TEHRAN, May 03 (Agencies): Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that the United States (US) faced a choice between an "impossible" military operation or a "bad deal" with the Islamic republic.
The Middle East war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan.
Negotiations have since stalled as the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has kept the key Strait of Hormuz largely closed.
The Guards intelligence organisation said that US President Donald "Trump must choose between 'an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran'", in an online post carried by state television.
Meanwhile, Iran’s latest proposal to the United States calls for issues between the two countries to be resolved within 30 days and aims to end the war rather than extend the ceasefire, according to Iran’s state-linked media.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was reviewing a new Iranian proposal to end the war but also expressed doubt it would lead to a deal.
Iran’s 14-point proposal calls for an end to the war, rather than just an extension of the truce. The proposal, a rebuttal to the U.S. nine-point plan, also calls for the U.S. lifting sanctions on Iran, ending the naval blockade, withdrawing forces from the region, and ceasing all hostilities, including Israel’s operations in Lebanon, according to the semiofficial Nour News agency, which has close ties to the country’s security organizations.
Earlier, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Sunday demanded that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and give up its nuclear weapons programme in a telephone call with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.
"I emphasised that Germany supports a negotiated solution," Wadephul said in a post on X about the call.
"As a close US ally, we share the same goal: Iran must completely and verifiably renounce nuclear weapons and immediately open the Strait of Hormuz, as also demanded" by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Wadephul said.
Israel strikes Lebanon, kills one and wounds rescuers
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least one person and wounded four rescuers on Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel maintained its attacks on the country despite a fragile truce in its war with Hezbollah.
In separate statements, the ministry said a strike on Arabsalim killed at least one person and wounded three, including a child, and another strike on Srifa wounded five people including four rescuers from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, as the strike hit near one of their centres.
"The Ministry reiterates its condemnation of these repeated attacks and recalls what is included in Article 19 of the Geneva Convention regarding the need to verify that medical facilities are safe from any danger caused by attacks in conflict zones, while what is happening is exactly the opposite."
Israel's military on Sunday issued new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond the area it occupies.
The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops.
Arabsalim and Srifa were included in the warning.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, including on towns not mentioned in the evacuation warning.
Since April 17 a fragile ceasefire has been in place between Israel and Lebanon, which was aimed at pausing the violence between the Hezbollah militant group and Israel's military.
On Wednesday Israel's military chief of staff Eyal Zamir had threatened to strike Hezbollah "beyond the yellow line," which marks the area of Israeli control.
"Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces - including beyond the Yellow Line and north of the Litani - will be eliminated," he said during a visit to Israeli troops.
The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks."
In the past week two soldiers and an army contractor have been killed by drone attacks in the area, with dozens of soldiers wounded.
Hezbollah has recently begun using cheap drones controlled by fiber-optic cable, making them largely immune to electronic jamming, to conduct daily attacks.
These drones have a range of several dozen kilometers, which puts Israeli troops in Lebanon and communities in northern Israel under threat.
The group on Monday said it targeted Israeli troops in Bayada, southern Lebanon, with a drone in response to Israel's "violation" of the ceasefire.
The United States has called for direct peace negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on Wednesday for Israel to fully implement the ceasefire before the talks can take place.
Hezbollah is strongly opposed to direct talks, with lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah saying on Sunday that the group was "capable of thwarting all the objectives of these negotiations, which increase the sharp division in the country between the factions of our people and within the state itself."
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