Iran warns fresh conflict is 'likely' as Trump 'not satisfied' with proposal

IN BRIEF

• A senior Iranian military officer said that renewed fighting between the US and Iran was "likely," hours after Trump said he was "not satisfied" with a new Iranian negotiating proposal. READ MORE BELOW

• President Donald Trump said the US Navy was acting "like pirates" as he described an operation seizing a ship amid the tit-for-tat US blockade of Iranian ports.

• News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five percent, though they remain about 50 percent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

• The Pentagon said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year. READ MORE BELOW

• German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the withdrawal of 5,000 American troops from Germany had been expected and that Europe needed to do more to ensure its own security.

• Iran hanged two men convicted of spying for Israel, the judiciary said, the latest in a string of executions in recent weeks. "Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh were hanged for the crime of intelligence cooperation and espionage in favor of the Zionist regime," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

• Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed Friday in Israeli strikes on the country's south, including in a town where Israel's army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire.

• The war has aggravated Iran's economic plight, but it looks able to survive a standoff for now. In a written message, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called on businesses damaged in the war to avoid layoffs as much as possible, Iranian news agencies reported. 

• China's UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said it was an urgent necessity to maintain the ceasefire and that the strait needs to be reopened as quickly as possible. He said he was sure the strait would be high on the agenda in talks between China's leader Xi Jinping and Trump if it is still closed when Trump travels to Beijing this month. SEE VIDEO BELOW

• Washington announced it had approved major arms sales to its allies in the Middle East, including a $4 billion Patriot missile deal with Qatar and nearly $1 billion in precision weapons systems to Israel.

IN DETAIL

Iran warns of renewed fighting as Trump dismisses proposal

A senior Iranian military officer said that renewed fighting between the US and Iran was "likely, "hours after President Donald Trump said he was "not satisfied" with a new Iranian negotiating proposal.

Iran delivered the draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, state media reported without detailing its contents.

"At this moment I'm not satisfied with what they're offering," Trump told reporters, blaming stalled talks on "tremendous discord" within Iran's leadership.

"Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever - or do we want to try and make a deal?" he added, saying he would "prefer not" to take the first option "on a human basis."

On Saturday morning, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military's central command, said "a renewed conflict between Iran and the US is likely," as reported by Iran's Fars news agency.

"Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements," he added.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said his country was ready to pursue diplomacy if the US changes what he called its "excessive approach, threatening rhetoric and provocative actions."

However, Aragchi added in a post on his Telegram channel that "Iran's armed forces remained ready to defend the country against any threat."

The White House has declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments putting Tehran's nuclear program back on the negotiating table.

The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during talks.

US set to pull troops from Germany

US relations with its traditional allies were further strained over Iran, as the United States announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany. 

Trump had threatened a drawdown over differences with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said earlier in the week the Iranians were humiliating the US and that the Americans lacked an exit strategy.

A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German comments were "inappropriate and unhelpful."

"The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks," the official said.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the withdrawal of 5,000 American troops from Germany had been expected and that Europe needed to do more to ensure its own security.

"That US troops are withdrawing from Europe and also from Germany was to be expected," Boris Pistorius said in a statement sent to AFP by his ministry. "We Europeans must take greater responsibility for our security," he added.

NATO's spokesperson said on Saturday: "We are working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany."