**Paris (France) (AFP)** – Loud blasts rocked Tehran on Tuesday as Iran hit industrial and diplomatic targets across the Middle East and threatened to open “the gates of hell” on the United States and Israel. The conflict started with US and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend that killed the Iranian supreme leader and showed no sign of abating as it entered its fourth day.
Here are the latest developments:
**- Fresh blasts rock Tehran as Israel says hit commander**
Loud explosions rocked the Iranian capital on Tuesday, AFP journalists heard from locations in central Tehran. Soon afterwards, the Israeli military said it had hit a high-ranking Iranian commander in the capital.
**- New strikes on Beirut suburbs, as Hezbollah says targets Israeli military site**
Air strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah holds sway, with Lebanon’s state news agency reporting “extensive damage to buildings.” Hezbollah said it had targeted a military facility in Israel in response, using rockets to hit the Maayan Baruch site.
**- Israel urges countries to cut Iran ties**
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged countries to cut ties with Iran, during a virtual meeting with around 60 envoys stationed in Israel. “The foreign minister told the ambassadors that…countries around the world must cut off their relations with (Iran),” a statement issued by Saar’s office said.
**- Iran appeals to UN Security Council**
Iran urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop the war. “The United Nations Security Council has a duty…if it wishes, it can certainly act, because there is no obstacle to its action except its own will,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
**- Oil passes $85 a barrel, precious metals down**
Oil prices soared as the war disrupted supplies, with the crucial Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and energy infrastructure across the region hit. The Brent North Sea crude contract, the international benchmark, jumped more than eight percent to reach $85.12 a barrel, its highest level since July 2024. Precious metal prices fell sharply as traders piled in with strategic bets on energy and the US dollar. Gold, which had risen the day before, shed more than four percent to around $5,075 an ounce, while silver plunged more than 12 percent to just under $78 an ounce.
**- Iran threatens US, Israel**
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned of more intense attacks on US forces and Israel as the war raged for the fourth day. “The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks; the gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel,” spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini told state TV.
**- Israel moves to create south Lebanon ‘buffer’**
Israel ordered its forces to take control of more positions inside Lebanon to create a buffer zone. In response, the Lebanese army pulled back some of its forces after Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israeli bases. Military spokesman Effie Defrin said Israeli forces were creating a buffer zone “between our residents and any threat.”
**- Iran nuclear site damaged**
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said the key Iranian nuclear site of Natanz suffered “recent damage,” a day after Tehran said the underground uranium enrichment plant was attacked. “Based on the latest available satellite imagery, IAEA can now confirm some recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant. No radiological consequence expected,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a post on X.
**- Explosions in Manama and Doha**
AFP journalists in the Bahraini and Qatari capitals heard more explosions on Tuesday, as Iran carried out a fourth day of attacks in Gulf countries. The correspondents said they heard several blasts in Manama and air raid sirens sounded, while explosions were also heard in Doha.
**- 30,000 displaced in Lebanon**
The escalation of Middle East hostilities has displaced at least 30,000 people in Lebanon, the UN refugee agency said in Geneva.
**- Blasts in Jerusalem**
A series of overhead explosions were heard from Jerusalem on Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, after the Israeli military said it had detected fresh missiles launched from Iran and was “operating to intercept the threat.”
**- Iran Red Crescent says 787 killed**
The Iranian Red Crescent said that more than 780 people have been killed nationwide since the US and Israeli strikes began. AFP was not in a position to verify the figure.
**- Drones hit Amazon data centres**
Tech giant Amazon said two of its data centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been “directly struck” by drones, disrupting cloud services in parts of the Middle East. A facility in Bahrain was also damaged by “a drone strike in close proximity,” the provider said.
**- Trump says US-UK ties damaged**
US President Donald Trump said the US-UK relationship was “not like it used to be,” amid a major transatlantic fallout over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s initial refusal to let the United States use British military bases. In an interview with Britain’s Sun newspaper, Trump said Starmer “has not been helpful,” adding: “It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was.”
**- France deploys jets over UAE**
France has deployed Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates to protect its naval and air bases against Iranian attacks, said Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
**- China urges Hormuz safety**
China called on all sides involved in the Middle East war to maintain safety in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, urging “all parties to immediately cease military operations.”
**- Drones in UAE, Oman, Iraq**
Debris from a drone interception caused a fire at an oil industry zone in the UAE city of Fujairah on Tuesday, authorities said, adding that operations had resumed once the fire was contained. Drones also targeted an Omani port, hitting a fuel tank, state media reported, saying the damage had been contained “without any human casualties.”
**- US embassy in Riyadh hit**
Two drones hit the US embassy in the Saudi Arabian capital and sparked a fire. The Saudi foreign ministry condemned “the heinous attack,” describing it as “cowardly and unjustified.”
© 2024 AFP
