end the war was expressed by . Speaking to NBC News and the “Meet the Press” show, the US president called her “strong” and “proud”.
“They will be forced to do things they never imagined. They have no choice, it just takes time.”Trump said during his interview.
This position comes at a time when diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran continue, with the war conflict between them having already completed four months.
Although both sides have agreed to a temporary truce since last April – which has actually been renewed several times – the climate remains flammable. The balances have been severely tested in the last twenty-four hours, after the exchange of military blows.
Iranian strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain
In a parallel development, Iran today launched attacks against targets in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to earlier US strikes, a move that violates the existing ceasefire. This new escalation further complicates the peace negotiations, which have found themselves in a quagmire, with the issue of “frozen” Iranian funds as the main thorn.
After the April 8 ceasefire agreement, hostilities between the US and Iran had shown a marked decline. However, the war has recently flared up, centered on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea passage for transporting oil, which Tehran has blocked.
The new exchange of fire coincides with the arrival of Iran’s national soccer team in Mexico, where it will be based ahead of the World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Although the Iranian internationals received the necessary visas for the United States, Tehran complained of “discriminatory treatment” as corresponding visas were not granted to members of the team’s technical and support staff.
“Deafening explosions” in the Gulf region
On the operational front, Kuwait and Bahrain, which were also targeted earlier in the week, strongly condemned Iranian attacks on their soil, calling them “blatant attacks” and a “dangerous escalation”.
Overnight, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced that they had fired ballistic missiles in retaliation for US operations. The targets of the Iranian missiles were the Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, where US fighter jets are stationed, as well as the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
“We woke up to deafening noises. My children were terrified and it was impossible to calm them down,” Reem, an Egyptian resident of Kuwait, told AFP.
According to the US Central Command for the Middle East (Centcom), US air defense systems intercepted six missiles, while a seventh missed.
At the same time, the US military detected Iranian drones heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, posing an “imminent threat” to international shipping. Earlier, US forces had hit Iranian coastal surveillance radars in the city of Goruk and the island of Qeshm, an action which Tehran described as a “flagrant violation of the ceasefire”.
Diplomatic impasse against the backdrop of billions and Lebanon
On the diplomatic front, talks between Washington and Tehran are being held in the utmost secrecy, with no evidence of any real progress emerging.
However, Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, admitted in an interview with CNN that the negotiations have reached an “impasse”. Rezaei called on Donald Trump to take the initiative to break the impasse by releasing Iranian funds that remain “frozen” abroad due to US sanctions.
“If the American president really wants a deal, this $24 billion is a critical test of confidence. This is our money, not the United States’, clarified the Iranian official.
. Tehran makes it an inviolable condition that any bilateral agreement includes an end to the conflicts on Lebanese soil between Israel and Hezbollah. Instead, Washington insists on completely separating the two issues.
As part of mediation efforts, Lebanon’s army chief left today for Pakistan, which plays a central role as a mediator between the US and Iran. “Lebanon is an integral part of this negotiation,” commented a source with knowledge of the proceedings.
At the same time, the Pakistani interior minister, Mohsen Naqvi, went to Tehran for critical contacts with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.
Fierce conflicts and politics against Lebanon
In Lebanon’s war zone, the ceasefire agreed on April 17 in class has never been implemented, with fighting raging unabated. Despite the recent announcement of a new cease-fire proposal—following the fourth Lebanese-Israeli negotiating session in Washington—Hezbollah immediately rejected it, following the same tactics as in the past.
The situation worsened after the death of three Lebanese soldiers in an Israeli attack on their vehicle, which was strongly condemned by the country’s president, Joseph Aoun. Aoun fired back at Iran, asking Tehran to stop interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs.
The response from Tehran was immediate and ironic. “Listening to Mr. Aoun, one would think that Iran is the one that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of its citizens and is bombing the country every day,” the Iranian foreign minister said, taking a photo of Israel.
Israel’s armed forces said tonight they had hit “around 150” positions of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah movement in 48 hours in southern Lebanon, where President Joseph Aoun denounced “incessant Israeli attacks, which go unpunished” despite a ceasefire that is supposed to be in place.
Among the targets were mainly “weapons depots, staffs and launchers” of missiles or rockets, an Israeli military statement said.
It is recalled that Hezbollah involved Lebanon in the war in early March, launching attacks against Israel in retaliation for the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint Israeli-American operation.
Since then, Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed more than 3,560 people in Lebanon, according to official figures. On the Israeli side, the losses amount to 27 soldiers and one civilian army employee inside Lebanese territory.
