Tehran (AFP) - The speaker of Iran’s parliament accused the United States on Sunday of plotting a ground attack despite publicly pushing for a negotiated deal, after a US warship with around 3,500 military personnel arrived in the Middle East.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s comments came after more than a month of aerial bombardments of Iran by US and Israeli forces, and as key regional players held talks in Pakistan.

The war has escalated into a regional conflagration as Iran has retaliated with attacks on Gulf states and the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, sending energy markets into a tailspin and threatening the world economy.

“The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack,” Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

“Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all,” he added.

- ‘An uncertain future’ -

Ghalibaf called for unity among Iranians, saying the war was “at its most critical stage”.

Weeks of unrelenting strikes have taken a heavy toll on ordinary people in the country.

“I miss a peaceful night’s sleep,” an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying night-time strikes were “so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking”.

Farzaneh, a 62-year-old woman in Iran’s western city of Ahvaz contacted by AFP from Paris, said: “People wake up each day worried about an uncertain future.”

A university in Iran’s central city of Isfahan said it was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes on Sunday for the second time since the war erupted.

In Tehran, the Qatari news channel Al Araby said an Israeli missile hit the building housing its office.

Footage from inside the office showed broken windows and shattered glass.

Outside, people could be seen clearing large piles of rubble.

- Talks in Pakistan -

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken of diplomatic contacts with Iran, although these claims have been denied by Tehran.

Pakistan, acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad for talks on the crisis.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the visiting diplomats had discussed how to “bring an early and permanent end to the war” and that there was a growing consensus behind Islamabad hosting peace talks.

He said Iran and the United States had “expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks” and that he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other foreign ministers who also backed the idea.

Despite making diplomatic overtures including proposing a 15-point plan to end the war, the US has also been sending more military assets into the region.

The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

The Washington Post reported the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations – potentially including raids on sites near the Strait of Hormuz – though US President Donald Trump has yet to approve any deployment.

Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane which previously accounted for a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade and a fifth of liquefied natural gas shipments, to vessels from hostile nations.

- Fire at desert complex -

Iranian forces said they had fired a volley of missiles and drones at plants belonging to two of the world’s largest aluminium producers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, targeting what they described as industries linked to the US military.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said an Iranian attack wounded six and caused significant damage to its plant, while Bahraini state media said two Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) employees were injured in a second attack.

In Israel, thick black smoke could be seen rising from an industrial complex in the Negev desert in images released by the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority.

The military said the impact may have been caused by missile shrapnel, shortly after it detected a new barrage fired from Iran.

In Kuwait, the defence ministry said 10 service members were injured by an attack on a military camp and that the country had detected 14 ballistic missiles and 12 hostile drones in its airspace in the past 24 hours.

- Funeral for journalists -

On another front, Israeli attacks have continued in Lebanon, which was drawn into the war when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2.

The health ministry said on Sunday that the death toll from Israeli strikes had passed 1,200 people.

On Saturday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in the south.

Lebanese authorities condemned the killings as war crimes, while Israel alleged that one of the reporters was also a member of an elite Hezbollah combat unit.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in the rain for the funeral of the three journalists near Beirut on Sunday.

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