Iran on Tuesday (local time) denounced the most recent US strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations pressed on toward a possible deal to end the war, and the Islamic Republic began restoring internet access after one of the longest nationwide shutdowns ever.
The US military characterised Monday's strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and minelaying boats, and said the US acted with “restraint" in light of the weekslong ceasefire.
Iran's foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences,” without elaborating.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it shot down at least one drone and deterred another drone and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency. It didn't specify when the incidents occurred.
Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, used a statement about Islam's annual Hajj pilgrimage to address his country's confrontation with the US and Israel, declaring that other Mideast nations “will no longer serve as a shield” for US military bases. Iran has previously complained about US military facilities in the region and targeted them.
It was not immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations.
Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Qatar, where talks had been taking place. The report did not elaborate or point to any next steps. In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio projected that talks on extending the ceasefire and reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz will “take a few days".
Iranians get back online, to some extent
Meanwhile, Iranian authorities eased a monthslong internet shutdown that they cast as a wartime necessity, but that has cost the country's economy an estimated US$30 million (NZ$51 million) to US$40 million (NZ$68 million) a day. Internet users reported that access was gradually being restored, at least in some places. State media reported that fixed broadband service was partially restored. Mobile internet wasn't yet working.
Iran has long enforced filters and policed content on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. But before the war, Iranians could bypass restrictions with cheap virtual private networks, known as VPNs, and other easy workarounds.
Authorities cut off internet access in January during massive anti-government demonstrations and later began to relax those restrictions before imposing a complete internet blackout after the US and Israel attacked on Feb 28.
The internet outage made it difficult for Iranians outside the country to maintain contact with loved ones, and the lack of connectivity devastated the country’s relatively vibrant online businesses, putting further pressure on an already battered economy.
An execution in Iran
In other developments, Iran hanged a man it convicted of spying for Israel, the latest of more than two dozen allegedly espionage- and security-related executions since the war intensified a crackdown on dissent.
The Iranian judiciary’s news outlet, Mizanonline, identified the man as Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, calling him “a ringleader” for operations for Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and accusing him of recruiting members inside and outside Iran to work against the nation’s security. He was involved in sports and traveled to neighboring countries, according to the news agency.
Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge accusations and often are forced to confess.
The official judiciary agency said the country’s Supreme Court had upheld Shakarab's death sentence.
Global food official concerned about strait closure
The US strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.
Negotiations centre in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began. Once the fighting started, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships, shocking the global economy, disrupting energy markets and squeezing fertiliser supplies worldwide.
The full effect of the fertiliser crunch might not become clear until harvests that are months away. UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu, warned Tuesday at an event in Rome that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond".
The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran's nuclear programme and its highly enriched uranium. Iran wants the US to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.
In the nearby Gulf of Oman, an explosion was reported Tuesday aboard a tanker, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center. No one was injured, and there was no immediate information on the cause.
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