The U.S. and Iran Are Not Ready to Resume Talks — Bloomberg
The U.S. and Iran are currently showing no willingness to return to negotiations amid escalating mutual attacks and hostilities that have been ongoing for a second week. This was reported by Bloomberg, as cited by “European Truth.”
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan—one of the main mediators in the conflict, along with Qatar. However, there were no signs that his meetings yielded any results. A spokesperson for the Iranian ministry stated after the visit: “There are no negotiations—only an exchange of messages is possible. Our new message is that the enemy has violated the memorandum and must comply with it.”
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with the destruction of bridges and power plants in response to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim, citing a military source, reported that in the event of such strikes, Iran would strike infrastructure and bridges in the region, particularly energy facilities in which the U.S. has interests.
Iranian media also reported that the U.S. expanded the scale of its airstrikes on the country overnight. According to their reports, U.S. forces struck a military facility near the northwestern city of Tabriz. It is noted that this may be the first strike on this area since hostilities escalated two weeks ago.
Local media reported that early Wednesday morning, Iranian authorities activated air defense systems in Tehran. They also stated that the U.S. carried out strikes on the cities of Abdanan and Chovar in western Iran, near the border with Iraq.
The U.S. says it will intensify the airstrikes until Iran agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and cease attacks on oil tankers and other vessels. Tehran, for its part, insists on maintaining control over shipping through the strait, which, according to Bloomberg, is hindering progress on other contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
