Blinken fails to secure ceasefire deal; Iran says its retaliation could take a ‘long’ time

Iran said its response to the alleged Israeli killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran could take a long time, signalling that the Islamic Republic would not rush the expected retaliation that had raised fears of a regional war in the Middle East.

Israel recovered the bodies of six male hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip.

‘Time is of the essence’ for Gaza ceasefire deal, says Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East late on Tuesday having failed to secure a deal to halt fighting between Hamas and Israel, highlighting how the two sides remained sharply divided despite US officials’ insistence that an agreement was close.

After a day spent meeting Egyptian and Qatari officials, Blinken reiterated that Israel had agreed to what the top US diplomat called a “bridging” agreement that would create space for the two sides to hammer out the details of a ceasefire introduced by President Joe Biden in May. Now it was Hamas’s turn, he said.

“Time is of the essence,” Blinken told reporters on the airport tarmac in Doha, minutes before beginning the trip home to the US. “Israel has now accepted that proposal — I heard that directly from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday — and we hope and expect Hamas will do the same.”

It was Blinken’s ninth trip to the region since the conflict began with Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, and the result was just the same: Israel and Hamas were unable to set aside their disagreements to halt the fighting. Stymied in the push for an enduring ceasefire, Blinken had come to the region this week with a more modest proposal aimed at building common ground and easing the violence.

Earlier in the day, Hamas said it wanted to reach a ceasefire. The group has said it had already agreed to the proposal Biden unveiled in late May and suggested there was no point to the bridging agreement put forward by Blinken.

There are also tensions over Israel wanting to keep troops stationed along the strategic Philadelphi corridor, the southern portion of Gaza that runs along the border with Egypt, to prevent arms smuggling from the Arab nation.

“The first thing is to eliminate Hamas and achieve victory,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “The second thing is that we are, at the same time, making an effort to return the hostages, on terms that will allow for the maximum number of hostages being released in the first stage of the deal.”

Read more: Blinken leverages Arab allies for a Gaza truce: Balance of Power

He said Israel must preserve its “strategic security assets,” mentioning its seizure of the Philadelphi corridor and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt earlier in the war. That comment drew a rebuke from a senior State Department official, who told reporters travelling with Blinken that “maximalist” statements from the Israeli leader weren’t constructive.

The official asked not to be identified discussing private assessments of the Israel stance. But the US view underscored how the Biden administration continues to remain frustrated with Israel even as officials such as Blinken continue to insist Netanyahu’s government is on board with their plans.

Officials were still planning to proceed with a new round of talks on a ceasefire set for Cairo later this week, though no precise day has been set. Officials said a round of talks last week had the sides on the cusp of an agreement.

Looming in the background is the threat of an attack from Iran, which has sworn to retaliate against Israel for the assassination of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month. Israel has declined to take responsibility for the attack.

Blinken’s trip had been seen in part as a US effort to delay or deter an Iranian attack. On Tuesday, one government official suggested any retaliation would not be rushed.

The Israel-Hamas war erupted when Hamas fighters swarmed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage. Israel’s subsequent air and ground assault on Gaza has killed almost 40,000 people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union.

Iran says it may take a ‘long’ time to retaliate against Israel

Iran said its response to the alleged Israeli killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran could take a long time, signalling that the Islamic Republic would not rush the expected retaliation that had raised fears of a regional war in the Middle East.

“Time is on our side and it’s possible that the waiting period for this response will be long,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini was cited as saying by Iranian state TV.

Read more: Iran wants its Israel reprisal to hurt, not open a wider war

“It’s possible that Iran’s response won’t be a repeat of past operations,” he said, adding that Israel “must await calculated and precise strikes at the appropriate time”.

Iran accuses Israel of killing Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Israel recovers bodies of six male hostages held in Gaza

Israel recovered the bodies of six male hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip.

The bodies were recovered by troops from Hamas tunnels near the city of Khan Younis in a “complex operation,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet said the operation took place overnight.

One was 79-year-old Avraham Munder, who the main forum for families of hostages earlier said had been murdered by Hamas in captivity. The five others were Yagev Buchshtab (35), Alexander Dancyg (75), Yoram Metzger (80), Nadav Popplewell (51) and Haim Perry (80), the forum said.

