US, Iran negotiations stall

TEHRAN: The United States and Iran traded strikes on Monday as negotiations between the two sides stalled and Tehran again insisted any peace deal must also cover Israel's escalating offensive into Lebanon. Weeks of indirect talks marked by stark threats and several waves of air strikes have so far failed to agree an end to the war or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas.
Iran was suspending all exchanges with the United States via mediators on Monday, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported, as the two sides remained apart on a deal to end the Middle East war. 'Given the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) in Lebanon and considering that Lebanon was one of the preconditions for the ceasefire and that this ceasefire has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators,' Tasnim reported.
The latest exchange of fire coincided with Israel expanding its offensive into Lebanon, with Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing to push deeper into the country and instructing the military to strike targets in a southern district of Beirut. The United States has backed its ally's operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, while still trying to come to an agreement with Iran to end the war it launched in late February with strikes on Tehran, reopen Hormuz and impose controls on Iran's nuclear programme.
But Iran again said on Monday it had not yet reopened any nuclear negotiations and insisted that Israel must halt its offensive in Lebanon before any wider deal to end the war can be agreed. The US naval blockade on Iran's ports and the escalation in Lebanon were 'clear evidence of US non-compliance with the ceasefire', Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X.
- Essential conditions -
'We know when it is necessary to act on nuclear matters,' foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly news briefing. 'No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file. At this stage, our priority is ending the war.' 'We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war,' Baqaei said, adding: 'The United States is also violating the ceasefire, including this morning.'
The US military said it had carried out 'self-defence strikes' on Iranian radar and drone control sites over the weekend — its third such wave in just over a week — this time in response to the downing of a US MQ-1 drone. Shortly afterwards, Iran's Revolutionary Guards told state media they had targeted an airbase used by the US military from which the attack originated. The Guards did not identify the country said to be hosting the base, but the Kuwaiti military said its air defence had intercepted 'hostile missile and drone attacks'.
- Sticking points -
Iran was already in talks with the United States about the fate of its nuclear programme in February, when the US and Israel launched air and missile strikes that wiped out much of the Islamic republic's senior leadership and plunged the Middle East into war. While Tehran has long insisted that its nuclear programme is for purely civilian ends, the United States and its Western allies suspect it aims to develop am atomic weapon. Late on Sunday, Trump posted on social media that the deal under discussion 'states, very clearly, that Iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon'. Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear programme, and dismissed earlier Trump comments suggesting that its stockpile of enriched uranium would be destroyed.
Meanwhile, France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had encouraged his US counterpart Donald Trump to pursue his 'determined efforts' to reach a ceasefire deal with Iran to end the Middle East war. In a phone call on Sunday night, 'I welcomed the determined efforts he is making to swiftly reach an agreement between the United States and Iran, which represents a unique opportunity to build a new security framework that brings together all the parties concerned, in order to allow for lasting stabilisation of the region,' Macron said on X.
Tehran has said that a ceasefire in Lebanon remains a key condition for any deal with Washington, after Israel's military seized a medieval castle in south Lebanon as it expands ground operations against Hezbollah. 'I also welcomed President Trump's commitment to Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and underscored the importance of a robust ceasefire and of our collective support for the Lebanese authorities,' Macron wrote. — AFP