The US says it has shot down two Iranian drones near the Strait of Hormuz as the Middle East war reaches its 100th day with no end in sight.
tehran: The United States said it shot down a pair of threatening Iranian drones in the Strait of Hormuz, as the Middle East war reached its 100th day on Sunday with no end in sight.
The milestone came as mediator Pakistan delivered a message to Iran’s supreme leader after weeks of indirect talks amid tit-for-tat threats and sporadic firing.
Efforts to turn the ceasefire into a permanent solution have repeatedly stalled, while the war has roiled global markets and increased domestic pressure on US President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections.
The uncertainty is also affecting everyday Iranians, with fitness trainer Elaheh from Ahvaz telling AFP: “I’ve really become numb.”
“Daily life? It’s a joke. Everything is terrible. We just try to survive,” the 32-year-old said, pointing to rising prices.
Chef Farhad, 35, also said that life was becoming “increasingly difficult”, noting that economic hardship had begun even before the war.
“Things you might have thought about buying a few months ago have now become dreams and fairy tales,” he told AFP.
But there were signs of new diplomatic efforts over the weekend, when Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran.
According to Iranian state television, Naqvi said upon his arrival on Saturday that he would send a “special letter” from the Pakistani army chief to Iran’s supreme leader, as well as a message from the prime minister “regarding the current situation.”
“I think this is a very important message,” said Naqvi, who frequently visits Iran.
Pakistani military leader Syed Asim Munir has played a key role in mediating between Iran and the US after the initial round of direct talks in Islamabad.
Also on Saturday, Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Heckel traveled to Pakistan for his talks with Mounir, as Beirut also seeks to permanently end the parallel conflict on its soil between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iran is insisting that Lebanon be included in any deal to end the regional war, and a source with knowledge of Hekal’s visit said it was “linked to Pakistani mediation” between Tehran and Washington.
His visit came as US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed two Iranian drones “which were threatening international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz”.
Previous drone interceptions and attacks on Iranian radar sites had prompted Tehran on Saturday to fire a series of missiles at US allies Bahrain and Kuwait.
Chef Farhad told AFP that such exchanges seem routine at this point.
He said, “I think this situation will continue to be like this for some time; a kind of suspended, up in the air situation where these guys launch some missiles, these guys launch some drones.”
Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, earlier told CNN that negotiations with the US “are at an impasse, and Trump must break this impasse”, as he called for the release of about $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
But Washington may instead seek to use those funds to offset losses from Iranian attacks on Gulf allies.
“The United States will work to allow Iranian assets to be made available to our Gulf allies to assist with reconstruction and repairs,” said a source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Besant’s thinking.
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi described talks with Washington as “very cumbersome” in an interview with CNN published Sunday.
“The main problem with negotiating with this administration is that you have to deal with a lot of changing positions, shifting target positions, different statements, contradictory comments,” he said.
Lebanon became involved in the wider war when Hezbollah, in support of Iran, attacked Israel on March 2.
April never saw a ceasefire, while a new conditional ceasefire agreement announced in recent days was almost immediately rejected by Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that his forces “attacked a terrorist command center” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, in response to “fire toward Israeli territory.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the attacks targeted two apartments in two buildings.
An AFP photographer saw two apartments damaged in a building on a narrow street, and witnessed traffic congestion as residents tried to leave the suburb, while the Lebanese army was deployed in the area.
Iran’s Araghchi had earlier warned that any attack on Beirut would lead to a “full-scale resumption” of Middle East war.
