ISLAMABAD/TEL AVIV, March 29 (Reuters) - Iran said it was ready to respond to a U.S. ground attack, accusing Washington on Sunday of preparing a land assault even as the Trump administration sought talks and as regional powers met in Pakistan to try to end the conflict.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad to discuss ways to halt the Iran war, which has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies.
The ministers exchanged views on the severe economic repercussions of the military escalation in the region, its impact on international navigation, supply chains and food security, as well as its implications for energy security in light of rising oil prices, Egypt's foreign ministry said.
As the conflict entered its second month, Israel's military said it carried overnight strikes on Tehran, targeting what it described as a facility producing critical components for ballistic missiles and a weapons production and storage site.
Iran launched multiple missile salvos at Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people across the country into shelters. Israel's fire and rescue service said a blaze had broken out in an industrial area in the country's south after an "impact".
Chemical manufacturing and industrial plants, as well as a hazardous waste treatment facility, are located in the industrial area. It was not immediately clear if a missile had hit the area, or if the fire was caused by debris from an interception.
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf accused the U.S. of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time secretly planning to send in troops, adding that Tehran was ready to respond if U.S. soldiers were deployed.
"As long as the Americans seek Iran's surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation," he said in a message to the nation.
The war, which began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the Middle East, with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launching on Saturday their first attacks on Israel since the start of the conflict.
The assault points to a potential new threat to global shipping, already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, previously a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
U.S. MARINES START ARRIVING IN MIDDLE EAST
Washington has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East, with the first of two contingents arriving on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the U.S. military has said.
The Washington Post quoted U.S. officials as saying the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, adding that it was not yet clear if President Donald Trump would approve such plans.
Reuters has reported that the Pentagon has considered military options that could include ground forces.
Trump faces a stark choice between seeking a negotiated exit or escalating militarily that risks a protracted crisis, and would likely weigh further on his already low approval ratings.
"President Trump has poor options all around to end the war," said Jonathan Panikoff, former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East.
"Part of the challenge is the lack of clarity related to what a satisfactory outcome would be," Panikoff added.
Pakistan, which along with Turkey and Egypt has been relaying messages between Washington and Tehran, was hosting four-nation talks and looking for proposals that could bring the two sides together, a Pakistani foreign ministry official said.
The countries meeting in Pakistan have floated proposals to Washington tied to maritime traffic and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as part of wider efforts to stabilise shipping flows.
Washington said last week it had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan, with a proposal to reopen the waterway and restrict Iran's nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the list and put forward proposals of its own.
ISRAEL HITS DOZENS OF TARGETS ACROSS IRAN
An Israeli official said Israel would continue carrying out strikes against Iran on what were described as military targets, adding there was no intention to scale back the campaign ahead of any possible talks between Washington and Tehran.
Israel said on Sunday it had targeted Tehran's weapons manufacturing infrastructure, including dozens of storage and production sites the day before.
A building housing Qatar's Al-Araby TV in Tehran was hit on Sunday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, with video showing walls and windows blown out of the multi-storey block.
"The missile hit. The ceiling and everything fell on our heads. Unfortunately, we couldn't continue to work. It was a real miracle we survived," said Al Araby camera operator Mohammadreza Shademan. "There was no military target here."
Iran continued attacks on several Gulf states, and air defences shot down a drone near the residence of the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish ruling party in Erbil early on Sunday, security sources said.
Another drone strike targeted the home of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan region a day earlier, the sources added.
Meanwhile, there is concern over shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea after Yemen's Houthis entered the fray by targeting Israel.
During the Gaza war the Houthis also hit ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical maritime choke point leading to the Suez Canal. Analysts say renewed attacks there would pile further pressure on the world economy.
With U.S. midterm elections due in November, the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Trump's Republican Party. Demonstrators took to city streets across the U.S. on Saturday in protests against the conflict.
Trump has threatened to hit power stations and other energy infrastructure if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, though he has extended a deadline by 10 days.
A European diplomat warned that any further military escalation could make it harder to bring the two sides together, potentially delaying the possibility by weeks, if not longer.
Iranian threats against ships have kept most oil tankers from attempting the waterway. Iran has agreed to let an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels pass through the strait, with two ships permitted to transit daily, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said.
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