The China Mail - Iran denies ship attack as Trump warns of renewed bombing, eyes deal

Tehran's embassy in Seoul said it "firmly rejects and categorically denies" allegations that its armed forces were behind a blast aboard the Panama-flagged HMM Namu, which caught fire on Monday while transiting the strategic waterway with 24 crew members on board.

Trump later claimed Iran had "taken some shots" at the vessel and urged South Korea to join US-led efforts to restore shipping through the strait.

The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, saw Iran respond with attacks across the Middle East and impose a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, rattling global energy markets.

Despite Trump's optimism, Iran has yet to respond to a new US proposal, with its chief negotiator warning that Washington was seeking to force the Islamic republic's "surrender."

Signs that the foes could return to the table after weeks of deadlock grew after Trump halted a short-lived military operation to reopen the strait, citing hopes for a deal.

- 'Very possible' -

"We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal," Trump told reporters Wednesday.

But he had warned earlier that if Iran did not honour what had been agreed, bombing would resume "at a much higher level and intensity."

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the US proposal remained "under review" and Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan "after finalising its views."

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has led Iran's negotiations, warned that Washington sought "through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country's cohesion in order to force us to surrender."

US news outlet Axios, citing two officials, reported both sides were close to agreement on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for nuclear negotiations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key figure in initial talks in Islamabad, said he was "very hopeful that the current momentum will lead to a lasting agreement that secures durable peace and stability for the region and beyond."

- Macron presses Tehran -

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call Wednesday that attacks on UAE civilian infrastructure and ships near the strait were "unjustified," urging all parties to lift their dual blockade in the waterway "without delay and without conditions."

Pezeshkian told Macron that any full reopening of the strait required the lifting of the US naval blockade, adding that "excessive demands, threatening statements, and failure to adhere to necessary frameworks by the United States have further complicated the path of diplomacy," according to the Iranian presidency.

The call came as France's aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle transited the Suez Canal en route to the southern Red Sea, where it will pre-position for a possible multinational mission to restore navigation in the strait.

The deployment was intended to send "a signal that not only are we ready to secure the Strait of Hormuz but that we are also capable of doing so," a Macron aide told reporters.

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading the initiative, which more than 40 countries have joined in military planning.

- Stocks surge -

Investors welcomed the pause in US escort operations through the strait, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs.

That led to Tokyo's Nikkei index soaring Thursday to lead another strong rally across Asia stocks. Oil prices also held the week's steep losses on hopes of a deal to end the war.

But in Tehran, one resident told Paris-based AFP journalists that the prospect of any deal with the current Iranian government was "terrifying."

"We've gone through so much hardship and suffering, and no achievements for the people?" said translator Azadeh, 43.

"I honestly just hope they finish this regime."

On the Lebanese front, Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs Wednesday in the first such attack in nearly a month, killing a senior Hezbollah commander from its elite Radwan force, a source close to the Iran-backed group told AFP.

At least 11 others were killed in strikes across the country's south and east, Lebanon's health ministry said.

The Israeli military said in a statement Thursday that an "explosive drone impact" had wounded four of its soldiers -- one severely -- in southern Lebanon the previous day.

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J.Thompson--ThChM