(AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **US cutting Germany troop numbers ‘way down’**
President Donald Trump said the United States would be withdrawing more troops from Germany than was previously announced by the Pentagon. “We’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters Saturday, without providing details. Earlier, a NATO spokeswoman said the alliance was seeking more information from Washington on its decision, which came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was “humiliating” the Trump administration in negotiations.
– **Trump casts doubt on new peace proposal**
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would review a new Iranian peace deal but cast doubt over its prospects, as Iranian media reported Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies said Iran had submitted a 14-point proposal. It reportedly includes ending the conflict on all fronts and enacting a new framework for the crucial Strait of Hormuz, according to Tasnim.
– **Three killed in Lebanon**
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed three people in the town of Sammaiyeh in the Tyre district. The Israeli military said it carried out strikes dismantling “approximately 70 military structures and approximately 50 Hezbollah infrastructure sites” across southern Lebanon on Saturday. The attacks have become a regular occurrence despite the fragile April 17 ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
– **Catholic convent damaged in Lebanon**
A Catholic charity condemned what it called the “deliberate act of destruction against a place of worship” after a convent was damaged by Israeli forces in Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed a “religious building” was damaged by troops operating in the village of Yaroun and “houses located in a religious compound” were “damaged” during an operation to “destroy terrorist infrastructure.” French Catholic charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient said troops “destroyed” a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic religious order the charity is affiliated with.
– **Iran: future of war up to US**
Iran said Saturday that it is up to the United States whether to pursue a negotiated settlement or to return to open war, and Tehran stands ready for either. “Now the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach,” deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran, according to state broadcaster IRIB. “Iran, with the aim of securing its national interests and security, is prepared for both paths,” he said.
– **China rejects US sanctions**
China will not comply with US sanctions against five firms targeted for purchasing Iranian oil, Beijing’s commerce ministry said Saturday. China, a key customer for Iranian oil, said the US sanctions “improperly prohibit or restrict” the firms’ normal business.
– **US Navy ‘acting like pirates’**
Trump said the US Navy was acting “like pirates” as he described an operation seizing a ship amid the tit-for-tat American blockade of Iranian ports. “We… land on top of it and we took over the ship. We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” Trump told a rally in Florida. “We’re like pirates,” he added to cheers from the crowd. “We’re sort of like pirates. But we’re not playing games.”
– **Troop withdrawal ‘expected’**
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the withdrawal of 5,000 American troops from Germany had been expected and that Europe needed to do more to ensure its own security. “That US troops are withdrawing from Europe and also from Germany was to be expected,” Boris Pistorius said in a statement sent to AFP by his ministry. “We Europeans must take greater responsibility for our security,” he added.
© 2024 AFP
