Iran hostilities flare after US strike in strait of Hormuz; supertanker hits mines and catches fire – Middle East crisis live

The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan where he will hold talks with numerous officials and world leaders.

Pezeshkian, seen as a relative moderate in Iran, has already met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi ‌on the sidelines of the summit and told him that Tehran ⁠still seeks a negotiated solution to ⁠end the war with the US, despite the flare up in hostilities over the last 24 hours.

According to the Tasnim news agency, the Iranian president told Modi that fighting was in ​no one’s ​interest and that ​dialogue and ​cooperation ‌were ​the ​way to resolve existing problems.

But, according to Fars news agency, Pezeshkian said the US has “not fulfilled its commitments”, which he presumably means the US continuing a blockade of Iranian ports and holding on to frozen Iranian assets. He also said “there are currents within America that see their interests in the continuation of war”, without eleaborating.

There are sharp disagreements within Iran on how to proceed in the conflict, with the new hardline leadership reportedly favouring confrontation with the US, wanting to squeeze reparations out of Washington and a right to toll the strategic strait of Hormuz.