What you need to know
Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump claims to have made progress in talks with Tehran but also threatened to “completely obliterate” Iranian energy assets, including major oil hub Kharg Island and “possibly all” desalination plants, if a deal is not reached “shortly”.
- Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the US was filled with “excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon.
- NATO air defences have downed a fourth Iranian missile in Turkish airspace.
- Spain has closed its airspace to US military planes as it continues to oppose the war.
- From Wednesday, April 1, excise tax will be halved for three months to deliver a 26¢ cut to a litre of petrol, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
Iran labels US 15-point plan ‘excessive’
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said that a 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States was filled with “excessive” demands.
“We haven’t had any direct negotiations with the US so far,” Esmail Baghaei told a news conference.
“What has been communicated to us, whatever you may call it, 15-points or more or less, are a set of very excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands.”
AP
Trump claims progress, but issues latest threat if deal not reached ‘shortly’
US President Donald Trump claims to have made great progress in talks with Tehran but also threatened to “completely obliterate” Iranian energy assets, including Kharg Island and possibly desalination plants, if a deal is not reached “shortly”.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday night AEDT that the US was in “serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran”.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization [sic] plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’,” Trump wrote.
The president, in an interview with London’s Financial Times, claimed the US military had “another couple of thousand targets to go” in Iran and that “a deal could be made fairly quickly”, but also said he wanted to seize Iran’s oil resources.
What you need to know
Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump claims to have made progress in talks with Tehran but also threatened to “completely obliterate” Iranian energy assets, including major oil hub Kharg Island and “possibly all” desalination plants, if a deal is not reached “shortly”.
- Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the US was filled with “excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon.
- NATO air defences have downed a fourth Iranian missile in Turkish airspace.
- Spain has closed its airspace to US military planes as it continues to oppose the war.
- From Wednesday, April 1, excise tax will be halved for three months to deliver a 26¢ cut to a litre of petrol, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
