New threat, via AI. The President of the USA with an image he created with her help shows his moods for . He posted this image on the Truth Social platform.
It is an image depicting the map of the Middle East overlaid with the American flag and a series of arrows pointing towards Iran.
The new post comes as negotiations to end the conflict remain at an impasse and shortly before Trump’s phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s new warning to Iran
The new warning – post is interpreted as another public warning from Washington to Tehran, in a period of increased tension and scenarios for a possible resumption of US military strikes against the Islamic Republic.
Trump has in recent days stepped up his use of warlike AI images and videos on social media, presenting hypothetical scenarios of US strikes against Iranian targets.
“The clock is ticking”
A little earlier, there was another Trump post on Truth Social where he wrote that “the clock is counting down” and calling on Iran to move immediately for an agreement.
“They better move fast, otherwise there will be nothing left of them,” he said characteristically, adding: “Time is critical.”
After more than a month of ceasefire, the prospect of a settlement in the armed conflict, which broke out on February 28, seems remote, with the US president on May 10 calling Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war “totally unacceptable”.
As G7 finance ministers meet in Paris today and tomorrow to try to reach a convergence of positions on the economic impact of the war, oil prices rose again after the opening of Asian markets, with Brent North Sea, the international benchmark, above $110 a barrel (+1.28%).
Iran to US: Oman Sea May Be Your Grave – Stop the Blockade
The United States should lift its blockade of Iranian ports as Iran’s armed forces are poised for further conflict, warned Mohsen Rezaei, a member of Iran’s Opportunity Council and a former senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Speaking on state television, Rezai said: “We advise the US military to end the siege before the Sea of Oman becomes your grave.”
He called the US blockade an “act of war” and said Tehran has the right to react. “The longer Iran’s naval blockade is extended, the greater the damage will be to countries around the world,” he said.
Referring to the negotiations to end the crisis, Rezai stressed that the US must “prove in practice that it is reliable”.
“The US must prove its credibility”
“Now it’s America that has to prove its credibility,” he said, adding that “our armed forces have their finger on the trigger, while at the same time diplomacy continues.”
The US embargo began on April 13, with Donald Trump saying it would remain in place until Iran accepts a peace deal on US terms. For its part, Tehran insists it will not bow to pressure from Washington.
“If Iran is attacked again…”
Earlier, Tehran had sent another warning to Washington.
“The US president must know that if (…) Iran is attacked again, the resources and the military of his country will be faced with unprecedented, aggressive, surprising and turbulent scenarios,” said the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces Abulfazl Sekarchi.
Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker Hamidreza Haji-Babai said that if Iranian oil facilities were targeted, Iran would retaliate by hitting oil facilities in the region.
“Terrorist” attack
Across the Gulf, a fire broke out yesterday after an unmanned aerial vehicle hit a nuclear power plant in Barakah, United Arab Emirates.
The strike caused no injuries and no rise in radioactivity levels was detected, but the authorities spoke of a “dangerous escalation” and Saudi Arabia of a “threat to the security and stability of the region”.
Two other drones were intercepted, according to the UAE Ministry of Defense.
An adviser to the Emirati president denounced the “terrorist” attack, appearing to imply involvement by Iran, which has repeatedly hit states in the region since the war began, but without naming it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed its “deep concern”.
In addition, Saudi Arabia announced last night that it had intercepted three unmanned aerial vehicles coming from Iraqi airspace.
“source of insecurity”
Despite the tensions, at least diplomacy has not yet been completely abandoned; Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, whose country is trying to play a mediating role, met in Tehran with Iran’s chief negotiator, the speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament – a former top Revolutionary Guards officer – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
But the latter had no soothing words to say after the meeting.
“Some states in the region think that the presence of the US provides them with security, but recent events show that this presence is not only incapable of providing security, but is instead a source of insecurity,” said Mr. Ghalibaf.
Iranian media reported on Sunday that the US government had not made “any tangible concessions” in its response to the latest Iranian proposals.
Washington “also called for very strict, long-term restrictions on Iran’s nuclear energy sector,” the MEHR news agency reported.
According to the FARS news agency, Washington presented a five-point list demanding, in particular, that Iran keep only one nuclear facility operating and agree to hand over and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US.
On the other front of the war, in Lebanon, despite the extension of the rather theoretical truce for a month and a half announced by the US on Friday, new Israeli bombardments killed seven people, including two children, in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Among the victims was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader and his 17-year-old daughter.
An Israeli military official said Hezbollah fired some 200 “missiles” at Israel or Israeli troops in Lebanon over the weekend.
