Iran said Sunday that indirect communications with the United States remain ongoing through mediators despite recent tensions, while accusing Washington of violating a bilateral memorandum of understanding and reaffirming that safeguarding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity remains Tehran's top priority.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States is exchanging messages with Iran through mediators, including Pakistan and Qatar, according to Iranian media reports, citing his remarks in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Baghaei said Iran's immediate priority is "to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect its people against the war crimes that are being perpetrated by the United States."
He added that the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States is a brief document consisting of only 14 clauses rather than a lengthy and complex agreement.
The international community had expected the United States to honor its commitments "at least this time," Baghaei said, accusing Washington of openly violating multiple provisions of the memorandum, which marked the "third diplomatic betrayal"
Also on Sunday, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran's Khuzestan Province said that more than 288 U.S. military targets across the Middle East were struck during the recent conflict between Iran and the United States.
The commander also claimed that in one recent operation, more than 11 aircraft were destroyed at a U.S. military base in Jordan, with numerous facilities and drones also damaged.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) updated its casualty statistics on Sunday, showing that U.S. military casualties have reached 642, including 18 deaths, since the United States and Israel jointly launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on Feb. 28.
Iran says indirect contacts with US continue despite diplomatic setbacks
Rescue operations are in full swing in Huichuan Town, Weiyuan County of Dingxi City, northwest China's Gansu Province, where a flash flood triggered by sudden heavy rainfall on Sunday has caused casualties, with search teams having carried out four rounds of sweep operations and medical teams treating the injured.
The flash flood struck Shuangshimen Valley in Huichuan Town at around 2 p.m. on Sunday, caused by short-duration intense rain in the upstream area, leaving campers in the nearby area stranded.
Local authorities immediately mobilized rescue forces from emergency management, fire control, health and cultural tourism authorities to launch emergency rescue and personnel transfer work.
According to the Gansu Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps, a total of 305 firefighters, 68 fire trucks, and four search and rescue dogs were deployed to the scene, successfully evacuating and transferring 247 trapped individuals.
Rescue efforts faced intermittent disruptions as multiple bouts of short-duration heavy rain hit the area from Sunday afternoon into early Monday. To ensure the safety of rescue personnel, the on-site command temporarily withdrew teams to standby positions during the downpours, resuming search operations as soon as the raining stopped. At late Sunday night, rescuers started the fourth round of comprehensive search, focusing on scattered vehicles and debris left by the floodwaters.
"We are now conducting the fourth round of search and rescue. Three drones have located the sites where vehicles were scattered. We are searching for people around the vehicles and around items left behind on the water surface," said Wu Mingguo, head of the Dingxi Municipal Fire and Rescue Detachment.
Alongside the search and rescue efforts, medical treatment for the injured is proceeding in an orderly manner at local medical facilities.
Severely ill patients are being transferred to hospitals in Lanzhou, the provincial capital, for further treatment, and provincial medical expert teams will continue to advance the transfer work in accordance with the patients' will and injury conditions.
The Weiyuan County Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, the nearest Grade II Class A hospital to the disaster site, serves as the primary emergency treatment facility for the injured. As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, 23 injured people had been sent to hospitals, 22 of whom were admitted to this facility.
"Currently, our hospital has received 22 patients, mainly suffering from fractures, open injuries and aspiration pneumonia. After comprehensive assessment, four severely ill patients have been transferred to provincial-level hospitals, and the remaining 18 patients are in stable condition," said Gao Xiaodong, director of the orthopedics ward at the Weiyuan County Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.
Witnesses recalled that a sudden torrential downpour swept through the river valley when the disaster hit, carrying silt and rocks rushing down from the surrounding mountains and upstream, with some people injured by falling rocks before they could escape to safety.
Rescue operations underway in northwest China's Gansu after flash flood
