Thai tanker passes Hormuz safely after coordination with Iran

Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said on Wednesday there have been no talks with the United States, while noting Pakistan is ready to host negotiations if both sides agree.

“We have heard such details through the media … but there have been no negotiations between the two countries, directly or indirectly,” Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam said, according to IRNA.

He added that Pakistan would be “ready and honored to host” talks if Tehran and Washington agree to negotiations.

Two naval cruise missile production sites in Tehran were struck in recent days, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

The sites were operating under Iran’s defense ministry and being used to develop and manufacture long-range naval cruise missiles capable of hitting targets at sea and on land.

The military said the strikes caused extensive damage to Iran’s cruise missile program and were part of a broader effort to weaken the country’s military production infrastructure.

Several locations across Iran were targeted early on Wednesday, with explosions and missile sounds reported in multiple cities, according to eyewitness accounts sent to Iran International.

In southwestern Iran, an explosion was heard around 5:00 a.m. near Andimeshk. In southeastern Iran, the sound of fighter jets and missile fire was reported at about 5:30 a.m. in Chabahar.

Witnesses also reported that several locations in Nowshahr, on Iran’s Caspian coast, were targeted. In Tehran, a building in the eastern part of the capital was reportedly hit at 2:12 a.m.

In southern Iran, a witness said three missiles were launched at about 1:00 a.m. from a missile site in Larestan, in Fars province, toward the west or southwest.

Tehran will not engage in negotiations and no agreement will be reached with its adversaries, said an Iranian military spokesman on Wednesday, mocking Washington’s talk of negotiations with Tehran.

The spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned pre-war energy prices would not return unless Washington accepted that regional stability is guaranteed by Iran’s armed forces, further asking: “Has the level of your internal struggle reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”

Ebrahim Zolfaghari used the remarks to reject the idea that Tehran was moving toward an agreement with Washington, saying: “People like us can never get along with people like you.”

Iranian representatives have told the Trump administration they have a high bar for returning to negotiations on a ceasefire deal, with the IRGC pressing demands including the closure of all US bases in the Persian Gulf and reparations for attacks on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Other demands were said to include a new arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz that would allow Iran to collect transit fees, guarantees that the war would not restart, an end to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, the lifting of all sanctions on Iran, and preserving Iran’s missile program without talks to limit it.

A US official described the demands to the Journal as “ridiculous and unrealistic.” The report said Arab and US officials believed the opening messages in the new diplomatic round were passed through Middle Eastern intermediaries late last week and that Washington and Tehran were not in direct contact.