Renewed war with US 'likely': Iran military official

A senior Iranian military officer said on Saturday that renewed fighting with the US was 'likely', hours after President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with an Iranian negotiating proposal.
Iran delivered the new draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, state media reported, without detailing its contents.
'At this moment I'm not satisfied with what they're offering,' Trump told reporters, blaming stalled talks on 'tremendous discord' within Iran's leadership.
'Do we want to go and just blast them and finish them forever — or do we want to try and make a deal?' he added, saying he would 'prefer not' to take the first option 'on a human basis'.
On Saturday morning, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military's central command, said 'a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely', in quotes published by Iran's Fars news agency.
'Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements,' he added.
Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Friday that his country had 'never shied away from negotiations', but would not accept an 'imposition' of peace terms.
The White House has declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments to a previous one putting Tehran's nuclear programme back on the negotiating table. The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during talks.
News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five per cent, though they remain about 50 per cent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting has continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separate truce with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed in strikes in the south, including in the town of Habboush, where the Israeli military had issued an evacuation warning.
In Washington, lawmakers were wrestling with a legal dispute over whether Trump had breached a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.
Administration officials argue that the ceasefire pauses for a 60-day limit, after which congressional authorisation would be required — a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.
Trump faces growing domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and midterm elections approaching.
'There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,' Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that the hostilities 'have terminated'.
In Iran, the war's economic toll is deepening.
Washington has imposed new sanctions on three Iranian currency firms and warned others against paying a 'toll' for safe passage through Hormuz, as demanded by Iran.
The US military says its blockade of Iranian ports has stopped $6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation in Iran, already high before the war, has surged past 50 per cent. — AFP