US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are engaged in a war of words over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the US naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Hormuz Strait and Gulf of Oman.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US naval blockade of Iranian ports amounts to an “extension of military operations” by Washington and is “intolerable”.
President Trump responded by saying that “we might need” to restart the war with Iran, adding that only “he and a couple of other people in his administration” could decide what to do next.
He made these comments amid growing pressure from the left, right and centre over the decision to go to war and the cost the US is bearing in the form of inflation and rising domestic oil prices.
More than 8 million people took to the streets last month demanding an end to hostilities against Iran and accountability for the Minab School strikes.
According to Iranian sources, Tehran has activated air defence units as part of efforts to counter “small aircraft and reconnaissance drones”.
Trump said on Friday that while he is considering resumption of war with Iran, he claimed that Tehran “wants to make a deal badly”. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the US and Israel were responsible for “any insecurity” in the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Lebanon, Israeli forces killed at least 32 people in southern Lebanon on Thursday, officials said, while Hezbollah claimed its fighters attacked Israeli forces inside Lebanon.
Also read: Iran to safeguard nuclear, missile power: Mojtaba Khamenei
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