Washington and Tel Aviv threaten Iran with a decisive operation

The United States and its Israeli ally threatened yesterday to resume strikes against Iran in order to force the Islamic Republic to return to the negotiating table. Despite the truce and initial talks on April 11 in Islamabad, diplomacy is still struggling to prevail.

According to the American site Axios, President Donald Trump was to be briefed by Centcom (US Central Command) commander Brad Cooper on possible new military operations against Iran. The goal is to carry out a decisive military action.

The options presented to him by the Centcom chief include a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure, but also the possibility of taking control of the Strait of Hormuz, possibly with the participation of US ground forces, according to the site, which cites two sources close to the matter.

The specter of a return to strikes has prompted some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, to issue fresh warnings to their citizens, asking them to avoid traveling to Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. It has encouraged those who are there to leave.

Although a ceasefire has been in effect since April 8, the United States is imposing a blockade on Iranian ships in retaliation for Tehran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's consumed hydrocarbons transited before the conflict.

Echoing the reports from Washington, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Tel Aviv might “have to act again” against Iran so that it does not “become a threat to Israel again” .

The Iranian response was not long in coming: incendiary statements followed one another late in the day. Starting with the Supreme Leader, who claimed that the United States had suffered a “shameful defeat” against his country: “Two months after the largest military deployment and aggression led by the tyrants of this world in the region, and after the shameful defeat of the United States, a new chapter is opening” for the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared in a written message. Wounded in strikes, he has not been seen in public since his appointment.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, for his part, denounced the American blockade, which he said he views as an “extension of American military operations” .

The same victorious tone was heard from the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Majid Moussavi, who warned on state television that even a “brief” enemy operation would lead to “painful, prolonged, and extensive strikes” .

Major energy crisis

The war of words was quick to sow panic in the markets. The rise in tensions sent oil prices soaring: Brent crude briefly surpassed $126 a barrel on Thursday, an unprecedented level since 2022, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Indeed, the repercussions of the blockade of Hormuz are being felt a bit more every day by the global economy, amid creeping shortages, surges in inflation, and downward revisions in growth.

“The world is facing the most severe energy crisis in its history,” judged the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed alarm at the “stranglehold” on the global economy due to the paralysis of the strait. And the European Central Bank warned against the “intensification” of risks to inflation and growth in the eurozone.

Lebanese-Israeli talks “within two weeks”

On the Lebanese front, 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south of the country, while President Joseph Aoun condemned Israel's “persistent violations” of the truce, which went into effect on April 17.

“Israeli violations persist in the south despite the ceasefire, along with the demolition and leveling of homes and places of worship, as the number of victims climbs day by day,” President Aoun denounced.

At the political level, the gap continues to widen between President Aoun, who is determined to conduct direct negotiations with Israel, and Hezbollah, which opposes them and is campaigning against him.

President Trump announced during a press conference on Thursday a resumption of talks between Lebanese and Israelis in Washington “within two weeks,” while in Beirut, the US Embassy stressed on its X account that Lebanon today is “at a historic turning point” .

According to the embassy, the upcoming dialogue represents for the country “a historic opportunity, allowing its people to take matters back into their own hands and build a sovereign and independent nation” .

For the US Embassy, direct negotiations will allow Lebanon to have “solid guarantees for a restoration of national sovereignty, the preservation of its territorial integrity, and the security of its borders” .

They are also likely to “ensure humanitarian and reconstruction support” .

Affirming that Washington is willing to support Lebanon in this task, the embassy encourages the country to “be the sole master of its own destiny” .