Pursuing

HOLLYWOOD’S Jared Leto was accused of “aggressively harassing” and hitting on teen models 21 years before new sex assault claims emerged this week.

The Oscar-winning actor and singer, 54, allegedly approached and texted girls aged 16 and 17 when he was staying at a New York hotel in 2005.

Leto, then 33, was in town with his band 30 Seconds to Mars, and rumours quickly swirled about his behaviour.

A source alleged to the New York Post at the time that Leto was “hitting on” all the models — and the paper ran a story headlined: “Jared shows he’s a teen play.”

The insider had said: “He’s been approaching all the girls and inviting them to his shows.

“Girls from IMG, Elite, Next and Women are staying there, and Jared has been hitting on all of them.

‘CATEGORICALLY FALSE’

Jared Leto breaks silence on shock sexual criminal conduct claims

‘ALARMS GOING OFF’

Jared Leto forced me to touch him after luring me to motel when I was 17

“He’s a serial texter. He is constantly texting these 16- and 17-year-old girls. It’s really kind of creepy.”

The report also highlighted that Leto was spotted in New York with actresses Lindsay Lohan and Ashley Olsen, both 19 at the time.

Last year Leto, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a HIV+ trans woman in 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, was accused of sexual impropriety by nine women.

He “expressly denied” all the allegations in that exposé.

This week, in BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret, four women came forward accusing him of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers.

The women — using the pseudonyms Isabel, Alex, Clara and Etta — said they were between 16 and 19 when the alleged acts took place.

Isabel claimed the star sexually assaulted her in a motel bathroom when she was 17 in 2002.

Alex alleged he threatened her with sexual assault in a hotel room in 2013 at age 19.

Clara claimed they had sex in California in 2006 when she was 17 and that Leto “shrugged off” a conversation about the state’s age of consent being 18.

Etta accused him of grooming her from 2014 at age 16, and made explicit phone calls to her.

Leto responded: “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false.”

Trita Parsi tells Al Jazeera that Iran has abandoned strategic patience for a new doctrine: swift, severe retaliation against any US attack. Parsi added that Iran aims to deny Washington the ability to strike with impunity, viewing immediate escalation as vital to its deterrence.

Iran is ready to reassure the international community that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons or instability in the region, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“Prior to the martyrdom of Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei, Iran’s late Leader, we declared — and we reiterate now — that we are ready to assure the world we do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state-run news agency IRNA.

“It is rather Tel Aviv that is driving regional instability,” he said, accusing Israel of pursuing a vision of “Greater Israel.”

Iranian negotiators will never compromise on the country’s “honor and dignity,” added Pezeshkian.

His remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump on Saturday said an agreement with Iran to end the war was “largely negotiated” and awaited finalization.

Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation and was later extended by Trump indefinitely.

READ: Iran shoots down Israeli spy drone in country’s south: Report