(AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Monday refused to rule out sending ground troops into Iran as he warned that the spreading Middle East war, unleashed by US-Israeli strikes, could last longer than a month. Israel traded fire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iranian counterattacks hit Gulf states and a British base in Cyprus. International gas prices rose and shares went down.
Here are the latest developments:
**- Trump mulls ground forces**
Trump said he would not rule out sending ground troops into Iran. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” he told the New York Post. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary,'” he said. Trump later said at the White House he had taken the “last, best chance” to stop Iran’s alleged nuclear bomb programme and “eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime”. He said the US attack was meeting its goals ahead of schedule, but also warned the war could go “far longer” than his initial estimates of about a month.
**- Israel strikes Tehran**
The Israeli military said it had begun a new “broad strike” in the “heart of Tehran” after generals vowed to step up attacks on “key elements of the regime”. Loud explosions were heard in several parts of the Iranian capital, AFP journalists said, shaking apartment buildings in the centre. Iran’s president appointed Revolutionary Guards general Majid Ebnelreza as acting defence minister after his predecessor was killed in Israeli-US strikes.
**- Drone hits Cyprus base**
At least one drone crashed into Britain’s RAF Akrotiri military base in Cyprus in the early hours of Monday and another two were intercepted, prompting an evacuation of the facility. While Greece said it was sending two frigates and two F-16 jets to Cyprus, the island’s government said it would seek guarantees that British bases there would not be used for anything other than humanitarian purposes.
**- UK-US spat**
Britain had agreed on Sunday to allow the United States to use British military bases to fire “defensive” strikes at Iranian missile systems after initially refusing — but this was not enough for Trump, who took aim at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a newspaper interview. “It took far too much time. Far too much time,” Trump told the Daily Telegraph, adding he was “very disappointed” with the initial refusal. Starmer told parliament he “stands by” the decision not to take part in the initial strikes.
**- US warplanes shot down**
Three American warplanes crashed in Kuwait on Monday morning but their crew survived, with US officials later saying Kuwaiti air defence had “mistakenly shot down” US warplanes.
**- Gulf states targeted**
Iran hit targets across the Gulf, with the army saying it had launched 15 cruise missiles on a US air base in Kuwait and vessels in the Indian Ocean. QatarEnergy halted liquefied natural gas production after a processing base and a power plant in Qatar were hit, one person was killed as an oil tanker was targeted off Oman. British officials said a vessel in a Bahrain port had been struck by “unknown projectiles”. The US embassy in Kuwait, where black smoke could be seen, said in a statement that people should not come to the mission and “take cover” in their residence.
**- Red Cross warns of ‘large-scale conflict’**
The war is putting civilians in “grave danger”, warned the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric. “The scale of major military operations flaring across the Middle East risks embroiling the region — and beyond — into another large-scale armed conflict that will overwhelm any humanitarian response,” she said. French President Emmanuel Macron said the war risked bringing “a possible conflagration” to Europe’s borders, “with Iran’s nuclear and ballistic capabilities still intact”. The European Union is expected to discuss potentially activating a mutual assistance clause after an Iranian drone strike on a British military base in EU member Cyprus, a European Commission spokeswoman said.
**- Khamenei’s wife reported dead**
The wife of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died Monday after succumbing to wounds sustained during the initial US-Israeli attack, which had left her in a coma, Iranian media reported.
**- US claims ‘air superiority’**
US forces have achieved “air superiority” over Iran, which will “enhance the protection of our forces” and “allow them to continue the work over Iran”, General Dan Caine, the head of the US military, told a news conference.
**- China urges truce**
China’s foreign ministry called for a ceasefire and diplomatic talks to end the conflict, as officials in Beijing confirmed one citizen had been killed in Iran. State media reported Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Beijing “supports Iran defending sovereignty”, and told his Omani counterpart that China was “willing to play a constructive role” towards stopping the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile urged a ceasefire in calls with Emirati and Qatari leaders.
**- Dubai to resume ‘limited’ flights**
Dubai Airports said “limited” flights would resume on Monday evening, three days after flights were first cancelled over the war. Germany will send planes to Saudi Arabia and Oman as part of efforts to evacuate thousands of tourists stranded by the war, said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, adding he was in talks with Lufthansa.
**- Hezbollah fighting**
Israeli attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, sent thousands of people fleeing in southern Lebanon. Several strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation warnings. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said its commander in Lebanon was killed in the strikes. The Lebanese government imposed an “immediate ban” on Hezbollah’s military and security activities and called for it to hand over its weapons, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced. Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir warned his country would strike “all terrorist leaders and factions” across the Middle East.
**- Iran retaliates**
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani wrote on X: “We will fiercely defend ourselves and our six thousand years old civilization regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued statements describing waves of missile and drone attacks on Israel, with targets including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office along with security sites in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and east Jerusalem. The Guards claimed strikes targeting 500 sites in all. Iran insisted its attacks were directed only at US and Israeli targets. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country “harbours no hostility towards the Persian Gulf countries”.
**- Gas price surge**
European gas prices soared more than 50 percent on fears the conflict would cut supplies in the Gulf region, after Qatar halted liquefied natural gas production. Global stocks went down, with Wall Street’s main indices falling more than one percent before trimming their losses.
**- Iranian deaths**
The Iranian Red Crescent said that “131 cities have been affected” by US-Israeli strikes “and, regrettably, 555 of our compatriots have been killed”. Iranian officials confirmed the killings of three Guards members and five army personnel.
© 2024 AFP
