Despite ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington to reach a peace agreement, Iran’s Supreme Leader stated that Israel is nearing its end and that the United States will have no safe haven in the Middle East.
Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement denouncing and threatening Western countries on the occasion of the Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
“The United States not only will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region but day by day, it is growing more distant from its former status,” he said in a lengthy statement that was posted on his official website. “The shaken Zionist regime and the cancerous tumor of Israel are likewise approaching the final stages of their wretched existence.”
Mojtaba made these threats on Tuesday as Iranian officials were in Doha for the most recent round of negotiations to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s foreign ministry claimed that in discussions over a deal to end the war, Tehran and Washington came to an understanding on a number of subjects, but cautioned that an agreement was not yet imminent.
However, tensions have been rising as US forces intercepted boats attempting to plant mines and missile positions in southern Iran on Monday, according to US Central Command, endangering the precarious ceasefire.
Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement commemorating the annual Hajj journey to Mecca that included new threats and denunciations of Western countries.
Additionally, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards asserted on Tuesday that they had intercepted an American drone and assaulted a US F-35 fighter jet.
According to the IRGC, any action that violates a ceasefire agreement may result in retaliation.In the meantime, expectations of an immediate resolution to the crisis were dashed when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that negotiations with Iran could “take a few days.”
The Strait of Hormuz must remain open “one way or the other,” according to Rubio, who described US raids against targets such as vessels trying to plant mines and missile launch sites.
Rubio told reporters on his plane in Jaipur, India, “The straits have to be open because they’re going to be open one way or the other.”
Earlier, Rubio told reporters in New Delhi that before deciding whether to deal with Iran in “another way,” the US will give diplomacy every opportunity to work.
Referring to discussions about reopening the strait and a “very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter,” he stated that there was a “pretty solid thing on the table.”
Iran’s central bank governor was present to discuss the possible release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final agreement, while the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile were the main topics of discussion in Doha.
Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, previously stated that negotiations on nuclear matters would not begin until the framework accord was reached.
According to Trump, his main goal in the conflict is to stop Iran from using its highly enriched uranium to create a nuclear bomb. Tehran has continuously denied having such ambitions.
About a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but Baghaei claimed that the proposed Iran deal had no particular information on how it would be managed.
He stated that under a treaty to be agreed upon with Oman, which is on the other side of the waterway, Iran would not charge tolls for ships to travel through, but there would be a fee for services like navigation and environmental protection measures.
Hope for an immediate resolution to the war was dashed when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that negotiations with Iran could “take a few days.”
Trump stated that negotiations with Iran were going “nicely” in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, but he threatened more assaults if things didn’t work out. He said that it “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Monday that Israel would step up its attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon is another sign of the tensions in the area.
Soon after, Israel’s military declared that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the eastern Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and other locations.
A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was reached in the middle of April, but Israel has persisted in its bombings against Hezbollah, which was not a signatory to the agreement, claiming they are actions of self-defense.
Additionally, as new US attacks raised questions about a plan to end the war, oil prices diverged and Asian stock markets lost value.
As the price of crude fell below $100 per barrel on rumors that an agreement between the US and Iran was imminent, markets surged.
However, these aspirations were crushed when US forces claimed to have intercepted boats attempting to install mines and missile sites in southern Iran.
The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down almost 4% today, while North Sea Brent, the international benchmark that sets pricing for most globally traded petroleum, increased by more than 3%.
