Iran said on Monday that it is fighting a “full-scale war” with the United States, as Washington widened attacks across Iran. Tehran, in turn, continued its strikes across the region, mainly on America’s Gulf allies and bases.
For now, Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni is set to travel to mediator Pakistan’s capital on Monday, a Pakistani source said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson also signalled on Monday that diplomatic exchanges with the United States — via mediators — were ongoing.
A joint de-escalation proposal by Pakistan and Qatar has meanwhile urged the US and Iran to return to their pre-July 9 positions “as a first step” to resume stalled talks to permanently end their months-long war, Pakistani government sources told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
The proposal, jointly drafted by Islamabad and Doha after “consulting regional partners,” called on both sides to return to the positions they held before the beginning of the fresh hostilities, the sources added.
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Bab al Mandab blockade
Global energy prices are expected to rise further after Yemen’s Houthi group announced a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, threatening the top oil exporter’s ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and use the Bab al Mandab Strait.
The move, if successful, will further disrupt a global energy market already significantly restricted by Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The Bab al Mandab is a major global chokepoint located between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
The blockade is also expected to hurt global markets that rely on Saudi Arabia — the world’s leading crude exporter, producing over 10 million barrels per day — for their energy imports.
