Iran says ball in US court on war or diplomacy

WASHINGTON: A man stands atop the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on Saturday to protest the US-Israeli war on Iran. Guido Reichstadter climbed the bridge in Washington on May Day, stayed there overnight, and posted a sunrise photo from one of the bridge’s arches while calling for an end to the war on Iran. Speaking to the media from atop the 51-metre structure, the 45-year-old father of two called for peaceful means to build pressure on the authorities to end what he described as an ‘illegal war’.—Reuters • Iranian military warns renewed hostilities with Washington ‘likely’• Trump boasts of Hormuz blockade, says ‘we are like pirates’• Tehran reaches out to Qatar, South Korea to discuss ongoing negotiations• Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill over 12 people, injure dozens; Lebanese army chief meets US general TEHRAN/BEIRUT: Amid a surge in deadly strikes by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and little headway in talks between the US and Iran, an Iranian military official warned against the ‘likely’ resumption of hostilities whereas diplomats in Tehran were told that the ball was in US court to pick fight or return to table after US President Donald Trump had rejected yet another Iranian proposal. An Iranian proposal so far rejected by the Trump administration would open shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iran while leaving talks on Iran’s nuclear programme for later, a senior Iranian official said. A day earlier, the US rejected the fresh peace offer from Tehran, with President Donald Trump saying Iran had made “strides” in the latest proposal, but he was “still not satisfied”. Iran on Saturday responded that it was up to the US if it wanted to pursue a negotiated settlement or return to war. “Now the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran, according to state broadcaster IRIB. “Iran, with the ai