By Canadian Press

Iranian media say reformist magazine closed by authorities

May 12, 2019 | 5:01 AM

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian authorities shut down a reformist magazine that had urged negotiations with the United States, local media reported Sunday.

The weekly magazine Seda was handed a suspension order Saturday by a court in Tehran, the reformist newspaper Arman reported.

Seda’s most recent front page had shown a U.S. aircraft carrier fleet and the caption “At the crossroads between war and peace.”

The magazine called for “high-level engagement” between the U.S. and Iran, warning that closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an occasional Iranian threat, would lead to “widespread war.”

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A third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait, which lies at the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Recent U.S. military deployments to the Persian Gulf, including an aircraft carrier strike group, have raised tensions with Iran. Tehran has also begun setting its own deadlines over its unraveling nuclear deal that President Donald Trump pulled America out of a year ago.

The hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan criticized Seda’s reporting as parroting the “voice of Trump through the mouths of reformists.”

Also Sunday, Iran’s parliament held a closed session to discuss recent developments in the Persian Gulf, state TV reported. The head of the elite Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, spoke about the increased U.S. military presence, but the broadcast did not give specific details.

After the session, a prominent lawmaker said Salami had assured parliament that Iran’s military is strong enough to deter any U.S. threats, which Salami called “psychological warfare.”

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, who heads the influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, told the official IRNA news agency that Iran isn’t looking to deepen the crisis. He said the U.S. position will weaken with time, and that there are currently no grounds for negotiations with Washington.

On Friday, Iran rejected a request by Trump for talks, after the president said he’d like Iranian leaders to “call me.”

John Bolton, Trump’s hawkish national security adviser, announced the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group on May 5 over “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” that still have not been specified. Iran’s Shiite theocracy views the presence of U.S. forces ringing its country with suspicion.

The U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The Associated Press