Iranian naval commander killed in airstrike, Israel claims

Israel has claimed to have killed Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, the head of Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, on Thursday night (AEDT), said Tangsiri had been killed along with other senior naval commanders in a strike overnight.

Katz said Tangsiri was responsible for bombing operations that have blocked ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz. He said the strike should serve as a “clear message” to top Iranian military officials that the Israeli military would hunt them down.

The White House has insisted that peace talks with Iran are ongoing, even as Tehran publicly rejected US overtures and issued fresh conditions of its own to end the conflict that has wreaked havoc across the Middle East and global markets.

US President Donald Trump claimed Iran was desperate to make a deal to end the nearly month-long hostilities. “They want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it,” Trump told congressional Republicans on Wednesday night (Washington time).

“The United States has been engaged over the last three days in productive conversations,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier in the day. “You’re beginning to see the regime look for an exit ramp.”

Their comments ran counter to Iran’s earlier statements through state-run media publicly rejecting Trump’s push for talks.

“No negotiations have happened with the enemy until now, and we do not plan on any negotiations,” Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, told state TV, although various messages had been exchanged through intermediaries, “stating our positions or issuing the necessary warnings”.

Guarantees being sought by Tehran included that the US and Israel would not resume their attacks, reparations for war damages, and recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, state-owned Press TV said.

Iran is also looking to formalise a transit fee for the Strait of Hormuz, with politicians working on a draft bill to impose a toll in exchange for providing security to ships passing via the key waterway, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Tehran has already begun charging a limited number of commercial vessels for transit, with payments of as much as $US2 million ($2.88 million) per voyage being sought on an ad hoc basis, according to people familiar with the matter. Since the war started nearly four weeks ago, Iran has effectively closed the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, triggering a global supply shock.

As the war grinds on, each side has kept up attacks even amid renewed efforts to jawbone the other into a resolution. And so far, Tehran is showing little sign of backing down despite daily bombardment.

The Israel Defence Forces completed a wave of strikes in Isfahan, in what it described as an attack aimed at infrastructure. Several housing units were destroyed and multiple homes left seriously damaged, according to Fars.

The United Arab Emirates said its air defences were responding to Iranian missile and drone threats on Thursday, while Bahrain said an Iranian attack caused a fire at a facility in Muharraq. Two people died and three were injured in Abu Dhabi after debris fell from an intercepted ballistic missile.

Early on Thursday, Iran’s armed forces said they had carried out missile strikes targeting American forces and separatist groups backed by the US-Israeli alliance in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.

As Trump’s Friday deadline for Iran to negotiate a deal to end the war nears, there are lingering questions over the status of negotiations and the likelihood of a deal.

The US compiled a 15-point peace proposal that Pakistan delivered to the Islamic Republic, according to people familiar with the matter, highlighting the urgency within Trump’s administration to resolve a conflict it started alongside Israel almost a month ago.

The US plan calls for removing Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile program and cutting off funding for regional allies, according to three Israeli cabinet sources. Iran would retain certain concessions in return, including sanctions relief.

On Wednesday, Leavitt said there were “elements of truth” to the reported US proposal, but cautioned against speculating on anonymously provided plans.

US Vice President JD Vance might travel to Pakistan for Iran talks this weekend, CNN reported. Asked for comment on that report, Leavitt said “this is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House”.

The conflict has led to surging fuel and fertiliser prices, with commercial tankers avoiding crossing the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks damaging energy infrastructure. It has also sparked fears of an inflation crisis and worldwide food shortages.

Brent oil is on pace for the biggest monthly gain since 1990. The global crude benchmark rose above $US103 a barrel after losing more than 2 per cent on Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $US91.

The risks of further escalation of the conflict are still substantial. The White House has asserted that Trump is keeping all options open for expanded military action. Washington has ordered more troops to the region, with some set to arrive before the week’s end.

“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment,” Leavitt said, “Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before. President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell.”

On Wednesday, Leavitt also announced that a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that was slated for later this month would instead take place in May. Trump had postponed the meeting to keep his focus on the war, which brought fresh strains to US-China ties. Iran is a major trading partner for China, the world’s largest crude importer.

Leavitt said the administration has “always estimated approximately four to six weeks” for the conflict when asked if the new dates indicated Trump would look to wind down the war by that point. And she sidestepped a question about whether concluding the war was a precondition for rescheduling the Trump-Xi meeting.

Trump has said he hopes to reach an agreement by the end of the week. That may be difficult given the wide gaps that remain between the sides, even if talks get officially under way.

It’s also unclear who the US is negotiating with since several top Iranian government and military officials have been killed, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the conflict’s first day. On Monday, Axios identified Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, as the likely frontman for talks, though he denied negotiations had taken place.

“We are closely monitoring all US movements in the region, especially troop deployments,” Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Wednesday. “Do not test our resolve to defend our land.”

There is little clarity over whether Iran would immediately allow all commercial ships to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz without paying, as well as how Israel would respond to any deal. Israeli officials have said they will continue striking Iran for now.

Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are considering joining the war against Tehran, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. They would only do so if the Islamic Republic attacked vital power and water infrastructure – a high threshold, the people said.

Turkey, meanwhile, is conducting intense diplomacy to try to prevent Gulf Arab countries from becoming involved, according to people familiar with the matter.

More than 4500 people have been killed in the conflict, according to governments and non-government agencies. About three-quarters of the fatalities have been in Iran, while more than 1000 people have died in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Dozens have been killed in Israel and Arab Gulf states.

Bloomberg, AP, Reuters

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