Iran and US at impasse over ceasefire talks as fears grow of conflict escalation

President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House (Alex Brandon/AP)

Iran and the United States appear at an impasse over the possibility of ceasefire talks, setting the stage for another escalation in the Middle East war.

Thousands more US troops have neared the region, Israel poured more troops into southern Lebanon to fight the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and Tehran tightened its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles and Gulf nations worked to intercept fire. Heavy strikes were reported in Iran’s capital and other cities.

In a war that appears defined by who can take the most pain, the US has offered shifting objectives, including ensuring Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes are no longer a threat and ending Tehran’s support for armed groups in the region. Washington at one point also pushed for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.

While the US-Israeli campaign has hit Iran’s military and government hard, killing top leaders and striking scores of targets, Iran continues to fire missiles and there is no sign of an uprising against the government.

(PA Graphics)

For Iran’s leadership, merely outlasting the onslaught could be seen as victory. It may be hoping to get the US to back down by hitting the world economy with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted oil and natural gas shipments and raised prices worldwide for energy and other goods.

Short of a negotiated solution, the US would need a dramatic escalation to end Iran’s attacks and restore the free flow of goods through the strait, where 20% of all traded oil and natural gas is transported in peacetime.

Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal from the US while putting forth its own demands.

President Donald Trump has vowed to strike Iran’s power plants if it does not fully reopen the strait — and his new deadline for that looms this weekend.

A Gulf Arab bloc said on Thursday that Iran is now exacting tolls from ships to ensure their safe passage through the waterway.

A thick plume of smoke rises from an oil storage facility hit by a US-Israeli strike in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Iran has been blocking ships from the strait that it perceives as linked to the US and Israeli war effort, while letting through a trickle of others. Mr Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that Iran is allowing some oil tankers through as a sign of good faith for talks.

Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, said Iran was charging for safe passage.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence called it a “de facto ‘toll booth’ regime”, saying that at least two vessels have paid in yuan, China’s currency.

Iran’s grip on the strait and relentless attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure have sent Brent crude, the international standard, up more than 40% since the war started.

Israel said it killed the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, and the country’s naval intelligence chief, Behnam Rezaei. Defence minister Israel Katz said Mr Tangsiri was responsible for bombing operations that have blocked ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

Pro-government supporters chant slogans and wave Iranian flags during a rally in western Tehran on Wednesday (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Using Pakistan as an intermediary, Washington has delivered to Iran a 15-point “action list”, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed on Thursday, calling it a framework for a possible peace deal.

Mr Witkoff said there were “strong signs” the US could “convince Iran that this is the inflection point, with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction”.

A day after saying Iran wants to cut a deal, Mr Trump posted on social media Thursday that Tehran needs to “get serious soon” on negotiating an end to the war “before it is too late”.

Press TV, the English-language broadcaster on Iranian state television, said Iran has its own five-point proposal, which includes reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

But Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on state TV that his government has not engaged in talks to end the war and does not plan to. He said the US had tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, “but that is not a conversation nor a negotiation”.

Egypt is also acting as a go-between, according to Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, who said on Thursday that his country sees a desire from both sides “for calm, for the exploration of negotiations”.

Meanwhile, a group of ships, including the USS Tripoli, drew closer to the Middle East with some 2,500 Marines.

Also, at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne — trained to land in hostile territory to secure key territory and airfields — have been ordered to the region.

Ali Bahreini, Iran’s top envoy to UN institutions in Geneva, warned on Thursday that any US and Israeli attempt to mount a ground invasion of Iran would be a “big” mistake.

Israeli security and rescue forces at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

The Israeli army said on Thursday it had deployed the 162nd division into southern Lebanon, joining thousands of troops that have moved there since the war erupted. Israel says the open-ended invasion is aimed at protecting its northern border towns from Hezbollah attacks and uprooting the militant group from the area.

Israel also said it carried out a wave of attacks targeting Iranian infrastructure early on Thursday. Heavy strikes were also reported around Isfahan, home to a major Iranian air base and other military sites, as well as one of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that power is out in some areas of Iran’s capital Tehran, though no official reports have been released yet. Witnesses had earlier reported the sounds of heavy strikes and fighter jets overhead.

Loud booms could be heard across Israel as it was repeatedly targeted by barrages from Iran. Israel’s emergency service said a man in his 30s was killed near the northern coastal city of Nahariya after a wave of strikes that came from Lebanon. In the United Arab Emirates, two people were reported killed by shrapnel from a missile interception over Abu Dhabi.

Since the war began, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran, deputy health minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera.