► Trump threatens to “completely destroy” Iran if he tries to assassinate it
The day of Saturday July 11 began under maximum pressure from American President Donald Trump who threatened on Friday to “decimate and completely destroy” Iran if the government of that country tried to have him assassinated.
“1,000 missiles are ready to fire and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and thousands more will immediately follow if the Iranian government carries out its threat, proclaimed to the four corners of the globe, to assassinate or attempt to assassinate the sitting President of the United States of America, that is, ME! », Wrote Donald Trump on his social network Truth.
“The orders have already been given, and the US military is ready, willing and able, for a period of one year, which may be extended, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran,” he added.
► Iran says it “kept its word”, Trump maintains that the ceasefire is “finished”
Mediators between Iran and the United States at the same time tried on Saturday to put diplomacy back on track after a new bout of violence, on the ground as well as in words, despite the memorandum of understanding signed in June between the two enemy countries.
Iran said on Saturday that it had “kept its word” to the United States since signing a ceasefire memorandum of understanding. However, clashes resumed on Tuesday between Iranians and Americans. The strikes exchanged since then by the two enemies have been the most significant since the signing on June 17 of a memorandum of understanding aimed at finding a definitive end to the war triggered on February 28 by an Israeli-American attack against Iran.
Donald Trump again affirmed Friday evening that this ceasefire was “finished”, while agreeing to continue talking with Tehran. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue + discussions +. We agreed to do so, but the United States told them, in unequivocal terms, that the ceasefire was OVER! “, declared the American president.
Tehran “has not made any request”, the spokesperson for Iranian diplomacy insisted, while announcing that Mr. Araghchi would go to Oman on Saturday to discuss the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic maritime passage at the heart of the dispute with the United States.
Tehran authorizes a single navigation corridor along its coasts, and excludes any return to the pre-war situation, when passage was free in this strait through which a fifth of the world’s hydrocarbon trade normally passed.
► Lebanon: at least one dead in an Israeli strike in the south
An Israeli strike left one dead during the night from Friday to Saturday in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media announced, despite a truce with the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah in force since June. “A young man from the town of Nabatiyé was martyred in a raid carried out by an enemy drone which targeted him this afternoon, while he was riding a motorcycle,” said the Lebanese news agency ANI.
She reported other strikes in the area. The Israeli army, for its part, indicated that it had killed two individuals in the Nabatiyé region. In a statement, it explained that it had led an airstrike against “a Hezbollah terrorist who was operating near an access point to an underground terrorist infrastructure on the Ali al-Taher Ridge”. Ali al-Taher Ridge is located near the town of Nabatiyé, in an area of southern Lebanon where the Israeli army maintains troops.
A ceasefire came into force on June 21, before the signing on the 26th of a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel with a view to a “lasting peace”. The framework agreement provides for the Lebanese army to begin deploying in areas from which Israel, which occupies part of the south, would withdraw, subject to the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Discussions between Israeli and Lebanese officials are also planned in Rome on July 15 and 16 under American mediation. Hezbollah, which dragged Lebanon into the regional war in March in support of Tehran, is opposed to direct negotiations with Israel and refuses to be disarmed.
