iran war: irgc says strait of hormuz won't reopen unless u.s. agrees to demands
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crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels anchored off muscat, oman.
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the war in the middle east has hit another impasse on two fronts on sunday, with iranian leaders stating that the strait of hormuz would not reopen until the united states complied with a list of demands, while israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu rejected u.s. president donald trump’s latest plan for gaza.
a day after iran’s security chief mohammad bagher zolghadr had laid out a list of conditions for reopening the crucial shipping waterway, iran’s revolutionary guards said sunday that the strait would remain closed “until the enemy accepts all our conditions,” afp reported.
also among the list of demands outlined by zolghadr were the lifting of a u.s. counterblockade of iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for damage from war, the tasnim news agency reported.
iranian foreign minister abbas araghchi said sunday there were no ongoing negotiations between tehran and washington, and said separate discussions with oman over potential joint management of the waterway were “approaching the final stages,” but added that the reopening of the strait is subject to other factors, including compensation from the u.s. for its “violation” of the interim june agreement.
here’s the latest on the iran war on sunday:
iran names new head of national security council
a former commander-in-chief of iran’s revolutionary guards has been named head of the country’s supreme national security council, iran’s presidency announced on sunday.
“following the resignation of mohammad bagher zolghadr from the position of secretary of the supreme national security council and his acceptance of a new responsibility, by order of dr. masoud pezeshkian, president of the islamic republic of iran, mohsen rezaei has been appointed as secretary of the supreme national security council,” presidency spokesman mehdi tabatabaei said on x.
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rezaei, 71, is a senior iranian military adviser and a former commander of the irgc.
zolghadr, also a former guards commander, has been named a political adviser to supreme leader ayatollah mojtaba khamenei.
on saturday, iranian state media published a list of demands from zolghadr for the strait of hormuz to reopen.
trump says u.s. is ‘low-keying’ negotiations with iran
speaking to axios on sunday, trump said the u.s. is “low-keying” negotiations with iran and indicated that the u.s. will increase economic pressure on tehran.
“we are low keying it,” trump told the news site in a phone call.
“we are only semi-negotiating with them. we are just watching iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said.
he also said iran “is in very bad shape” economically and doesn’t have the money to pay its soldiers.
regarding the state of affairs with tehran, trump said, “it will work out. it always works out. it’s like a chess game.”
netanyahu rejects trump’s gaza plan
israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu rebuffed ally trump’s 15-point plan for gaza on sunday.
in televised remarks, netanyahu rejected trump’s plan and said the israeli military will not pull out of the territory until hamas is “genuinely” disarmed, reuters reported.
trump’s plan, which was announced on july 30, had called on israeli forces to withdraw as hamas disarmed, but both sides have disagreed over the sequence of the withdrawal and disarmament.
though he rejected trump’s plan, netanyahu said israel was still in talks with the u.s.
“they (the u.s.) have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some of which are unacceptable to us,” netanyahu said.
houthis claim attack on oil facility in saudi arabia
the houthis, iran’s ally in yemen, said sunday that they had struck a saudi oil facility on the country’s red sea coast.
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a medical source in the government-held port city of mocha said three civilians and eight military personnel were killed and a further 32 people wounded, with all the civilian casualties resulting from houthi strikes on the port city, afp reported.
earlier sunday, the gulf kingdom reported a fire at the aramco oil facility and said the fire was extinguished.
pentagon asks defence companies to ramp up production
the pentagon’s second-highest-ranked official has reportedly asked u.s. defence industry companies to speed up efforts to produce and deliver key weapons systems as concerns over munitions shortages due to the war continued.
the washington post reported saturday that deputy defense secretary steve feinberg wrote to industry leaders in a memo on wednesday, giving them 21 days to submit plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.”
last week, reuters reported that the u.s. military has used up most of its stockpile of long-range missiles in its war with iran, while cnn reported the u.s. military had used up nearly 80% of its missile interceptors.
trump denied the reports, stating the u.s. has “massive amounts” of munitions.
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