Iran studying deal to halt war as stalemate persists

[DUBAI] Iran is reviewing a proposed agreement with the US to halt their war, Iranian media reported on Tuesday (Jun 2), after US President Donald Trump said that talks to reach a deal were continuing.

More than three months after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, the conflict has hardened into a stalemate. Efforts to negotiate an interim deal have proved inconclusive, leaving the Strait of Hormuz largely shut.

Iran has not yet responded to a proposed final text of the temporary deal, and was taking a “stern” approach given what it sees as a history of US non-compliance and longstanding mistrust, Mehr News Agency cited a source as saying.

Trump said on Monday that negotiations with Iran were continuing and that there would be a deal over the next week to extend a ceasefire agreed in early April and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he is close to signing a peace agreement, though any such deal would postpone thorny issues including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.

A ceasefire has largely held since early April, but Iran and the US have exchanged strikes several times over the past week.

Oil prices fell more than 1 per cent on Tuesday, paring the previous day’s sharp gains. Meanwhile, a senior International Energy Agency official warned that global oil inventories could hit historically low levels.

Israel keeps up strikes in Lebanon

The war that began on Feb 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.

It ​has caused ​global economic pain ⁠by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas.

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It also triggered the latest round of conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.

On Tuesday, Israel kept up strikes on a string of towns in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said, a day after US mediation appeared to have averted an immediate escalation of that war.

A partial ceasefire announced by Lebanon on Monday would entail Israel refraining from strikes on Beirut and Hizbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.

But the announcement failed to reassure many Lebanese, 1.2 million of whom have been displaced, and the din of an Israeli drone over Beirut kept residents on edge on Tuesday.

“Every time we return to our homes, there is a warning for us to be displaced again,” said Faten Al Chehime, who fled to a displacement camp from her home in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, only two weeks after returning there.

Lebanon said that it would seek to expand the ceasefire in talks with Israel in Washington on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing criticism domestically over any agreement to hold back from further attacks on Beirut, ahead of an election later this year that he is projected to lose.

Iran pushes for a limited deal

In the wider war, Iran is pushing for a limited interim agreement as it tries to ease mounting economic pressure while avoiding major concessions on its nuclear programme, Iranian sources said.

As part of any deal, Teheran is seeking an end to hostilities across all fronts including Lebanon, access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, a lifting of a US blockade on its ports, and continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump is under pressure to reopen the strait and curb US fuel prices while not making concessions to Iran.

Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that 24 vessels had transited the strait in the past 24 hours, after obtaining permission from the guard’s navy. Iran threatened on Monday to expand its blockade to the Bab El Mandeb Strait, another choke point at the mouth of the Red Sea, if Israel resumed strikes on Beirut.

Highlighting the risk at sea, the world’s largest shipping group MSC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two projectiles while in Iraq’s Umm Qasr port the previous day.

The IRGC claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for a US attack on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman. REUTERS