{"id":683261,"date":"2026-03-26T14:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/683261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:04:15","slug":"iran-and-us-appear-at-an-impasse-as-each-side-hardens-its-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/683261\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran and US appear at an impasse as each side hardens its position"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran and the United States appeared at an impasse Thursday, with each side hardening its position over talks and setting the stage for another potential escalation in the Middle East war<\/a>. Thousands more U.S. troops neared the region, while Tehran tightened its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles<\/a>, and Gulf nations worked to intercept fire. Heavy strikes were reported in Iran\u2019s capital and other cities.<\/p>\n

In a war that appears defined by who can take the most pain<\/a>, the U.S. has offered shifting but ambitious objectives, including ensuring Iran\u2019s missile and nuclear programs are no longer a threat and ending Tehran\u2019s support for armed groups in the region. Washington at one point also pushed for the overthrow of Iran\u2019s theocracy.<\/p>\n

While the U.S.-Israeli campaign has hit Iran\u2019s military and government hard, killing top leaders and striking scores of targets, Iran continues to fire missiles<\/a> and there is no sign of an uprising against the government.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Iran and the US harden their positions as Tehran tightens its grip on the Strait of Hormuz\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports on the latest on diplomatic efforts on both sides to end the Iran war.<\/p>\n

For Iran\u2019s leadership, by contrast, merely outlasting the onslaught could be seen as victory. It may be hoping to get the U.S. to back down by roiling the world economy with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> \u2014 raising prices at the pump for drivers, prices in the grocery store for families and costs for businesses the world over.<\/p>\n

Short of a negotiated solution, the U.S. would need a dramatic escalation to end Iran\u2019s attacks and restore the free flow of goods through the strait, where 20% of all traded oil and natural gas is transported in peacetime. Iran rejected the U.S.\u2019 demands, while putting forth its own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump vowed to strike Iran\u2019s power plants if it doesn\u2019t fully reopen the strait \u2014 and his new deadline for that looms this weekend, when the war will also mark a month. But a Gulf Arab bloc said Thursday that Iran is now exacting tolls from ships to ensure their safe passage through the waterway.<\/p>\n

Iran seen as operating Strait of Hormuz as \u2018de facto toll booth\u2019<\/p>\n

Iran has been blocking ships from the strait that it perceives as linked to the U.S. and Israeli war effort, while letting through a trickle of others. <\/p>\n

Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, said Iran was charging for safe passage.<\/p>\n

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi as saying that parliament was working to formalize that process and that it was \u201cnatural\u201d for ships to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Lloyd\u2019s List Intelligence called it a \u201cde facto \u2018toll booth\u2019 regime,\u201d saying that at least two vessels have paid in yuan, China\u2019s currency. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s grip on the strait and relentless attacks on Gulf regional energy infrastructure have sent oil prices skyrocketing and concerns of a global energy crisis surging. Brent crude, the international standard, traded at $104 Thursday, up more than 40% from Feb. 28, when the war started. Germany\u2019s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called it a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d for the world\u2019s economies. <\/p>\n

Israel said it killed the head of Iranian Revolutionary Guard\u2019s navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, and the country\u2019s naval intelligence chief, Behnam Rezaei.<\/p>\n

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tangsiri was responsible for bombing operations that have blocked ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Rezaei had \u201ccentral knowledge authority in maritime intelligence,\u201d the Israeli military said. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the killings.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trump says Iran needs to \u2018get serious\u2019 about negotiations<\/p>\n

Using Pakistan as an intermediary, Washington has delivered<\/a> to Iran a 15-point ceasefire proposal<\/a>, which includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

A day after saying Iran wants to cut a deal, Trump posted on social media Thursday that Tehran needs<\/a> to \u201cget serious soon\u201d on negotiating an end to the war \u201cbefore it is too late, because once that happens there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won\u2019t be pretty!\u201d <\/p>\n

He did not elaborate, but said Iran should be negotiating because \u201cthey have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on state TV that his government has not engaged in talks<\/a> to end the war and does not plan to.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said the U.S. had tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, \u201cbut that is not a conversation nor a negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egypt is also acting as a go-between, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who said Thursday that his country sees a desire from both sides \u201cfor calm, for the exploration of negotiations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Press TV, the English-language broadcaster on Iranian state television, said Iran has its own five-point proposal, which included reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a group of ships, including the USS Tripoli, drew closer to the Mideast with some 2,500 Marines. Also, at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne<\/a> \u2014 trained to land in hostile territory to secure key territory and airfields \u2014 have been ordered to the region.<\/p>\n

A wave of Israeli airstrikes hits as Iran fires on Israel and Gulf neighbors<\/p>\n

Israel said it carried out a wave of attacks targeting Iranian infrastructure early Thursday, and air defenses were heard in Tehran. Heavy strikes were also reported around Isfahan, home to a major Iranian air base and other military sites, as well as one of the nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. during the 12-day war in June.<\/p>\n

Loud booms could be heard across Israel as it was repeatedly targeted by barrages from Iran. In the United Arab Emirates, two people were reported killed by shrapnel from a missile interception over Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

Since the war began, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran, Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Seventeen people have died in Israel, while three Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. At least 13 American troops have been killed. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have also died.<\/p>\n

Authorities said nearly 1,100 people have died in Lebanon, where Israel has targeted the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has fired into Israel. In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militant groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been updated to correct that 17 people have been killed in Israel, not 20.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, and Giovanna Dell\u2019Orto in Miami contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran and the United States appeared at an impasse Thursday, with each…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":683262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[3489,287002,3881,50803,102534,64,69,10102,4216,57,83,3461,6087,3462,3463,8132,50,80,2060,96,103,107],"class_list":["post-683261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-abbas-araghchi","tag-ali-jafarian","tag-ap-top-news","tag-badr-abdelatty","tag-boris-pistorius","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-industry","tag-fires","tag-general-news","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-iran-war","tag-israel-government","tag-mideast-wars","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-rebellions-and-uprisings","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116295858358940536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}