IRAN WAR LATEST: Iran calls new U.S. attack 'unlikely' but says ready to retaliate
· Toronto Sun
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday that it’s unlikely it will return to war with the United States, but noted they are ready for any attack.
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The statement came a day after Iran accused the U.S. of breaching a ceasefire that’s been in place since April, warning that it’s ready to return attacks after the most serious strikes since the truce took place.
The violence has continued in Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. Thirty-one people were killed after Israeli strikes on Tuesday.
Iran and the U.S. have been trading verbal jabs as they negotiate a deal with mediation efforts led by Pakistan. Neither side is ready to compromise on key sticking points such as the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program.
Here’s the latest on the Iran war on Wednesday:
Uranium not on negotiations agenda: Iranian official
Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said indirect negotiations continue with the U.S., but insisted the issue of enriched uranium stockpile wasn’t on the agenda just yet, CBS News reported.
“This issue is not on the agenda of the negotiations,” he said about the roughly 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium that is believed to be buried under one of Iran’s badly damaged nuclear facilities, according to Russian news agency TASS.
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously claimed Iran was ready to hand over the uranium to the U.S., but said on Monday Tehran could dispose of it inside the country or “at another acceptable location.”
Iran war drains U.S. military budgets
The U.S. military is struggling to carry out operations such as training and maintenance as the Iran war depletes its budgets and leaders press Congress for more funding, CNN reported.
The U.S. Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, told the House Armed Services Committee that his budget for this year “didn’t bake in (Operation) Epic Fury” and that “routine operations” have been impacted.
The military’s III Armoured Corps, saw nearly $292 million cut from its training budget in April, CNN reported.
The most recent estimate on the Iran war’s cost was about $29 billion, Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst III told the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel on May 12.
Dozens dead in Lebanon
Israel carried out strikes on Tuesday in southern Lebanon, killing 31 people, according to Beirut’s health ministry said, including at least four children.
Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to Lebanon, where an April 17 truce has failed to stop fighting that began when militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel in early March, per AFP .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed to “crush” Hezbollah, and an Israeli military official told AFP the following day that the country’s forces were expanding their ground operations deeper inside Lebanon.
Returning to war with U.S. unlikely
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a return to war with the U.S. was unlikely, while warning that Tehran stood ready against any attack.
The statement came a day after Iran accused the U.S. of breaking the ceasefire in place since April, warning it was ready to retaliate after the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.
“The possibility of war is low because of the enemy’s weakness, the armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines,” said Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, as quoted by Tasnim news agency, per AFP .
“Do not doubt that we will turn the area from Chabahar to Mahshahr into a graveyard for aggressors,” Akbarzadeh said, naming places at each end of Iran’s lengthy southern coast.