Iran says it’s ready to repel new U.S. attack with peace talks stalled as Trump arrives in China

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke Wednesday on the phone with his Pakistani counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and urged Pakistan to “maintain confidence,” and “step up mediation efforts” between the U.S. and Iran. They spoke just before President Trump touched down in Beijing for a summit with President Xi Jinping.

Dar has been among the key figures in Pakistan acting as intermediaries between Tehran and Washington, and despite recent tension over Pakistan allowing Iranian military aircraft to remain parked on tarmacs in the country, it has continued trying to cajole American and Iranian negotiators back into peace talks. 

Those talks appeared largely stalled as Mr. Trump arrived in China, two days after the U.S. president rejected Tehran’s response to the latest American peace proposal as “totally unacceptable.”

Wang, according to a brief readout of the phone call from a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, “commended Pakistan for facilitating U.S.-Iran talks and helping extend the temporary ceasefire. He expressed hope that Pakistan will maintain confidence, step up mediation efforts and contribute to properly resolving the issue of opening the Strait of Hormuz and the early restoration of regional peace, which is also the common aspiration of the international community.”

“China will continue to support Pakistan’s mediation efforts and make its own contribution toward this end,” spokesperson Lin Jian said.

Iran’s state-run IRIB television network reported Wednesday that the ship gridlock in the Strait of Hormuz amid the standoff with the U.S. was bringing new opportunities for local businesses in the country’s southern Hormozgan province.

An IRIB reporter broadcasting from the Iranian coastline on the strait said dozens of vessels were “still waiting in various anchorages in the Persian Gulf for Iran’s permission and coordination with the IRGC Navy to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.” 

And the crews of those vessels have needs, which enterprising local Iranian businesspeople have been working to meet, according to the reporter.

“The large presence of ships in this area and in the anchorages of Hormozgan Province has boosted some local businesses,” he said. “Services such as medical and health assistance, food supply, refueling, repair, and technical services are provided daily to more than 10 to 15 vessels.”

He said Iranians were ferrying to and from the ships “using small local boats,” with the halt to shipping through the strait creating “new job opportunities for coastal residents in Hormozgan Province.”

The rest of Iran, however, is suffering badly. After years of devastating economic sanctions, which remain in place, the U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports and vessels has severely hampered the country’s primary source of income, its oil and gas exports.

So while business may be booming for some locals around the Strait of Hormuz coastline, most Iranians continue to suffer with astronomical inflation that puts even basic goods out of reach for some.

Israeli strikes targeted two cars on Wednesday on a major highway linking Beirut to southern Lebanon, state media reported, in the latest violence to test a ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and Lebanon.

The attacks took place near Jiyeh, about 12 miles south of the capital, Lebanon’s National News Agency said, without specifying if there were casualties.

An photographer from the AFP news agency saw a burned-out car in the middle of the road and rescuers carrying a body. On Saturday, similar strikes targeted two other cars in the same area.

Israel has kept up airstrikes in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah despite the truce that took effect in mid-April. Israel’s military says it is responding to Hezbollah threats and attacks, while the U.S.-designated terrorist group claims it is only launching attacks in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.

On Tuesday, 13 people were killed in attacks on southern Lebanese towns, according to the country’s health ministry, which said a total of 380 people had been killed since the start of the ceasefire.

The Israeli military also issued new evacuation warnings for six villages in the Tyre region in anticipation of fresh attacks on Wednesday.

The violence came with Lebanon and Israel due to hold a new round of direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, brokered by the United States.

Iran’s national soccer team is making final preparations to head for the U.S. ahead of the World Cup, but visa issues could still disrupt those plans.

The team is currently at a training camp in Turkey, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, and they plan to fly to the U.S. in late May for a last round of international friendly matches before the tournament, which is being held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, starting on June 11. 

Coaching staff have voiced concerns about possible delays or refusals in U.S. visas being issued, however. The country’s soccer association president Mehdi Taj told state TV last week that the team has 10 conditions for attending the tournament, including all players and technical staff being granted visas, “especially those who have served their military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, such as Mehdi Taremi and Ehsan Hajsafi.”

The IRGC has long been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Taj was denied entry to Canada ahead of another soccer championship last month.

Iranian officials have also asked for their flag and anthem to be respected, and for security guarantees at airports, hotels and stadiums.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Iran’s soccer players will be welcome for the World Cup, but he warned that people with links to the IRGC could face restrictions on entering the country.

