By Elis Gjevori and Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
- Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says the United States continues to have “unreasonable demands”, adding that Iran’s response to the US proposal, that Tehran sent to Pakistan yesterday, “was not excessive”.
- US President Donald Trump slams Iran’s response to Washington’s peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”.
Iran backs Chinese president’s four-point proposal for peace
Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s ambassador to China, says Tehran has shown its readiness to support President Xi’s four-point proposal for peace in the Middle East.
Iran’s support for the Chinese plan, Fazli wrote, is “aimed at establishing lasting security and shared development in the Persian Gulf region, an issue that was also emphasized during the meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries”.
Earlier, in a meeting with UAE President Zayed Al Nahyan in Beijing, President Xi had proposed a four-point plan for upholding and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East.
Latest updates
- A Palestinian man has been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
- Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least four people and wounded five.
- The Israeli military issued new threats for southern Lebanon, warning residents of nine areas to move out ahead of attacks.
- A second Qatari LNG tanker is transiting the Strait of Hormuz days after the first such cargo crossed under an arrangement involving Iran and Pakistan, according to LSEG shipping data seen by Reuters.
- Iran’s FM is expected in New Delhi on May 14 for the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, according to Indian media reports.
At least 2,869 people killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least 2,869 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since resumption of fighting on March 2.
It added that a further 8,730 have been wounded.
‘Trump buying time in talks to resume war’
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at Iran’s University of Applied Sciences and Technology, said that Tehran believes the US “is not serious about talks and just killing time” as it prepares to resume war.
“The demands by Washington are so unrealistic. They want to earn something in the talks that they couldn’t in the war,” Khoshcheshm told Al Jazeera, adding that Tehran does not take Trump as a reliable partner in any negotiation.
“Iran has always been present at the negotiating table. It has never left,” he said. “The US is not willing to have serious talks.
“The door has been closed from the American side.”
Tehran is prepared for returning to the war if it is brought upon it, he said, adding that “the clashes in the Persian Gulf last week show that Iranians are fully prepared in order to return any kind of attack with full force”.
