Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks with the United States were not on the agenda as the Islamic republic launched new attack at Israel and Gulf Arab countries in a war that has impacted the region and beyond, sent oil prices surging and stunned global economies.
"I don't think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore," Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a "very bitter experience" during previous negotiations with the U.S.
He insisted that Iran was acting in "self-defence."
"We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes," he said.
Late on March 9, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
"China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us," he told state TV. "Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire."
Meanwhile, sirens warned of incoming missiles in Dubai and Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia said it destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait's National Guard said it shot down six drones.
Later in the morning, sirens also sounded in Jerusalem, and sounds of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel's defense systems worked to intercept incoming fire, not long after the military said it detected an Iranian missile launch.
“We are definitely not looking for a ceasefire,” Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, wrote defiantly on X. "We believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again.”
Along with firing missiles and drones at Israel and at American bases in the region, Iran has also been targeting energy infrastructure which, combined with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, sent oil prices soaring.
Brent crude, the international standard, spiked to nearly $120 on March 9 before falling back but was still at around $90 a barrel yesterday, nearly 24 percent higher than when the war started on Feb. 28.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has previously said that the war could last for a month or longer, sought to downplay growing fears that it could take even longer, saying it was “going to be a short-term excursion.”
The war has choked off major supplies of oil and gas to world markets and sent fuel prices rising.
Iran has effectively stopped tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman — the gateway to the Indian Ocean — through which 20 percent of the world's oil is carried.
In a post on social media, Trump seemed not to acknowledge that, saying, "If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far."