An Iranian commander says recent military drills around the country’s capital show the Islamic Republic’s forces are at a “high level of comprehensive readiness” to confront a new attack by the U.S. or Israel, “at any place and at any time.”

Brigadier General Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the Tehran region, said the five-day drills dubbed “Martyr Commander” demonstrated his troops ability “to confront any movement by the hostile enemy, the American and Zionist enemies, at any place and at any time with the shortest possible response time.”

Troops including special forces and IRGC commandos participated in the drills, which included exercising pre-planned operations “for confronting the enemy’s special operations … and unit tactics and techniques to confront the enemy in any terrain and in any situation.”

Tehran has set five preconditions for resuming negotiations with Washington to end the 75-day war launched by Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, including the lifting of sanctions and compensation for war-related damages.

The Tuesday report posted on Fars’ social media channels, citing an anonymous source, said Iran’s government had rejected the most recent U.S. 14-point proposal for a peace deal as a “demand for surrender,” calling it an attempt to secure through diplomacy what Washington had failed to achieve on the battlefield.

According to Fars, Iran will reengage in direct peace talks with the U.S. only on an agreement that includes an end to conflicts on all fronts, including Israel’s ongoing war with Hezbollah in Lebanon; the lifting of sanctions against Iran; the release of frozen Iranian financial assets; compensation for war-related damages; and recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran sees these as minimum requirements for negotiations to restart, but for the Trump administration, the latter two, at least, are likely to be non-starters. 

The only round of direct U.S.-Iran talks so far during the war took place in Pakistan in early April, but they ended without a deal. The fragile ceasefire that took hold on April 8 has been tested over the last week or so by naval clashes in the Strait of Hormuz and sporadic new Iranian attacks on U.S. Gulf allies.

President Trump declared the truce “on life support” earlier this week.

President Trump said he would ask his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to “open up” China to American firms during their high-stakes summit this week, but his desire to ramp up trade will have to contend with political friction over Taiwan and the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which already delayed the trip from March.

As he departed the White House Tuesday to head for Beijing, Mr. Trump said he expected a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its U.S.-sanctioned oil to China. But he also downplayed disagreements, telling reporters, “I don’t think we need any help with Iran” from China and that Xi had been “relatively good” on the topic.

Beijing is growing impatient for peace, however, with China’s foreign minister urging his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday to step up mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington.

Beijing has grown more confident and assertive since Mr. Trump’s trip there in 2017, and he may find himself in a weakened position as he seeks a way out of the Iran war. But the summit also comes at an uncertain time for China’s economy, which has struggled in recent years with sluggish domestic spending and a protracted debt crisis in the once-booming property sector.

CBS/AFP

Australia will join a “strictly defensive” mission led by France and Britain to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

The nation will contribute a Wedgetail E-7A surveillance aircraft, already deployed in the region to protect the United Arab Emirates from Iran drone attacks, Marles said after a meeting of 40 countries.

“Australia stands ready to support an independent and strictly defensive Multinational Military Mission, led by the United Kingdom and France, once it is established,” Marles said in a statement. The mission is aimed at demonstrating “a tangible commitment to the security of international trade,” he said.

Amid sharp criticism from President Trump at all NATO allies for declining to join offensive efforts against Iran, France and the U.K. began efforts to build a coalition of nations willing to help ensure the strait remains safe and passable after the war.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week he would speak to Mr. Trump about the mission, which comes as the U.S. military suspended its operation to guide commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf.

CBS/AFP

President Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that it’s “virtual TREASON” for the news media to say that Iran is doing well in the war.

“When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement,” Mr. Trump said. “They are aiding and abetting the enemy! All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country.”

Treason is defined in the U.S. Constitution as a crime when someone “owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere.”

The president said in the post, as he has previously maintained, that Iran’s navy and air force have been decimated by U.S. forces, and Tehran’s leaders “are no longer with us.”

“Only Losers, Ingrates, and Fools are able to make a case against America!” he said.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized media coverage of the U.S-Israeli war against Iran since the fighting began. In March, Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses after the president accused the media of falsely reporting on the war.

Inflation accelerated in April to an annual rate of 3.8%, the highest since May 2023, as the Iran war pushed up energy costs and raised prices across the economy.

The Consumer Price Index, which tracks price changes of goods typically purchased by consumers over time, shows inflation rose 0.6% in April from the prior month.

Energy prices were the major driver, accounting for 40% of the total CPI increase, according to the Labor Department. On an annual basis, gasoline prices jumped 28.4% from a year earlier.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 2.8% from a year earlier, suggesting price pressures are also spreading beyond fuel costs.

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