Iran's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the United States had damaged the ongoing international diplomatic effort to end the war, after more US strikes on targets in southern Iran. "Unfortunately, the United States is damaging this diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends, its repeated shifts in positions and demands, and, worst of all, through repeated violations of the ceasefire," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, in a video message carried by Iranian media. "Any diplomatic process is damaged by the use of force and by resorting to unlawful actions on the ground." The worst bout of fighting between Washington and Tehran since their April 8 ceasefire has cast further doubt on US President Donald Trump's earlier claim that negotiations were in their "final throes" before reaching an enduring settlement to end the Middle East war.
