WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/CAIRO — US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday (March 31) the next few days in the war against Iran would be decisive and warned Tehran that the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal.Iran's Revolutionary Guards hit back with a new threat against US companies in the region starting Wednesday.
Damage to the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi crude oil tanker, following a reported strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran on March 31.WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/CAIRO — US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the next few days in the war against Iran would be decisive and warned Tehran that the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards hit back with a new threat against US companies in the region starting Wednesday.Hegseth, who reported he visited US troops in the Middle East on Saturday, said President Donald Trump was willing to make a deal with Iran to end the war. Talks were ongoing and gaining strength, but the US was prepared to continue the war if Iran did not comply, he said. "We have more and more options, and they have less ... in only one month we set the terms, the upcoming days will be decisive," Hegseth said in Washington.Responding to the threat against American corporate interests, a White House official said the US military was "prepared to curtail any attacks". Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday he has been receiving direct messages from US special envoy Steve Witkoff but they do not constitute "negotiations", Qatar's Al Jazeera TV cited him as saying.The month-long conflict has spread across the region, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and threatening to send the global economy into a tailspin. Trump threatened on Monday to obliterate Iran's energy plants if it does not agree to a peace deal and open the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil shipments that has effectively been blocked by Iran. The US president on Tuesday criticised countries that have not helped the US war effort, such as Britain. In a social media post, he said that in response to the global fuel shortage, these countries should buy energy from the US or find "some delayed courage, go to the strait and just take it". France and Italy have pushed back against some US-Israeli military operations, sources said, highlighting how divisions between Nato allies have been exposed by the war. Pope Leo urged Trump on Tuesday to look for an "off-ramp" to the war, in an unusual direct appeal from the pontiff to the president. "Hopefully he's looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence," the pope told journalists outside his residence near Rome.Iran on Monday struck a fully loaded oil tanker off Dubai and set it ablaze. The fire was brought under control. It was Iran's latest attack on merchant vessels in the Gulf or in the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel launched the war on Feb 28.Tight global supplies pushed Brent crude oil futures up a record 64 per cent to about US$118 in March. Higher oil and fuel prices have also started to weigh on US household finances and are a political headache for Trump and his Republican Party before November midterm elections. The US national average retail price of gasoline crossed US$4 a gallon for the first time in over three years on Monday, data from price-tracking service GasBuddy showed. But the Brent contract for June settled down US$3.42 on Tuesday at US$103.97 a barrel following unconfirmed media reports that Iran's president said the country was ready to end the war, assuming some guarantees were put in place.All three major US indexes rallied after the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Trump told aides he was willing to end the campaign even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed.US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington that the US was further degrading and destroying Iran's capabilities. He said the US military was continuing to strike key manufacturing and research sites and had taken out over 150 Iranian naval vessels.With attacks showing no sign of easing,The foreign ministers of China and Pakistan on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire, urging peace talks to be held as soon as possible after they met in Beijing.The Israeli military said on Tuesday it completed a wave of strikes targeting 20 weapons manufacturing sites and a research and development site in Iran. The war has continued to spread, with Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen entering the war by firing at Israel. Turkey reported on Monday that a ballistic missile launched from Iran had entered Turkish airspace before being shot down. The war has also revived conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, while Iran, which has the highest casualty toll in the war, has fired at targets in Gulf Arab states, where the US has military bases.
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