President Donald Trump makes explosives threats again towards Iran which has refused to attend further peace talks and the world awaits what Iran will do in revenge for Marines storming ship
Fears are growing full-scale war could break out in Iran again after Tehran rejected US calls for peace talks and a shaky ceasefire ends on Wednesday. Tensions rose after US President Donald Trump threatened to “blow up the whole country” and US Marines t ook custody of an Iran-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf.
Tehran’s spokesman Esmail Baghaei said: “As of now we have no plans for the next round of negotiation with the US,” as it also warned of retaliation President Trump was sending a delegation to Pakistan led by Vice-President JD Vance for talks scheduled for Monday evening .
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But Iran has also dismissed the talks because of the US military presence in the Gulf and the continued blocking of the Gulf waters. It means Tehran’s trading ships can no longer enter or leave the country as Trump tries to force the regime to the negotiating table.
So far the US blockade has turned around 23 ships trying to pass into or out of the Strait by day 52 of the US-Israel war on Iran. The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel attempting to pass the naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.
After the Iranian vessel, TOUSKA, failed to comply with repeated U.S. warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance ordered the engine room to be evacuated and then fired several rounds into it. The US military said: American forces acted in a deliberate, professional, and proportional manner to ensure compliance.”
A fragile ten day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire started on April 16 ends next Sunday, although there have been breaches already. The Israeli army claimed on Monday to have targeted a rocket launcher in southern Lebanon despite the ceasefire between Tel Aviv and Beirut.
In a statement, the army said the overnight strike targeted a “loaded and ready-to-launch” system in the Kfarkela area, north of what it called a “forward defence line.” The army claimed that the launcher posed “an “immediate threat” to Israeli forces and residents of northern Israel.
Since March 2, Israel has carried out an offensive in Lebanon that has killed around 2,300 people, wounded more than 7,500 and displaced over one million, according to official figures. And over the weekend two Israeli soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in southern Lebanon by an explosion.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned “in the strongest terms” images of an Israeli soldier damaging a statue of Jesus. A picture emerged over the weekend of the IDF soldier appearing to use a sledgehammer on the icon, which was taken in southern Lebanon.
Analysts have said the image was taken in Debel, one of the villages in Lebanon where Israel’s I military has been operating against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in response to the group firing rockets at Israel in support of Iran.
And if war in Iran starts again it is likely the one in Lebanon will soon follow, analysts believe.