“Our hearts ache for the terrible loss,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all our hostages — both living and dead.”

Of the remaining captives, at least 40 are thought by Israeli authorities to be dead.

The US is pushing for another truce between Hamas and Israel that it hopes will lead to all the hostages still in Gaza being freed.

Hamas pushes back against US, says it wants Gaza ceasefire

Hamas said it was “keen” on reaching a ceasefire agreement with Israel, denying what it said were US claims it was stalling negotiations to end the devastating conflict in Gaza.

The Iran-backed Palestinian militant group on Tuesday said remarks by Biden and his top diplomat,  Blinken, were “misleading and don’t reflect the reality of the movement’s position”.

The comments, in a statement on Telegram, came a day after Blinken met Netanyahu and said the next step toward a truce was for “Hamas to say yes”.

Blinken said Netanyahu had accepted a proposal the US is calling a “bridging agreement” to tide the sides over until they iron out the final details.

Hamas said the proposal was different from a Biden-led plan unveiled in May, suggesting they were unhappy with Israel’s latest demands.

Biden is trying to use his last months in office to end the conflict, which has caused huge political divisions globally. The president sent Blinken back to the region this week to help clinch a deal. The US secretary of state was in Israel on Monday and on Tuesday met Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in the Mediterranean town of El Alamein. He was set to visit Qatar next.

One of the main problems is that Hamas wants any ceasefire to amount to a permanent end to the war, while Israel wants to be able to restart the conflict to achieve its aim of destroying the group’s military and governing capabilities.

Russian oil takes long route to Asia after switches near Egypt

Russia is sending a supertanker filled with oil all the way around Africa to Asia, a sign the nation’s fleet may not be immune from Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.

Two Suezmax-class ships — both of which could theoretically have sailed full through the Suez Canal and then the Houthi-menaced waters to its south — instead switched their cargoes on to the supertanker Gold Pearl near Egypt’s Port Said earlier this month.

After it took their cargoes, the bigger ship, a so-called very large crude carrier, sat too deep in the water to go through the waterway, forcing it instead to go around Africa.

It’s not certain that the contorted logistics were about avoiding the Houthis — especially given that other Russian cargoes continue sailing through the Red Sea. However, tankers hauling the nation’s barrels have come under attack from the militants, potentially making some crews and vessel operators wary of trips through the area.

The Suezmaxes tankers Apus and Arlan, each bringing about one million barrels from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, met up with the Gold Pearl earlier this month.

The transfer from the Apus took place between 6 and 8 August, tracking data monitored by Bloomberg show. The two ships moved together throughout the two-day period.

The transfer from the Arlan was hidden. The ship appeared on the same digital tracking system to be closer to Israel when it made the switch off Egypt a few days later.

Satellite imagery reviewed by Bloomberg shows the Arlan and the Gold Pearl side by side on 10 August near Sidi Kerir. That suggests so-called spoofing of the Suezmax’s automated signal, the practice of manipulating vessel tracking.

The identities of the two ships involved in the cargo switch on to the Gold Pearl were confirmed by TankerTrackers.com, which specialises in detecting secretive vessel movements.

Shortly after it left the Port Said area on 11 August, Gold Pearl’s draft was updated to show that it was full — consistent with having taken on the Suezmax loads. The Gold Pearl is now leaving the Mediterranean Sea, signalling Singapore.

It had earlier signalled a port call at Algeciras in Spain and paused briefly east of Malta, where it met up with a products tanker, probably to take on fuel for its long-distance voyage.

If the ship’s ultimate destination were to be China, the economies of scale from using a bigger tanker for the extra distance involved might explain the detour around Africa.

Most Russian crude shipments from its Baltic and Black Sea ports continue to pass through the canal and the Red Sea to India and China.

However, several have come under attack from Yemen’s Houthis, who have been attacking ships in the southern Red Sea in response to Israel’s military operation in Gaza. The ships have been targeted despite repeated assurances from the rebels that Chinese and Russian vessels can be assured of safe passage. DM

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