IRAN, US HARDEN THEIR POSITIONS
Tehran tightens its grip on Strait of Hormuz
A man removes rubble Thursday from his destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon.
WAR IN MIDDLE EAST
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and the United States appeared at an impasse Thursday, with each side hardening its position over talks and setting the stage for another potential escalation in the Middle East war.
Thousands more U.S. troops neared the region, Israel sent more troops into southern Lebanon to fight the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and Tehran tightened its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles and Gulf nations worked to intercept fire. Heavy strikes were reported in Iran's capital and other cities.
In a war that appears defined by who can take the most pain, the U.S. offered shifting and ambitious objectives, including ensuring Iran's missile and nuclear programs are no longer a threat and ending Tehran's support for armed groups in the region.
Washington at one point also pushed for the overthrow of Iran's theocracy.
While the U.S.-Israeli campaign hit Iran's military and government hard, killing top leaders and striking scores of targets, Iran continues to fire missiles and there is no sign of an uprising against the government.
For Iran's leadership, by contrast, merely outlasting the onslaught could be seen as victory. It might hope to get the U.S. to back down by roiling the world economy with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — raising prices at the pump for drivers, prices in the grocery store for families and costs for businesses the world over.
Short of a negotiated solution, the U.S. would need a dramatic escalation to end Iran's attacks and restore the free flow of goods through the strait, where 20% of all traded oil and natural gas is transported in peacetime. Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal put forth by the U.S., while putting forth its own demands.
President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed the U.S. presented a 15-point "action list" to Iran, delivered through Pakistan as a framework for a possible peace deal.
"If we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point, with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction … We have strong signs that this is a possibility, and if a deal happens, it will be great for the country, for Iran and the entire region and the world at large."
Trump extended his deadline Thursday for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to April 6. The president made the statement in a social media post. He also said he will hold off on bombing Iran's energy plants.
But a Gulf Arab bloc said Thursday that Iran is now exacting tolls from ships to ensure their safe passage through the waterway.
'Toll booth'
Iran blocks ships from the strait that it perceives as linked to the U.S. and Israeli war effort while it lets a trickle of others through.
Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, said Iran is charging for safe passage.
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi as saying that parliament is working to formalize that process and that it was "natural" for ships to pay for it.
Lloyd's List Intelligence called it a "de facto 'toll booth' regime," saying that at least two vessels paid in yuan, China's currency.
Iran's grip on the strait and relentless attacks on Gulf regional energy infrastructure sent oil prices skyrocketing and concerns of a global energy crisis surging. Brent crude, the international standard, was up Thursday more than 40% from Feb. 28 when the war started. Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called it a "catastrophe" for the world's economies.
Trump: Iran needs to 'get serious' about negotiations
Using Pakistan as an intermediary to Iran, Washington delivered a 15-point ceasefire proposal, which includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
A day after claiming Iran wants to cut a deal, Trump posted on social media Thursday that Tehran needs to "get serious soon" on negotiating an end to the war "before it is too late, because once that happens there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won't be pretty!"
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on state TV that his government hasn't engaged in talks to end the war and does not plan to.
Araghchi said the U.S. tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, "but that is not a conversation nor a negotiation."
Egypt is also acting as a go-between, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
Press TV, the English-language broadcaster on Iranian state television, said Iran has its own fivepoint proposal, which included reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, a group of ships drew closer to the Mideast with about 2,500 U.S. Marines. Also, at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne — trained to land in hostile territory to secure key territory and airfields — were ordered to the region.
Since the war began, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran, Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera.
Eighteen people have died in Israel, while three Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. At least 13 American troops have been killed. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states also died.
Authorities said almost 1,100 people died so far in Lebanon, where Israel targeted the Iranbacked Hezbollah militant group, which has fired into Israel. In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militant groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed.
