IRAN WAR UPDATES: Iran responds to latest U.S. proposal; Netanyahu warns war ‘not over’
· Toronto Sun
Iran has responded to the latest U.S. proposal for ending the conflict in the Middle East through Pakistani mediators on Sunday.
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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that his country received Iran’s response to the U.S. ceasefire proposal.
Details of the U.S.’s proposal have not been made public, though reports from Reuters and Axios have said Washington sent a one-page memorandum of understanding with 14 key points that could end the three-month-long war and lead to longer-term negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Iran’s military spokesperson issued a stern warning about future attacks in an interview with Tehran’s state-run news agency on Sunday.
“We warn the enemy that if they once again commit aggression and fall into another miscalculation, as they did in the past and are still paying the price for today, they will certainly face other surprising options,” Iranian Army spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Mohammad Akraminia told IRNA .
He added that countries complying with U.S. sanctions against Iran will face “problems” or “severe consequences” when passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has closed the key global shipping waterway following U.S.-Israeli attacks that killed several senior government officials, including its former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, on Feb. 28.
Putting pressure on Iran to end the war, the U.S. Navy began a blockade of Iranian ports in April.
While both sides say the month-old ceasefire is holding, drone strikes have been reported across the Persian Gulf, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over.”
UAE, Kuwait and Qatar report fresh drones attacks
The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called it a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region.”
Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.
Iranian officials deliver message of resistance
After Tehran submitted a response to the latest U.S. proposal, two Iranian officials issued defiant statements on Sunday.
“We will never bow our heads before the enemy, and if talk of dialogue or negotiation arises, it does not mean surrender or retreat,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X .
“Rather, the goal is to uphold the rights of the Iranian nation and to defend national interests with resolute strength,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ebrahim Rezaie, a member of the Iranian parliament’s security committee, warned in a social media post that “time is moving against the Americans,” CNN reported.
“It is in their interest not to act recklessly and sink themselves deeper into the quagmire they have fallen into,” he reportedly wrote in a Persian-language post on X.
“The best course is to surrender and concede concessions. You must get used to the new regional order,” he added.
Netanyahu says war isn’t over
In an excerpt of CBS’ 60 Minutes interview set to air Sunday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war in the Middle East is “not over” because Iran still holds highly enriched uranium that must be removed.
“There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce,” Netanyahu said in the clip. “Now, we’ve degraded a lot of it. But all that is still there, and there’s work to be done.”
When asked about how the enriched uranium should be removed, he said, “You go in and you take it out.”
Netanyahu later added: “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically.”
Along with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s highly enriched uranium has been a key sticking point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
— with files from The Associated Press