Middle East crisis Iran war

Iran: No Negotiations with US – We Will Continue Fighting

Iran is not negotiating with the US – neither now nor in the future. This was stated by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday, according to news agencies.

He did not deny that messages had been exchanged via mediators, but said that they did not constitute negotiations, according to Reuters.

“Our policy is to continue the resistance,” Araghchi said on state Iranian television, according to AFP.

The foreign minister also said that the Strait of Hormuz is not closed to shipping. The military is said to have piloted ships from allied countries through the strait.

“It is only closed to our enemies,” he said, according to AFP.

US President Donald Trump will have “all hell break loose” if Iran does not accept a peace deal, says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Sources: European countries unhappy with NATO chief's statements on Iran

NATO chief Mark Rutte's support for Donald Trump and the war in Iran has led to irritation in several European countries, diplomats tell the Financial Times.

This weekend, Rutte praised Trump's decision to attack Iran and said that Europe will eventually unite and stand behind the United States. He also stressed that the allies support Trump's actions in the Middle East.

- It puts us in a very difficult situation, says an EU source.

Three sources express concern that the difference between Rutte's attitude towards Trump and the stance of European countries is large.

Iran's new statement against the United States: "Negotiating with yourselves"

Iran is hitting back at reports that the United States has sent a 15-point plan to end the war, Reuters reports. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, a spokesman for the Iranian military, says that Iran will never come to an agreement with the United States.

– Have your internal conflicts gone so far that you are now negotiating with yourselves? he says.

Reuters, like the New York Times and Israel's Channel 12, has information that the United States has drawn up a plan and that it has been sent to Iran.

The plan includes letters stating that the important Strait of Hormuz must remain open and that Iran must never pursue nuclear weapons.