Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **US must accept deal: Iran**
Iran’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday Washington must accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure. His comments came after US President Donald Trump, who faces growing pressure over the war’s impact on the US economy, said on Monday the US-Iran ceasefire was on “life support” and that he was considering restarting naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz. Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting. “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X.
– **Oil prices climb**
Oil prices climbed on Tuesday over the impasse in US-Iran talks that has left the vital Strait of Hormuz mostly closed to oil tanker traffic. The price of international benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.2 percent to $106 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 2.7 percent to $100 a barrel.
– **Qatar says Hormuz must not be ‘blackmail’ tactic**
Qatar’s prime minister said on Tuesday that Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blocked since the start of the Middle East war, to “blackmail” Gulf states. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also told a press conference with Turkey’s foreign minister that a recent visit to Washington had aimed to bolster Pakistan’s mediation efforts to end the war.
– **Israel pounds Lebanon**
Lebanon on Tuesday urged the US ambassador to Beirut to pressure Israel to halt its attacks after it pounded the country with airstrikes on Monday despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanese authorities raised the overall death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to at least 2,869 people. That includes 380 killed since the truce went into force on April 17.
– **Hezbollah-Israel talks**
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday his Iran-backed group’s weapons were not part of forthcoming ceasefire negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. “This is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy,” he said ahead of the third round of Lebanon-Israel talks scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
– **UAE attacked Iran: WSJ**
The UAE staged an attack on Iran early last month, in a previously unknown report of the Gulf country participating in the war, the Wall Street Journal said. The paper said the attacks took place around the time President Trump announced a ceasefire in April. AFP has not been able to independently verify the report.
– **Israel’s Iron Dome in UAE**
Israel sent Iron Dome air defense batteries and personnel to operate them in the United Arab Emirates during the war with Iran, the US ambassador to Israel said on Tuesday. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told a conference at Tel Aviv University the assistance was due to the UAE becoming the first country to sign up for Israel’s Abraham diplomatic accords. “Look at the benefits that they have had as a result. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.”
– **UAE gas processing woes**
The United Arab Emirates’ main gas processing complex, one of the world’s largest, will not resume full capacity until next year, its operator said, after it was targeted in the Middle East war. ADNOC Gas said the Habshan site in Abu Dhabi was operating at 60 percent. The war has halted production on at least three occasions.
– **Kuwait says Revolutionary Guards detained**
Kuwait said Tuesday that four people arrested this month as they attempted to enter the country by sea have confessed to belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The two navy colonels, a captain, and a lieutenant commander admitted they had been tasked by Iran’s ideological army with “infiltrating” Bubiyan Island, Kuwait’s interior ministry said in a statement published by state news agency Kuna.
© 2024 AFP
