Dubai: US President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, meanwhile, attacked a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, part of its campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states, and an oil refinery in northern Israel.
As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as “a sign of respect.” At the same time, with 2,500 US Marines now in the region and a similarly sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Iran’s Kharg Island.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he told the Financial Times in an interview published early Monday. “We have a lot of options.”
Iran launches attacks on Israel and hits more infrastructure targets in Gulf states
Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthis entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.
Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.
Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.
In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.
Israel’s military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.
In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed, and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.
Oil prices rise again as concerns of a global energy crisis grow
Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.
In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around USD 115, up nearly 60 per cent from when the US and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
As pressure has grown on Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan that includes its agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meanwhile, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.
Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the talks would be held “in the coming days.”
Trump says diplomatic approach is going well, but suggests military expansion is possible
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the US was negotiating “directly and indirectly” with Iran, though Iran has insisted that it has not been in any talks with Washington.
“We’re doing extremely well in that negotiation, but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,” Trump said.
Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more US troops into the area. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.
In the interview with the Financial Times, Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the US decided to try and take Kharg Island, saying, “it would mean we had to be there for a while.”
“I don’t think they have any defence,” he added. “We could take it very easily.”
The US already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops land on its territory.
To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.
Iran on Monday confirmed that the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s navy, Rear Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Israel claimed last week. The Republican Guard praised the admiral’s efforts in a statement, particularly in helping Iran keep its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
“Every fighter is a Tangsiri, and we will see what surprises they will bring in the days and months ahead,” it said.
Death toll climbs
In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced. Five Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.
In the Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
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