Trump to raise Iran with Putin, Xi as Hormuz tanker strikes continue

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei accused Washington of pursuing war crimes through its economic blockade of Iran, citing remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Iranians' need to eat.

In a post on X Saturday, Baghaei said Rubio's comments amounted to an open threat to starve Iranians and an admission that Washington was pursuing policies that violated international law.

Rubio said earlier this week that US sanctions and the naval blockade were increasing economic pressure on Tehran and could eventually force its leaders to reconsider their demands in negotiations.

Baghaei also accused Washington of repeating decades of failed policies toward Iran, invoking American historian Barbara Tuchman's book The March of Folly, which examines governments persisting with policies despite evidence of their failures.

Iran's National Security Council, with Mohsen Rezaei at its helm, is taking a greater role in diplomacy with Washington, while the Foreign Ministry's role has been redefined and the government moves into an advisory role, a senior conservative figure said Saturday.

Hamidreza Taraghi, international affairs deputy of the Islamic Coalition Party, one of Iran's oldest conservative political organizations with longstanding ties to the clerical establishment, told ISNA that recent meetings between Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Rezaei and senior military commanders signaled a new strategy for managing the confrontation with the United States and determining how to end the war.

Taraghi also said Iran's response to any future military attack had been defined as "unlimited," arguing that officials seeking negotiations or an agreement with Washington must adhere to the conditions set by the supreme leader. He said talks could prove futile if those conditions were not met.

He added that Iran's military capabilities and “mobilized public” would determine the terms of any ceasefire and the future regional order, which he said should be shaped by Tehran's regional allies. He argued that countries seeking a role in the new Middle Eastern order would have to join the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance.

Iran has held talks with countries including India on resuming oil exports and could quickly restore shipments to pre-sanctions levels if restrictions are lifted, its ambassador to New Delhi said Saturday.

In an interview with Indian news channel CNBC-TV18, Mohammad Fathali said negotiations and consultations were continuing, describing India as an important market for future energy cooperation.

India stopped importing Iranian oil in May 2019 after US sanctions waivers expired. Bilateral trade fell from $17.03 billion in 2018-19 to $4.7 billion the following year, a 72 percent decline. Trade stood at just $1.63 billion in 2025-26, according to the Indian broadcaster.

Fathali also described Chabahar port in southeastern Iran as a pillar of strategic cooperation with India, providing New Delhi with access to Afghanistan and regional trade routes.

The port's future has faced uncertainty since a conditional US sanctions waiver expired in April 2026. Fathali said Tehran remained committed to developing Chabahar, where India signed a 10-year agreement in 2024 to operate the port’s Shahid Beheshti terminal.

Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh dismissed Washington's threats of further economic sanctions, saying trade with neighboring countries was expanding despite US pressure.

Responding to recent remarks by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Saturday, Madanizadeh said American economic threats would prove ineffective and were intended to increase pressure on Iran.

He said all border crossings remained open and trade with neighboring countries was growing. He also said the value of Iranian exports had increased relative to their volume, indicating a shift toward higher-value products.

Madanizadeh added that imports of essential goods were being maintained and sufficient supplies were available in warehouses.

Iran's IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency released a short video on Saturday purporting to show the interception and destruction of an MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.

The agency had earlier reported that Iranian forces intercepted and destroyed a US reconnaissance and combat drone over the island.

The footage could not be independently verified.

Iran and the United States should immediately allow fertilizer shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to prevent millions of people in vulnerable countries from falling into poverty, a senior United Nations official said Saturday.

Speaking at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, called for a temporary arrangement allowing five fertilizer vessels to pass through the strait daily, independently of broader US-Iran negotiations.

"Basically what we need is five vessels a day with fertilizers."

He said a third of the world's fertilizers passed through the waterway before the conflict, while prices had risen 30 percent since the blockades began.

Moreira da Silva warned that shortages were already affecting countries including Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Nepal and Bangladesh. He said Sudan's finance minister had reported that food prices had doubled in six months, while farmers in Nepal were struggling to afford fertilizers.

Seven years after a fuel price rise set off one of the deadliest crackdowns in the Islamic Republic’s history, Iran is rationing gasoline more tightly, with lines at stations across the country, but it still dares not touch the subsidized price.

Esmail Sagheb Esfahani, a vice president who heads the state energy efficiency agency, admitted this week that “we really have a supply problem.” He told Iranians they could no longer count on fuel stations to cover what they need, and should save part of their monthly ration before traveling.

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The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Saturday it intercepted and destroyed two drones launched toward the Saudi capital Riyadh and the kingdom's southern region.

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of Iran's parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said on Saturday that renewed war remained a possibility unless diplomatic negotiations produced a breakthrough.

"The possibility of war still exists unless negotiations can lead to progress," he told the Iranian news website Fararu.

The lawmaker said Washington was using its blockade to weaken Iran and increase public dissatisfaction, hoping to pressure the country's leadership into negotiations.