Amid reports that Trump was greatly dissatisfied with Tehran’s “stupid proposal” to Washington’s ceasefire proposal, Iranian Parliamentary Commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei, on Tuesday, May 12, said that one of their responses in the event of another attack, “could be 90 per cent enrichment.”
“We will review it in the parliament,” he wrote on X.
According to officials, Tehran’s proposal included some nuclear concessions. However, the stalled diplomacy and recent sporadic exchanges of fire could tip the Middle East back into open warfare and prolong the worldwide energy crisis sparked by the conflict. Iran still has a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments, and America is blockading Iranian ports.
Iran’s proposal included far-reaching demands
Iran’s proposal asked that the US recognise its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, formalising its control over the international waterway. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the start of the war, allowing only a small number of ships to pass and charging tolls.
But experts say such an arrangement would likely violate international law that provides for freedom of navigation. That proposal is also likely to be widely rejected by the international community. The strait was open to international traffic before the war.
Iran is also demanding war reparations from the US, the lifting of international sanctions, the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad and an end to the war between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to Iranian state TV.
“We did not demand any concessions — the only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday. “The American side still insists on its one-sided views and unreasonable demands.”
Israel bombs Lebanon’s Nabatieh with 4 strikes
With four consecutive air strikes, Israel has bombed Jebchit town in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh region. The air attacks were quickly followed by artillery shelling that targeted the town, the National News Agency reported.
The Israeli military also launched strikes in an area surrounding the mosque in Jebchit, it added.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 2,869 people had been killed and more than 8,700 injured since violence escalated in March, including hundreds killed after the truce formally took effect in April.
Oil Minister Hardeep Puri dispels any fuel supply concerns
Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday assured that there is no fuel supply issue and said the government has ramped up LPG production from 35,000-36,000 tonnes/day to 54,000 tonnes amid the West Asia conflict.
Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit, Puri said there is no LPG supply issue and that the country has 69 days of crude oil, 45 days of LNG, and 45 days of LPG stock.
“LPG production has been ramped up from 35,000-36,000 tonnes/day to 54,000 tonnes amid the West Asia conflict,” he said.
The Oil Minister said PM Narendra Modi’s austerity appeal should be taken as a wake-up call and urged everyone to start thinking of “measures” to lessen fiscal strain from the West Asia conflict.
Modi on Sunday, May 10, called for judicious use of fuel, postponement of gold purchases and foreign travel, among other measures, to strengthen the economy.
Israel is planning production of suicide drones to retaliate against Hezbollah
Israel’s Army Radio reported that the nation is building a military factory to mass-produce suicide drones to counter Hezbollah’s explosive drones.
“Hezbollah’s explosive drones pose a strategic difficulty for (Israeli) forces in southern Lebanon and on the northern border, and since the ceasefire began, those drones have claimed the lives of many fighters and civilians in the area,” the Army Radio said.
The fibreoptic drones used by Hezbollah are immune to electronic jamming and invisible to radar, completely bypassing it. In recent weeks, the drones have tested Israel’s sophisticated radar system, and the low-cost attack drone pierced through Israel’s defence systems worth USD billions.
Pakistan parked Iranian planes on its airbases to escape US airstrikes: report
Pakistan, which is playing mediator to end the US-Iran war, allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields to shield them from American airstrikes, CBS News reported in Washington, quoting US officials.
The report also claimed that Iran had parked its civilian aircraft in neighbouring Afghanistan to protect it from US airstrikes.
Reacting to the report, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for a complete re-evaluation of Pakistan’s role as a mediator to end the US-Iran war that broke out on February 28 and has been put on pause since April 8.
“If this reporting is accurate, it would require a complete reevaluation of the role Pakistan is playing as mediator between Iran, the United States and other parties,” Graham, the Senator from South Carolina, said in a post on X.
“Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defence officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true,” Graham said.
Iran keeps up its executions
Iran has executed a person affiliated with the Baloch armed group, Ansar al-Furqan, working from the country’s southeastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, reported the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Abdoljalil Shahbaksh, the suspected fighter, was convicted of armed rebellion against security forces and membership in a “terrorist group,” and the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
Iran has carried out a string of executions since nationwide protests swept the country in January. Activist groups have long accused Iran of carrying out closed-door trials during which defendants are unable to fully defend themselves. Iran’s judiciary chief has repeatedly said that Tehran would increase the speed with which it carried out hangings to fight back against its enemies at home and abroad.
Israel issues forced displacement notices in 4 villages, towns in Lebanon
The Israeli army has yet again issued forced displacement notices for multiple villages and towns in southern Lebanon while it continues its military actions despite the ongoing “ceasefire.”
The most recent attack targeted villages and towns of Arzoun, Tayr Debba, Bazouriyeh, and al-Haush. Residents were asked to flee before Israel initiated military action in the areas.
Asian shares trade mixed after Wall Street rally
Asian shares traded mixed early Tuesday as optimism encouraged by a record rally on Wall Street clashed with anxiety about surging oil prices and a possible AI bubble.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.7 per cent to 62,881.03. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.2 per cent to 7,726.30, in what analysts are categorising as fallout from overreliance on fraying AI hopes.
“Global equities remain dangerously dependent on a tiny cluster of AI leaders, creating a rally structure that looks powerful on the surface but increasingly fragile underneath,” said Stephen Innes, analyst with SPI Asset Management.
He believes South Korea may be among the first major economies that will undergo what he called “the political redistribution phase of the AI boom.”
Pakistan still trying to negotiate a deal
Two regional diplomats familiar with the ongoing talks said that Pakistan was continuing its efforts to broker a compromise.
One of the diplomats said Pakistan was trying to arrange a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and paving the way for a broader dialogue on issues where the two sides remain divided.
Pakistan had hoped to help finalise the memorandum last week, but the effort did not materialise, and mediators are still working on various proposals, the diplomat said.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes diplomacy, added that Islamabad is receiving support from other regional countries in its peace efforts.
Trump, Xi appear intent on keeping differences over Iran war from overshadowing China summit
Trump on Tuesday is set to leave for Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping after weeks of trying, and failing, to persuade the Chinese government to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to US terms to end the two-month-old war, or at the very least, reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has veered between venting that China, the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, hasn’t done more to get the Islamic Republic in line, and acknowledging that Xi’s government helped de-escalate the conflict last month by nudging Tehran back to ceasefire talks when negotiations wobbled.
But ahead of the US leader’s high-stakes visit, the White House has set low expectations that Trump will be able to persuade Xi to change China’s posture.
Instead, the administration seems determined not to let differences on Iran overshadow efforts to make headway on other difficult matters in the complicated relationship, ranging from trade to further Chinese cooperation to block exports of fentanyl precursors.
UK sanctions Iranian entities accused of deploying criminal proxies
Organisations and individuals accused of enabling hostile Iranian activity, including in the form of criminal proxies on British soil, are among those hit with new UK sanctions.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the new measures on Monday come in response to Iranian action against global security and its use of criminal gangs to carry out threats overseas.
They are designed to target illicit finance flows which enable the Iranian regime to pursue destabilising action across West Asia, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is disrupting the global economy and military strikes against the UK’s Gulf allies.
(With inputs from agencies)
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