The military operation in Iran entered its sixteenth day on Sunday. The eyes of the world continue to focus on the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on international energy markets, while American allies in London and Seoul suggested they may be willing to answer President Trump’s call for assistance in keeping the critical waterway safe and open for tankers to transport oil worldwide.
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**Sunday’s live updates below. All updates in Eastern time**
12:50 PM: Joint Italian-American base in Kuwait hit by drone
Italian Chief of Defense Staff General Luciano Portolano said on Sunday that the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait was the target of an Iranian drone strike, which destroyed an Italian drone housed on the base. However, no injuries were reported at the base, which houses both Italian and American forces.
11:20 AM: Iran denies it is looking for a deal to end conflict
Continuing his media blitz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed in an interview with CBS on Sunday morning that Iran has not asked for peace talks as President Donald Trump has claimed.
“We never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation. We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes,” Araghchi said.
On Saturday evening, President Trump said that Iran was desperate to make a deal, but said that he would not give up striking the regime until a better offer was made from the Islamist regime.
10:15 AM: Leader all good, claims FM
Speaking to the Qatari broadcaster Al Araby on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the new Supreme Leader, Motjaba Khamenei, is in “excellent health, in control of the situation, and present at his post.”
“The timing of televised messages or direct appearances before the people is his prerogative. The country is at war and must be governed according to wartime logic, but it is certain that not only the leadership, but all state institutions, are stable in their positions, and everything is under control,” Araghchi said.
Questions have swirled about the health of the new leader, given his failure to appear in public since being selected on Monday to replace his slain father. Reports have emerged saying that he was injured in an Israeli air strike. It is unclear to what extent he was injured.
10:05 AM: Conflict in Iran over in the “next few weeks”, Wright says
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that he expects the conflict with Iran to be over within the “next few weeks” and predicted that energy costs will begin to stabilize afterwards.
“I think that this conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that. But the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks, and we’ll see a rebound in supplies and a pushing down in prices after that,” Wright told ABC.
“Prices today are still far below what they were in the Biden Administration, where they were begging, bartering, and bribing Iran to behave better,” he added.
10:00 AM: Waltz backs plan to see international partners patrol Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz noted that in the 1980s, during previous attempts by the Islamist regime in Tehran to constrict energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, international partners such as the United Kingdom, France, and even the Soviet Union escorted oil tankers through the waterway heading to their markets.
“I think that’s what Trump is calling on the world [to do],” Waltz told CNN. The U.N. Ambassador also noted that around eight in ten barrels of oil that pass through the Strait of Hormuz head to Asia, while less than ten per cent make it to the Western Hemisphere as a result of the Trump administration’s pro-domestic energy agenda.
8:30 AM: Elder Khamenei doubted son’s ability to lead
A report from CBS News claimed that American intelligence that was passed to President Donald Trump found that slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had concerns that his son, Motjaba Khamenei, was not qualified to succeed him as leader and did not think he was intelligent enough to handle the position.
Mojtaba Khamenei was selected earlier this week by the 88-member so-called Assembly of Experts to replace his father, who was killed at the outset of the U.S.-Israeli military operation against the totalitarian regime. However, days after the selection, Mojtaba has yet to appear in public, with reports indicating that he suffered injuries in an Israeli blast. It is unclear if he is even cognisant of the fact that he has become the third leader of the “Islamic Republic” of Iran.
President Trump has previously cast the younger Khamenei as a “lightweight” and suggested that he would not be in the position for long without his administration’s approval.
8:10 AM: No deal… yet
President Donald Trump said that while he would consider coming to an agreement with the regime in Tehran, he is not prepared to ease up the military strikes on the country until he hears a “very solid” offer.
“Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,” Trump told NBC on Saturday evening.
8:00 AM: IRGC vows to hunt down Netanyahu
In a statement published on Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — the main branch of the Iranian military — said that it plans to assassinate Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu.
“If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force,” the Guards said, according to the Times of Israel.
7:45 AM: UK and Korea examine deployments to Strait of Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump called on the international community to coalesce and to deploy naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz, the critical energy supply chain choke point off the coast of Iran through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil flows every year.
Amid multiple attacks on tankers in the Strait from Iran, shipments passing through Hormuz have dropped precipitously, threatening to send global oil prices soaring. Prior to the conflict, over 19 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait every day. According to the Financial Times, this has since dropped to around just 600,000.
President Trump name-checked several countries in particular, including China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, as major powers that depend on oil passing unencumbered through the waterway and should therefore contribute to the effort to keep the pass open.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has deployed much of his nation’s naval assets into a forward projection amid the conflict in the Middle East, has previously expressed a willingness to form an international naval coalition to protect the global economy from being held hostage by Tehran and its proxies.
On Sunday, British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said that the UK is considering “any options” to keep the Strait open.
“It is very important that we get the Strait of Hormuz reopened,” Miliband said in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. “Any options to help the Strait reopen are being looked at.”
The energy secretary said that Downing Street is currently in contact with its allies, including the United States, on the best way to protect energy shipments. However, the left-wing politician said that the “best way is to de-escalate” the conflict.
Meanwhile, Seoul also expressed potential willingness to answer President Trump’s call for assistance, with a government spokesman telling the Korea Herald on Sunday: “We are paying close attention to President Trump’s social media comments and will continue to communicate closely with the US while carefully reviewing the situation before making a judgment.”
“The safety of international sea lanes and the freedom of navigation serve the interests of all countries and are protected under international law. Based on this principle, we hope that global maritime logistics networks will be restored to normal as soon as possible,” the official added.
Moon Seong-mook of the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy told the paper that the South Korean Navy’s Cheonghae Unit could be quickly sent to the Strait, given that it is already deployed in the region.
“The alliance allows South Korea to rely on US support when it faces security challenges,” Moon said. “If Washington asks for assistance in a difficult situation, it would be difficult for Seoul to simply refuse.”
“About 70 per cent of South Korea’s crude oil imports from the Middle East pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and if the disruption continues for a long period, it could fundamentally shake the Korean economy,” Moon added.
For earlier Livewire updates from Saturday, please click here
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