Paris (France) (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron ordered an aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean in response to the widening Middle East conflict and said the US-Israel strikes on Iran were outside international law. Israel hit targets across Tehran as President Donald Trump boasted of widespread damage and said it was “too late” for talks.
Here are the latest developments:
– **US, Israel acted ‘outside international law’** – Macron said US and Israel had acted outside international law in attacking Iran. He ordered the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and frigates to the Mediterranean near Cyprus and said French forces had shot down drones early in the war to protect allies in the Gulf.
– **Israel struck ‘covert’ nuclear site** – Israel claimed it struck an underground nuclear site on the western outskirts of Tehran where it said scientists were developing a key component for an atomic weapon. “In the site, a group of nuclear scientists operated covertly to develop a key component for nuclear weapons,” Israel’s military said, adding the scientists had been working at the underground location since Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites in June.
– **New missile salvo fired at Israel** – Iran fired ‘a large number of missiles and drones’ at Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement. Iran is ready for a long war and has yet to use its most advanced weapons, its defence ministry said.
– **Israel’s airspace to ‘gradually’ reopen** – Israel’s transport minister said the country will gradually reopen its airspace overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.
– **Khamenei to be buried in Mashhad** – Iranian media announced that supreme leader Ali Khamenei is to be buried in Iran’s second-largest city Mashhad. No date for the burial was disclosed.
– **Israel to ‘continue attacking Hezbollah’** – Israel’s army chief says they will continue attacking Hezbollah until it is disarmed, as the military said several projectiles had been fired from Lebanon towards Israel, adding that most were intercepted.
– **Iran response ‘wrong strategy’** – Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told state-run TV that Iran’s indiscriminate bombings across Gulf states were the ‘wrong strategy’ and “significantly increases the risk in the region.” He said the United States should limit its attacks to undermining Iran’s military capabilities, as forcing regime change would bring “risks” to the region.
– **Bushehr airport hit** – US-Israeli strikes damaged the airport in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported. It said an Airbus plane and another aircraft, as well as the airport terminal, had been damaged.
– **Air strike hits Iraq base of pro-Iran group** – An air strike hit a military base in southern Iraq housing the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group, a source from the armed faction said. The Jurf al-Nasr base, which serves as one of the main bastions of the powerful Tehran-backed group, has been struck several times since the start of the war on Saturday.
– **Trump hails impact of strikes** – “Just about everything’s been knocked out,” Trump said of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Washington. Trump told reporters he acted to stop Iran from attacking first and “might have forced Israel’s hand.”
– **Most potential Iran leaders are dead: Trump** – Trump said two waves of US-Israeli attacks on Iran had killed figures he had eyed as potential new leaders. “Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said. He said the “worst case” would be “somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person.”
– **EU and Gulf foreign ministers to talk** – EU and Gulf foreign ministers will hold video talks on Thursday, officials told AFP.
– **Russia calls for de-escalation** – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged de-escalation in a call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Moscow said.
– **UK dispatches warship** – Britain will send a warship and helicopters with anti-drone capabilities for “defensive operations” to Cyprus after a UK military base there was hit by a drone, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
– **’Large scale’ blasts in Tehran** – Loud explosions rocked Tehran, with Israel’s military later saying it had launched a new “large scale” wave of strikes on the capital “targeting the Iranian terror regime’s infrastructure in Tehran.” Iranian media said central Tehran was struck, as well as the religious city of Qom, where the building used by the official body that selects Iran’s new supreme leader was hit.
– **’Too late’ for talks** – Trump said that it was “too late” for talks with Iran, writing on his Truth Social platform that Iran’s “air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone.” “They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'” Trump said — two days after saying he had agreed to talks.
© 2024 AFP
