Tehran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran still wants a negotiated solution to its conflict with the United States, even as the two countries resumed hostilities and oil prices rose sharply.
Speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Kyrgyzstan, Pezeshkian said continuing the war was in nobody’s interest and called for dialogue and cooperation to prevent the conflict from spreading.
His remarks came a day after US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island, according to a US official. Iran subsequently struck two US bases in Jordan, Iranian media reported. Two people were killed and others injured in the Larak attack, Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted the local governor as saying.
The renewed fighting followed weeks of escalating US sanctions against Tehran and its business partners, while diplomatic efforts remained stalled.
Tensions also rose after US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video that he claimed showed Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub being destroyed. Reuters found the footage was most likely synthetically generated, while a US official said the military had not targeted Kharg Island.
Iranian officials dismissed Trump’s post as laughable. National Iranian Oil Company chief Hamid Bovard said conditions on Kharg remained calm and oil operations continued.
Kharg handled about 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war began on February 28. Any attack on the facility could severely disrupt energy trade and intensify economic pressure on Tehran.
“Continuing the war is in no one’s interest, neither ours, nor the region’s, nor humanity’s.” — Masoud Pezeshkian
“We believe the solution to the existing issues is dialogue and cooperation.” — Masoud Pezeshkian