Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran should reach a deal with Washington to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran has virtually blocked the main waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas normally passes, since the war began.
AFP analysis of maritime data showed that of the few ships that managed to cross, the vast majority belonged to Iran, with 60 percent of commodity-bearing ships either coming from or bound for Iran.
Iranian military spokesman Ibrahim Zolfgari warned that Iran would increase its attacks on energy sites in the region in response to Trump’s threats of attacks on infrastructure.
On Friday, a drone strike sparked a fire at a refinery owned by Kuwait’s national oil company, while a separate Iranian strike damaged a power and desalination complex.
Bahrain said four of its citizens suffered “minor injuries” after being hit by shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian drone.
And one person was killed and four others were injured in a fire caused by debris from a blocked attack at a gas complex in the United Arab Emirates.