May 29: Iran says exchange of messages continues with US, rejects Trump's breakthrough claim

By Press TV Website Staff

Iranian officials on Friday said the exchange of messages with Washington continues to end the war of aggression, rejecting the US president's premature claims of a breakthrough.

Parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf emphasised that Tehran’s gains come through military strength, not foreign guarantees.

Iranian armed forces shot down a US drone near Bushehr in southern Iran after it illegally crossed into the Islamic Republic’s airspace.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi, discussed the Strait of Hormuz with his Omani counterpart, while Iran condemned new US measures targeting the civil aviation sector.

Israeli attacks intensified in southern Lebanon and Beirut, killing civilians, as the Hezbollah resistance movement vowed to continue operations against the Zionist regime.

Key developments on day 91 of the war, the fifty-first day of the ceasefire:

• Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said message exchanges with Washington continue, but no final understanding has been reached, dismissing any notion that Tehran takes orders from abroad.
• Trump's claim of a breakthrough in talks and the imminent agreement with Iran was also rejected by Iranian media, citing high-level sources. 
• Iran's top negotiator in talks with the United States, Qalibaf, reiterated Tehran’s lack of trust in the opposite side, saying the Islamic Republic gains concessions not through negotiations, but through missiles.
• Iranian air defenses shot down a US drone violating the Islamic Republic's airspace near the southern city of Bushehr, Tasnim News Agency reported.
• US President Donald Trump is seeking to construct a misleading image of victory in his illegal war against Iran, Fars News Agency reported, dismissing his latest remarks on a potential agreement as “a distortion of reality."
• Iranian foreign minister said he discussed the Strait of Hormuz and its future administration with his Omani counterpart amid heightened tensions in the strategic waterway due to US maritime banditry. 
• President Masoud Pezeshkian said that expanding cooperation with Muslim and neighbouring countries across all fields remains Tehran's steadfast policy, as the Islamic Republic continues to face military aggression from the United States and Israel.
• Former chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Mohsen Rezaei, emphasised that the Islamic Republic of Iran stands as a formidable obstacle to US and Israeli objectives, particularly their attempts to redraw the map of West Asia.
• Seyed Hamidreza Sane'i, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Organisation for international affairs, dismissed Washington's latest threats to ground Iranian airlines as a sign of American anger over Iran's swift rebuilding of its civil aviation sector following the US-Israeli aggression. On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new illegal measures against Iranian carriers, including blocking landing rights, refuelling access, and ticket sales.
• Amir-Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, raised the alarm at the threat posed by unilateralism and coercive measures to the current system of global governance.
• Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Abutorabifard, the interim Imam of Tehran's Friday prayers, said the US and Israel are witnessing their "decline" in the region, asserting that the 40-day Ramadan war proved Washington has lost the ability to maintain a political presence in West Asia.
• A damning new analysis published in the International Journal of Health Policy and Management (IJHPM) concluded that the destruction of the Pasteur Institute of Iran during US-Israeli airstrikes threatens to cripple public health capabilities across the entire Eastern Mediterranean region, as Iran’s government announces plans to seek international compensation for the systematic targeting of its scientific infrastructure.
• At least five people were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting several towns in southern Lebanon in another brazen violation of a fragile ceasefire.
• Iran's Foreign Ministry sharply condemned Israel’s “brutal attacks” on Beirut and Lebanon's historic southern cities, warning that international silence is giving the occupying regime a green light to kill.
• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli regime forces have crossed Lebanon’s Litani River and taken control of new positions north of the waterway, expanding ground operations beyond the so-called security zone held since April.
• Hassan Fadlallah, a senior Lebanese parliamentarian, said Hezbollah will continue its military operations against Israeli regime forces, rejecting a path of "humiliation" as Israel pressed deeper into southern Lebanon with airstrikes and ground invasions, killing thousands of civilians.
• Major surveys conducted in the United States have shown that Trump’s approval ratings have hit new lows. Polls released by the Economist/YouGov, American Research Group, Quinnipiac, Emerson College, and The New York Times/Siena College have found that roughly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance.

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