Tehran still seeks a negotiated solution to its conflict with the United States, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency, following renewed clashes between the two countries.
Pezeshkian told Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, that continued war was in no one’s interest and that dialogue and co-operation were the way to resolve existing problems.
Iran’s army said it attacked the United Arab Emirates’ Al Minhad Air Base with drones early on Monday, Iranian state TV reported.
The Iranian army said the attack targeted US forces and helicopters stationed at the base.
It followed US military attacks on Iran for the first time in a month, firing missiles and drones at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz.
[ US forces strike two Iranian launchers on Larak island, US official saysOpens in new window ]
US Central Command said it acted late on Sunday after it detected the Iranians planning to fire fresh mines into the strait.
Last week Donald Trump claimed the US navy had cleared the strait of mines for the first time since the conflict started on February 28th, a claim the Iranians rejected as lies.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also launched a missile-and-drone attack on US airbases in Jordan early Monday, state-run IRNA reported.
Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight missiles after they breached the kingdom’s airspace, destroying them before they caused any damage.
Iran’s foreign ministry said the US bases in Jordan had been used to launch and support an earlier attack on Larak Island that killed and wounded members of Iran’s armed forces and civilians.
It said Iran would respond decisively to further military aggression and that the US and parties supporting its actions bore full responsibility for any escalation.
On Sunday night, US president Donald Trump claimed in a social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video clip that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island is being “blown to smithereens”.
There was no other evidence that the Iranian energy hub was under attack.
[ Why the United States can’t quit its warsOpens in new window ]
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens! President DJT,” Trump said on social media, but gave no further details.
Using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery, Reuters confirmed that an accompanying video clip showing dramatic explosions was most likely synthetically-generated.
Attacking Kharg, which handled 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports before the war launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28th, would severely disrupt its energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.
Meanwhile, a supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV reported on Monday, citing a statement by the Revolutionary Guards.
The guards said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It did not identify the vessel or provide information about its crew.
Iran warned that other ships violating its security rules would face the same fate and said compliance with its regulations for passage through the Strait of Hormuz was mandatory. – Reuters