Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that any renewed U.S.-Israel attack would trigger an Iranian response that would “extend beyond the region…in places you cannot even imagine,” as negotiations to end the war and re-open the Strait of Hormuz remained deadlocked.
At the White House on Tuesday, Vice President J.D. Vance said that “a lot of progress” has been made toward a deal with Iran. On the possibility that a deal cannot be reached, Vance said that “there’s an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign,” adding “but that’s not what the president wants, and I don’t think it’s what the Iranians want either.”
Reuters reported that Iran’s conditions to end the conflict, per the latest proposal submitted this past weekend, have not changed. Iran seeks sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, an end to the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, where Israel has waged a deadly military campaign.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said Wednesday that working class Americans will bear the cost of the Iran War, citing a passage from Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy. “Hillbilly 2 incoming,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. “America’s poor & forgotten will foot the bill for the broligarchs, Dimon the demon, and the beltway war merchants.”
Reuters reported on Wednesday that three supertankers — the Chinese vessels Yuan Gui Yang and Ocean Lily, and the South Korean-flagged Universal Winner – together carrying 6 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude oil, have begun exiting the Strait of Hormuz. Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel-tracking data posted on Tuesday morning showed at least 54 ships transited through the Strait of Hormuz between May 11 and 17, more than double the number of ship transits from the week prior.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that it had been notified by the UAE that power to Barakah nuclear power plant had been restored after a drone strike targeted the facility on May 17. The UAE has not blamed Iran for the attack.
Tehran said Wednesday that the May 17 drone attack on the UAE was not carried out by Iranian forces but instead was launched by Israel. The UAE defense ministry had said at the time that the drone attack came from the “Western border direction.”
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A senior Iraqi official told Al-Monitor Tuesday that Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq have launched roughly half of all drone attacks on Gulf states since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began.
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 19 people on Tuesday, AP reported, raising the total death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon to at least 3,094 people. The IDF said one of its soldiers was killed on Tuesday in southern Lebanon, raising the Israeli troops’ death toll to 21 killed since March 2.
The price of Brent Crude oil was $106 on Wednesday morning while gas prices continued to rise. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.56.
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