If you’re just joining us, here’s a quick recap of the day:
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An Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal, insisting Americans were only negotiating with themselves. Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari’s statement came after the Trump administration reportedly sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan.
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Even as Donald Trump claimed productive negotiations to end the war were ongoing with Tehran, Iran’s relentless bombardment of the Gulf states showed no sign of relenting. Kuwait and Bahrain were both hit with damaging strikes on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, as the patience of the Gulf states after rebuffing constant attacks for almost a month began to wear thin.
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The World Trade Organisation warned disruptions to international fertiliser supplies caused by the closing of the strait of Hormuz will cause food scarcity and high prices. A third of the world’s fertilisers normally transit the strait.
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Oil prices fell nearly 6% and Asian shares gained, after reports Donald Trump had sent a peace plan to Iran fuelled optimism in the market. A barrel of Brent crude was down 5.92% at $98.30, while benchmark US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, was down 5.01% at $87.72.
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Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed nine people, state media reported. Citing the health ministry, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said strikes had killed people across towns and a Palestinian refugee camp.
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News that Trump had approved the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East further undermined the US president’s repeated claims of successful peace talks. Iran has previously threatened to mine the gulf surrounding the island if the US appeared to be landing troops.
Pakistan has delivered a US proposal to Iran, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday, but the venue of any talks between Tehran and Washington to end the war has yet to be decided.
The source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, did not disclose details of the proposal and whether it was the 15-point US framework proposal to end the war reported by news outlets.
The source also said Turkey was helping to find ways to end the war and “either Turkey or Pakistan are under consideration as the venue for such talks”.
A new strike in western Iraq killed seven security personnel, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, a day after a deadly attack on the same base targeted the former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi.
Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups, including on state-linked positions.
The defence ministry said seven security personnel were killed and 13 others wounded in the attack on the base in Anbar province, which hosts both regular security personnel and Hashed forces.
The ministry said the air strike also targeted the base’s military healthcare clinic, AFP reported.
It labelled the assault a “flagrant and dangerous violation of international law, which prohibits targeting medical facilities and their personnel”. Rescue operations were ongoing, it added.
A security official told AFP that a military doctor was among those killed, and six of those wounded belonged to the Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF).
On the price of oil, the Guardian’s Joanna Partridge reports that it has dipped and Asian stock markets moved higher after claims that Donald Trump sent a 15-point framework for peace to Iran.
Oil prices had fallen by 4% with brent crude futures sinking below $100 a barrel and even moving as low as $97.57 as trading was influenced by the prospect of an end to the conflict easing the squeeze on oil supply.
Stock markets in Asia also moved higher in morning trading. Japan’s Nikkei rose by 2.9%, while the S&P BSE Sensex in India was almost 2% higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was just under 1% up.
European markets also rose in early trading. The FTSE 100 in London was up by almost 1%, while Germany’s Dax was trading 1.8% higher and France’s Cac 40 climbed by 1.5%.
Read the full report here:
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned strikes around Iran and Israel’s nuclear sites risk unleashing an “unmitigated catastrophe”.
Speaking via video at the UN Human Rights Council urgent debate on Iran’s attacks across the Gulf this morning, Türk said:
Many of the strikes in this conflict raised serious concerns and the international law, which prohibits attacks targeting civilians and their infrastructure and attacks on military targets where harm to civilians is disproportionate.
I also need to underscore the grave ramifications of this conflict for a number of other countries in the broader region, including Iraq and Syria, as well as the occupied Palestinian territory.
Recent missile strikes near nuclear sites in both Israel and Iran underscore the immense danger of further escalation. States are flirting with unmitigated catastrophe.
His comments follow reports of Iranian missile strikes on the southern Israeli cities of Dimona and Arad, both a relatively short distance – about 12 miles and 22 miles respectively – from Israel’s main nuclear research centre in the Negev desert.
The Iranian strikes on Saturday came after Tehran’s main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz was hit. Israel denied responsibility for the strike.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, has repeated Tehran’s claims that no negotiations have taken place with the US, despite Donald Trump’s comments that diplomatic efforts were in progress to bring an end to the war.
“Based on my information, contrary to Trump’s claim, no direct or indirect negotiations have taken place between the two countries so far,” Moghadam was quoted as saying by state media, according to Reuters news agency.
He added: “Friendly countries seek to lay the ground for dialogue between Tehran and Washington, which we hope will be fruitful in ending this imposed war.”
Kuwait said it shot down several drones this morning but one hit a fuel tank at the airport, sparking a fire. The country’s civil aviation authority, citing spokesperson Abdullah Al-Rajhi, posted on social media that the damage was limited to property and there were no casualties.
The Associated Press has reported two Pakistani officials as saying Iran has received the Trump administration’s 15-point ceasefire plan.
It follows reports that the US sent the ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan, which enjoys a close relationship with Washington and Gulf countries.
The officials told the news agency that the proposal broadly touched on sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme, restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and access for shipping through the strait of Hormuz.
Separately, an Egyptian official involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the US said the proposal was a “comprehensive deal” to reach a truce, but cautioned that it is “being treated” as a base for further negotiations.
Iran has denied reports it was taking part in talks with the US, with Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Khatam-al Anbiya central headquarters, which coordinates the army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), seemingly telling Donald Trump “has the level of your internal conflict reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”
A diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, Anwar Gargash, said the ongoing violence in the Middle East has reshaped alignments and revealed differing levels of supports from “sisterly and friendly” nations.
In a post on X, he said the UAE needed “clarity of positions” and not troops to fight Iran.
The UAE and other Gulf states have come under continued Iranian drone and missile attacks that have killed dozens of people and disrupted their economies.
A translation of Gargash’s post reads:
Since the start of the treacherous Iranian aggression, sister and friendly countries have continued to make contact, distinguishing positions between those who offered genuine support that is appreciated and thanked, and those who settled for statements without action.
The Emirates has proven its ability to confront and endure, and it does not need equipment and troops as much as it needs clarity of positions and knowledge of who can be relied upon in times of hardship.
Iran has told the UN Security Council and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that “non-hostile” ships may pass safely through the strait of Hormuz, according to reports, as the the vital shipping lane has been effectively closed to tankers since the US-Israeli military campaign began more than three weeks ago.
In its note to the IMO, Iran’s foreign affairs ministry defined non-hostile vessels as those which are “neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran” or belong to the US or Israel, Reuters news agency reported.
The narrow waterway carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies, but fears of Iran’s retaliatory attacks on shipping has sent fuel prices soaring.
The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar reported that the UK has offered to host an international security summit to draw up a “viable, collective plan” to reopen the strait, with one defence official saying it could be held in London or at the navy headquarters in Portsmouth. You can read the full report here:
Donald Trump has maintained that a deal to end the war against Iran are ongoing, but Tehran has denied participating in any negotiations.
“We’re talking to the right leaders, and they want to make a deal so badly,” the US president said yesterday, claiming that talks were happening “right now”.
His remarks were at odds with statements by the Iranian leadership that had already dismissed the claims as “fake news” on Monday.
Trump’s comments coincided with reports by the Associated Press news agency and the New York Times that the US presented a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, with Pakistan acting as an intermediary. The apparent off-ramp would face enormous challenges and may well be beyond what regional and international diplomacy can pull off, as numerous previous attempts at negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme failed to reach any conclusion.
In a televised statement shortly after the Trump administration offered the 15-point plan, Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military, said: “Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you. Not now, not ever.”
The US is also reportedly taking steps to deploy at least 1,000 more troops to join 50,000 soldiers already in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported. The New York Times, citing two defence officials, put that number at 2,000.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
