Trump warns Iran to accept defeat “before it’s too late” as Israel says key commander killed

President Trump warned the Iranian regime on Thursday to “get tough soon” and reach an agreement to end the war, “before it’s too late.”

Calling the Iranian officials the US is apparently negotiating with “very different and ‘strange,'” Mr. Trump said in his post this morning on Truth Social that Tehran was “begging” for a negotiated resolution to the war, but noted their public rejection of the proposed US policy.

They are “begging” us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they are out of the military, with absolutely no chance of return, but they publicly say that they are ‘considering our proposal.’ WRONG!!! “They better act fast, before it’s too late, because once that happens, there’s NO GOING BACK, and it won’t be good!,” said Mr. Trump.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday an Israeli airstrike killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, confirming earlier Israeli media reports.

“Last night, in a direct and deadly operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the army of the Revolutionary Guards, Tangsiri, and the top officers of the navy,” Katz said in a video statement.

“A man who was directly involved in terrorist mining operations and blocking the Strait of Hormuz from shipping was blown up and killed.”

The IRGC is believed to be responsible for Iran’s war effort, which includes ongoing missile and drone attacks on Gulf states and airstrikes on airfields that have blocked the passage of several international ships over the past 26 days.

Just two days ago, Tangsiri announced that a container ship from the port of Sharjah in the UAE “was turned back due to failure to comply with legal regulations and lack of authorization to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Attacks on ships appear to have stopped last week, with the latest confirmed incident reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center coming on March 19.

CBS/AFP

Asian shares traded lower and oil prices rose to around $100 a barrel on Thursday as any de-escalation of the Iran war remained deeply uncertain.

US futures fell 0.5%. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was trading 0.3% lower at 53,603.65. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.2% to 5,460.46. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.9% to 24,856.43, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 1.1% to 3,889.08.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1%, while Taiwan’s Taiex traded up 0.3%.

Oil prices rose again on Thursday, on the other hand. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.3% to $100.41 per barrel. It was less than $95 on Wednesday. Benchmark US crude was up 3.8% at $93.74 a barrel.

With the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway between Iran and Oman through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes, remaining largely closed after the start of the Iran war, oil prices have fluctuated, rising nearly 40 percent since the start of the war, which is now in its fourth week.

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite up 0.8%.

CBS/AP

An Israeli soldier was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the army said, after the army announced it was carrying out an operation against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“Sergeant Ori Greenberg, 21, from Petah Tikva, a soldier of the Reconnaissance unit, Golani Brigade, fell during the fighting in southern Lebanon,” the army said.

In all, three Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon since Hezbollah plunged the country into war with rocket attacks on Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s top leader.

Israeli media, including the Times of Israel, cited anonymous sources Thursday as saying that the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, was killed in the latest targeted killing by Israeli forces.

The Channel 12 network said Tangsiri was killed along with all other senior members of the IRGC’s naval command.

The Israeli military did not immediately confirm these reports, but they have killed a number of senior Iranian military commanders since the war began on February 28., and Tangsiri was among the most important Iranian figures after the continuous closure of the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.

Just two days ago he announced that a container ship from the port of Sharjah in the UAE “was turned back due to failure to comply with legal regulations and lack of authorization to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The IRGC is believed to be responsible for Iran’s war effort, which includes ongoing missile and drone attacks on Gulf states and airstrikes on airfields that have blocked the passage of several international ships over the past 26 days.

Those ship attacks appear to have stopped last week, with the latest confirmed incident reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center coming on March 19.

Two people were killed Thursday by debris from an Iranian missile intercepted near Abu Dhabi, UAE, while Saudi Arabia said it shot down at least 18 drones, and Kuwait reported new missile and drone attacks.

Iran has targeted the Gulf countries, accusing them of acting as launch pads for US strikes, especially with attacks on energy facilities that have sent markets into a crisis, threatening permanent damage to the global economy.

CBS/AFP

South Korea will introduce an additional $17 billion “wartime” budget and extend fuel tax cuts as the war in Iran raises energy prices, the government said Thursday.

“The government will add 25 trillion won to the budget next month – funded by excess tax revenue – to address the long-running conflict in the Middle East,” a government statement said.

South Korea imports about 70 percent of crude oil from the Gulf region, so, like its other Asian neighbors, it is not only affected by the increase in global energy prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but directly by the temporary suspension of supplies.

Japan said it had started to draw down another half of its oil reserves on Thursday as it looks to ease the impact on the impoverished nation of rising prices caused by the war. Japan is the fifth largest importer of oil – more than 90% of which comes from the Middle East.

A ship carrying more than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude oil has arrived in the Philippines, a source told AFP on Thursday, days after the Southeast Asian country declared a national emergency over the Iran war.

CBS/AFP

President Trump said late Wednesday that he was avoiding describing the military conflict in Iran as a “war” because of concerns that Congress had not authorized the war.

“I’m not going to use the word ‘war’ because they say, if you use the word war, that’s probably not a good thing to do,” the president said at an event for the House Republicans’ fundraising arm. “They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you have to get permission, so I’m going to use the word military operation, which it really is.”

Mr. Trump has called it a war on several occasions, including in a speech on Wednesday, when he said, “The war ended within days of us going in.”

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President Trump insisted on Wednesday that Iran is participating in peace talks, suggesting that Tehran’s denial is because Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their side.

“They are negotiating, in a way, and they want to make a deal very badly. But they are afraid to say it, because they think that their people will be killed,” said Mr.

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video statement Wednesday that military operations in Iran remain “on schedule or ahead of schedule.”

Cooper said the US has struck more than 10,000 missiles since Wednesday, and that Israel has hit “thousands more.” Cooper also claimed that the US had destroyed “92% of the major Iranian warships.”

“My operational assessment is that they have now lost the ability to create naval power and influence in the region and around the world,” he said.

Cooper said the US had damaged or destroyed more than two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, naval manufacturing facilities and shipyards.

Leavitt said the United States and Iran are still engaged in peace talks, although Iranian state media are reporting that Tehran has rejected Washington’s plan to end the war.

“Negotiations are ongoing. They are being productive,” Leavitt said when asked about the Iranian report, adding that there were “elements of truth” in media reports detailing the US’s 15-point plan that imposes demands on Tehran.

President Trump is ready to “unleash hell” on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal to end the war in the Middle East, the White House warned on Wednesday.

“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the present, if it fails to understand that it has been defeated militarily and will continue, President Trump will ensure that they are hit harder than ever,” Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said at the briefing.

“President Trump is not fooling around and he’s out to get the hell out of here,” Leavitt said. “Iran should not miscalculate again.”