Iran sent its response to Washington’s latest peace proposal as drone attacks threaten Gulf shipping and regional stability.
tehran: Iran responded to Washington’s latest peace proposal on Sunday after drones threatened several Gulf region bases and Tehran warned that it would not shy away from retaliating against any new US attacks.
According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s response, sent to Pakistani mediators, focused on ending the war “on all fronts, especially Lebanon” – where Israel continues its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah – as well as on “ensuring navigational security”.
US President Donald Trump had said he expected Iran to respond by Friday, but as the wait grew longer, tensions over the ceasefire in the Gulf grew, including Sunday’s drone strikes, one of which hit and damaged a freighter headed to a port in Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of being behind another attack that targeted its territory, which, if confirmed, would be only the second alleged attack on a Gulf country since the beginning of the month-old ceasefire.
“We will never bow down to the enemy and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiations, it does not mean surrender or retreat,” Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Tehran’s military chief of staff Ali Abdullahi met with the country’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received “new instructions and guidance to continue operations to confront the enemy,” according to Iranian state television.
– ‘Restraint is over’ –
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said a cargo ship entering the country’s territorial waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone near Mesaieed port on Sunday.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the bulk carrier reported being hit by an unidentified projectile.
“There was a small fire which has been extinguished, with no injuries. No environmental impact has been reported,” it said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran’s Fars news agency reported that “the bulk carrier hit off the coast of Qatar was sailing under the American flag and belonged to the United States”.
In a social media post on Sunday, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission warned the United States: “Our restraint has ended today.”
Ibrahim Rezaei said, “Any attack on our ships will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had threatened a day earlier to target US interests in the Middle East if its tankers came under fire – as they did on Friday when a US fighter jet fired on two Iran-flagged ships in the Gulf of Oman and disabled them.
– Drone attacks –
The United Arab Emirates said its territory had also been attacked and called out Iran by name.
“UAE air defense systems successfully shot down two UAVs launched from Iran,” the Defense Ministry said in a social media post.
There is also news of an attempt to attack Iran’s neighbor Kuwait.
“At dawn today, the armed forces detected several hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace, which were dealt with in accordance with established procedures,” the military posted.
In Seoul, Defense Ministry spokesman Park Il told reporters that a South Korean cargo ship caught fire and was damaged before heading to port in Dubai on Monday.
“On May 4, two unidentified aircraft struck the outer plate of the port-side ballast tank in the stern of HMM Namu at an interval of approximately one minute, causing flames and smoke,” he said.
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz – a vital route out of the Gulf for oil, gas and fertilizer – in an attempt to gain economic leverage over the United States and its allies.
Meanwhile, the US Navy is blockading Iran’s ports, sometimes disabling or diverting ships sailing towards them.
Iran has set up a payment mechanism to collect tolls from ships transiting the strait, but US officials have stressed that it would be “unacceptable” for Tehran to control the international waterway and the route to a fifth of the world’s oil exports.
