Iran says distrust, attacks on Lebanon are delaying diplomacy
"Negotiations are underway in an atmosphere of profound suspicion and mistrust, and messages are being exchanged within that climate," Mr Baghaei said.
Deep mistrust, shifting signals from Washington and Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon are slowing efforts to bring the US-Iran war to a close, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, describing diplomacy as bogged down in suspicion.
“Negotiations are underway in an atmosphere of profound suspicion and mistrust, and messages are being exchanged within that climate,” Mr Baghaei said.
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“The other side keeps altering its position and raising new or contradictory demands (…) it is only natural that this will lengthen the negotiations,” he said, adding that Tehran sees Israeli actions across the region, including in Lebanon, as inseparable from the US.
His remarks came as the US said it had struck Iranian military sites over the weekend, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had hit a US base in retaliation, marking the latest exchange in a three-month war that continues even as talks to end it drag on.
The weekend US strikes along Iran’s Gulf coast were carried out in response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” US Central Command said in a post on X.
“US fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defences, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters,” CENTCOM said, adding that it would continue protecting US assets and interests during the current ceasefire.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted an air base used by the US in response to the strike on southern Iran, though it did not name the facility.
In Kuwait, where the US operates a major base, air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks today as sirens echoed across the country, according to the state news agency KUNA, which gave no further details.
The war launched by the US and Israel on 28 February has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and sent economic shockwaves around the world by driving up energy prices after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump tells critics to stop the negative ‘chirping’
In a late-night social media post, US President Donald Trump made no reference to the latest hostilities and instead repeated his still-unproven assertion that Iran “really wants to make a deal”.
He lashed out at detractors, including what he called “seemingly unpatriotic Republicans”, accusing them of negative “chirping” about the push to end the war.
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end – It always does!” he said.
Political billboard showing US President Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz in Tehran
Mr Trump is facing mounting pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring down US gasoline prices before the November congressional elections, as voter frustration over rising costs grows. At the same time, any concession to Tehran risks provoking a backlash from Iran hawks within his own party.
Oil prices climbed about 2% in Asia as the absence of progress in negotiations left traders unsettled.
Mr Trump has said his central objective in the war is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon using its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has repeatedly denied seeking one.
The two sides remain divided on several other issues, including Tehran’s demand for sanctions relief and the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue frozen in foreign banks.
Israel’s war in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia remains another major obstacle.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he had ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon as fighting with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group continues.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Mr Netanyahu about diplomatic efforts involving Israel and Lebanon and has put forward a plan for “gradual de-escalation,” a US official said.
Iran hangs two men accused of leading protests in early 2026
Separately, Iran executed two men convicted over their role in unrest in Tehran in January 2026, including setting fire to a mosque, damaging public property and clashing with security forces, according to the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan.
Mizan named the men as Mehrdad Mohammadinia and Ashkan Maleki and said they were among the main perpetrators of an attack on the Jafari Mosque in Tehran’s Gisha neighbourhood.
Their death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court before the executions were carried out, Mizan said.
