Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Tehran does not seek war with the US or Israel but will not renounce its legitimate rights, in a message aired on state TV. His remarks come amid a fragile two-week ceasefire,

Negotiators from Iran and the U.S. prepared for high-level talks with their ceasefire still shaky Friday, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Only one oil products tanker and five separate dry bulk carriers have sailed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, according to analysis of data from ship trackers.

The lives of millions of people across the Middle East and the fate of the global economy will hinge on the outcome of make-or-break talks between the US and Iran this weekend in Pakistan.

Experts say Iran uses civilians and children as human shields for propaganda purposes, caring nothing for the safety and fate of its own people.

The sides are far apart on Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A war-driven jump in gas prices helped push US inflation to 3.3% in March, marking the fastest annual pace in nearly two years, new Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Friday.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, starting a weekslong war that spread to neighboring countries and rocked global markets.

A dozen US military bases in the Gulf have sustained severe damages in Iranian strikes during the Iran-US war, rendering them unusable.