US President Donald Trump. PHOTO: AFP/ Archive
TEHRAN/WASHINGTON:
Iran showed a defiant stance with a senior leader saying he sees no room for diplomacy in the ongoing conflict sparked by joint US-Israeli attacks, while President Donald Trump insisted the war was all but over.
Iranian officials said ceasefire mediation efforts were irrelevant as long as military clashes persisted, while leaders insisted the country had no intention of harming ordinary Americans, even as they warned Washington not to target civilians.
Trump said in an interview with CBS that the US-Israel war with Iran was “pretty much” over, without giving details. “I think the war is pretty much complete. They have no navy, no communications, no air force,” Trump told CBS News by phone.
Earlier, Kamal Kharazi, an adviser to the supreme leader’s office, said there were no immediate prospects for diplomacy. “I no longer see any room for diplomacy,” Kharazi said in an interview with CNN in Tehran, adding that Iran could sustain the war for a long time.
Kharazi’s comments came on the heels of the country taking steps to bolster its political leadership following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the initial wave of attacks between the United States and Israel that began on February 28.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts selected Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain leader, as the country’s new supreme leader, signaling continuity within Iran’s political and religious establishment despite the turmoil caused by the conflict.
Iranian officials said their military was carrying out “managed and phased offensive operations” across the region. In fresh attacks on energy facilities in the Gulf, the sprawling Al Ma’ameer oil facility in Bahrain was hit, causing a fire and damage.
Bahrain later said the fire at the oil facility had been brought under control, but the country’s state energy company Bapco declared force majeure after the strike, becoming the last Gulf producer to activate the legal clause, after Qatar and Kuwait.
Bahrain said another Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra injured 32 people overnight. All of the injured were Bahraini citizens and there were four “serious cases”, including children, the Ministry of Health said in a statement carried by the state news agency.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said the kingdom shot down and destroyed two waves of drones heading toward the Shaybah oil field in the country’s southeast. NATO said it had intercepted a second ballistic missile fired from Iran in Turkish airspace.
Explosions were also heard overnight Monday and later in Doha, and emergency sirens sounded in Manama, AFP journalists reported. Qatar said it intercepted 17 ballistic missiles and six drones launched from Iran, without reporting casualties.
Kuwaiti authorities announced a missile and drone attack and the Defense Ministry said its military was working to intercept the salvo. The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses detected 15 ballistic missiles, destroyed 12 and three fell into the sea, and intercepted 17 of 18 drones.
Meanwhile, two Emirati servicemen died after their helicopter crashed due to a “technical failure”, Abu Dhabi’s Defense Ministry said. The aircraft crashed while the crew was carrying out national duties within the country, he added.
The Emirati deaths bring to 23 the number of people killed in the Gulf since the war began, including 10 civilians. The latest attacks came after Washington ordered embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia, following a series of attacks on the kingdom.
A U.S. soldier died after suffering injuries during an attack last week in Saudi Arabia, the military said, raising the number of U.S. troops killed in the war to seven. Army Sergeant Benjamin Pennington, 26, was wounded at Prince Sultan Air Base.
Support for the new leader
Meanwhile, thousands of Khamenei supporters gathered in Tehran’s Enghelab Square to pledge allegiance to the new leader. The political establishment also supported Mojtaba Khamenei and pledged support for his leadership during a time of national crisis.
Security chief Ali Larijani said the appointment of the new supreme leader had left the United States and Israel in “desperation.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also pledged complete obedience to the new leader and declared that it was prepared to follow his orders.
The election of Mojtaba Khamenei appeared to dash hopes for a quick diplomatic resolution, with Iranian officials and advisers indicating that the conflict could continue for an extended period.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Tehran did not wish to harm American civilians during the conflict with the United States and Israel, and emphasized that the Iranian government distinguished between the American public and the political leadership in Washington.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said any discussion of ceasefire talks was irrelevant as long as military operations were ongoing. “At this particular point, talking about any issue other than defending our homeland is irrelevant,” Baghaei said, adding that Iran had not started the conflict but was responding to an imposed war.
He also rejected accusations that Iran had launched attacks against neighboring countries, including Türkiye, Cyprus and Azerbaijan, insisting that no offensives had been launched from Iranian territory towards those states.
Baghaei suggested that some incidents could have been organized to create divisions between Iran and neighboring countries, warning that such actions could be attempts to undermine regional relations.
