Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **EU migration fears**
EU leaders vowed to “fully mobilise” to prevent “uncontrolled migratory movements” towards the 27-nation bloc, as the Iran war sparked concerns of a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis. “To avoid a similar situation, the EU is ready to fully mobilise its diplomatic, legal, operational and financial tools to prevent uncontrolled migratory movements to the EU and preserve security in Europe,” the leaders said after talks at a summit in Brussels.
– **Qatar says strike cuts 17% of gas capacity**
Qatar’s energy minister said attacks on the country’s energy installations would slash its export capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 17 percent, and take three to five years to repair. “We will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in a statement.
– **War’s end?**
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a press conference he saw “this war ending a lot faster than people think.” “I’m not sure who’s running Iran right now. Mojtaba, the replacement ayatollah, has not shown his face… What we see is that there is a lot of tensions inside the people who are edging for the top.” “We’re seeing cracks, and we’re trying to propagate them as fast as we can, not only in the top command, we’re seeing cracks in the field.”
– **’Winning’**
Netanyahu said “we are winning and Iran is being decimated,” adding that it was no longer able to enrich uranium or to build ballistic missiles. He also denied that Israel “dragged” the US into the war, saying “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?”
– **Israel ‘acted alone’**
Netanyahu said Israel acted on its own when it struck an Iranian gas field, which sparked a retaliatory strike by Tehran on Qatar’s main gas hub. “Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound… President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we’re holding out.” Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he told Israel not to carry out any more such strikes. “I told him, don’t do that, and he won’t do that,” Trump told reporters.
– **Hormuz ‘blackmail’**
Netanyahu said attempts to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz would fail. “The death cult in Iran is trying to blackmail the world by closing a key international maritime route, the Strait of Hormuz. It won’t work,” he said.
– **Lebanon truce**
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun renewed his call for a truce and the opening of negotiations with Israel to stop the war between it and Hezbollah, as he received France’s foreign minister. Earlier, Lebanon’s health ministry said that Israeli attacks have killed 1,001 people in the country since the war erupted, including 79 women, 118 children and 40 health workers, with 2,584 other people wounded.
– **US airbase in Germany**
Iran said it had asked Germany to clarify the role of the Ramstein airbase in the war. “We have asked them to clarify or explain regarding the role of Ramstein,” Tehran’s ambassador to Germany Majid Nili told AFP, saying that “the role of Ramstein is not officially clear for us.”
– **No US ground troops**
Trump said he was not sending US ground troops to Iran, telling reporters: “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. But I’m not putting troops.”
– **$16 bn arms sales**
The United States said it had approved $16 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which have been hit hard as a result of the war.
© 2024 AFP
