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White House dismisses report of draft agreement with Tehran as ‘complete fabrication’
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Iran says it has targeted a US air base in retaliation for fresh American strikes on an Iranian naval base and airport in the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump’s military launched more strikes late on Wednesday targeting a military site that was believed to have posed a threat to American forces and commercial traffic in the Strait, a US official told Reuters. The US said it was intent on continuing a fragile ceasefire.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it attacked a base without specifying which one, and warned that any further US aggression would draw a “more decisive” response. The attacks came after Trump said he was not yet satisfied with a deal with Iran.
“Iran is very much intent, they want very much to make a deal,” he said at a White House cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “So far they haven’t gotten there … we’re not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be either that or we’ll have to just finish the job”.
Meanwhile, Kuwait‘s army said on Thursday that its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats, but did not say where they were coming from.
Trump on Wednesday threatened to “blow up” US ally Oman if it didn’t agree to his demands around control of the Strait of Hormuz, after Iranian state TV said it had obtained a draft of an agreement to restore commercial shipping with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic.
Iran has condemned the reported US strikes in Bandar Abbas and warned against the ‘dangerous’ threats to Oman.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday that claimed US attacks were “a gross violation of international law”.
He also expressed solidarity with the “friendly country of Oman”, stating the “threat to destroy” a UN member state was “another dangerous sign of the normalisation of lawlessness and bullying in international relations”.
Negotiations to end Donald Trump’s war in Iran were thrown into chaos again on Wednesday after the White House dismissed Iran’s latest terms and rejected reports of a draft peace deal as a “complete fabrication”.
The US president told a cabinet meeting that Iran was very keen to make a deal, but that the US was not satisfied with the terms yet. He insisted Iran would not get sanctions relief for giving up highly-enriched uranium – a sticking point in negotiations.
“Iran want very much to make a deal. So far they haven’t gotten there… We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
As the war grinds on, conservative estimates put the cost of munitions to the US in the multi-billions. But some analysts suggest the figure could already be as high as $1 trillion.
Professor Linda Bilmes, senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, told The Independent that the reported upfront costs are just the “tip of the iceberg”.
“When the Pentagon talked about their figures of $29bn, they systematically underestimate the cost because they are basing this on the historical cost of inventory of munitions. But the actual replacement costs are much higher,” explained Professor Bilmes, who served as assistant secretary and CFO of the US department of commerce during the Clinton administration.
“When you put together the replacement costs … the obligations we have for rebuilding … and the long-term cost of caring for veterans, benefits, the paying debt service on all the borrowing and the increases to the base that come as a consequence of this war, you very quickly reach a trillion dollar figure,” Professor Bilmes said.
“When I look at it, there’s no way it can end up costing less than that.”
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Iran’s IRGC said on Thursday that it had targeted a US airbase in response to an attack near Bandar Abbas Airport.
It was unclear which base had been struck, but sirens sounded in Kuwait on Thursday morning, too.
The IRGC said that Washington bears responsibility for the consequences of its actions.
But it added that any further attacks would trigger ‘a more decisive’ response, suggesting it would not continue to escalate unless pressed.
Iran and the US are still working through terms to end the war, which started three months ago today.
Iran’s foreign ministry expressed its solidarity with Oman on Thursday following threats from Donald Trump.
Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei criticised what he called “US officials’ threats”.
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Oman would have to “behave just like everyone else, or we’ll have to blow them up” when asked about a potential short-term deal that would allow for shared control of the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman.
The US has decades-long military and economic ties with allied Oman.
The White House and Oman’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A deal to end the war with Iran has “got to be perfect”, Donald Trump has said, arguing he did not go through the three month-long conflict to “get a crummy agreement”.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, the US president claimed Tehran was “negotiating on fumes” and wanted to reach a settlement, but pointed out issues remained as he again raised the threat of renewed attacks to “finish the job”.
Some Republican Trump allies have said the terms of the draft dal seem too favourable to Tehran.
They are balking at aspects of the deal that have emerged publicly that they say too closely resemble the nuclear agreement reached with Iran by Democratic President Barack Obama, which Trump scrapped during his first term.
Iranians began to regain internet access on Wednesday after authorities ended a monthslong shutdown. But users said service was slow and spotty in some areas, with apps like YouTube and Instagram heavily restricted, as they were before the cutoff began during nationwide protests in January.
Authorities justified the outage as a military imperative after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Their decision to lift some restrictions this week came as negotiators appeared to be closing in on a more permanent truce. But many Iranians feared access could be cut off again at a moment’s notice.
Internet tracking company Netblocks said Iran’s connectivity, which measures the ability of devices to connect to the internet, is at around 86% of capacity from before the cutoff. Internet analysis firm Kentik said internet traffic, which measures the amount of data transferred and is a good illustration of usage, was at around 40%.
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