Paris (France) (AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **Starmer ‘won’t yield’**
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would not “yield” to pressure from Donald Trump to join the Iran war after the US president threatened to renege on a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament.
– **Iran firm on uranium, keeps talking**
Iran’s foreign ministry said Tehran’s right to enrich uranium was “indisputable,” although the level of enrichment is “negotiable.” The ministry stated that exchanges with the United States had continued following failed negotiations over the weekend. In a weekly press briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei noted that the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy could not be “taken away under pressure or through war.” He added, “Regarding the level and type of enrichment, we have always stated that this issue is negotiable. As for talks with the United States, he said that “since Sunday, when the Iranian delegation returned to Tehran, several messages have been exchanged through Pakistan.”
– **Iran in Red Sea warning**
Iran’s military warned it would block trade through the Red Sea, along with the Gulf and Sea of Oman, if the US naval blockade on Iranian ports continues. In a statement carried by Iranian state television, the head of the military’s central command center said that if the US continues with its blockade and “creates insecurity for Iran’s commercial vessels and oil tankers,” it will also constitute “a prelude” to violating the ceasefire. “The powerful armed forces of the Islamic republic will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea,” said Ali Abdollahi, vowing Iran will “act decisively to defend its national sovereignty and its interests.”
– **Trump’s Chinese arms demand**
US President Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox Business that he asked China’s leader Xi Jinping not to supply weapons to Iran, and that Xi replied saying he was not doing so. “I had heard that China’s giving weapons to, I mean — you’re seeing it all over the place — to Iran,” Trump said. “And I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that.” Trump plans to visit China next month for a summit with Xi that was pushed back from late March by Washington because of the war.
– **UN call for Lebanon support**
United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih urged the international community to provide urgent support to Lebanon, where a fifth of the country’s population has been displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war. “I call upon the international community to provide urgent support and relief to Lebanon,” Salih said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, noting that “the humanitarian consequences of this war are immense.”
– **Hezbollah fires on Israel**
Two Israeli strikes hit vehicles south of Beirut, state media reported, while Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel hours after Lebanon and Israel agreed in Washington to hold direct negotiations. Israel also issued a new evacuation warning to residents in south Lebanon. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported separate Israeli strikes on two vehicles, one in the seafront town of Saadiyat and another on a coastal highway in neighboring Jiyeh, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut and outside Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
– **Stocks boost**
Markets largely steadied as traders waited to see if Mideast peace talks would resume. World oil prices rebounded about one percent after hefty losses Tuesday, when a Wall Street rally propelled the Nasdaq and S&P 500 back well above pre-war levels. Offsetting hopes of fresh peace talks, the United States tightened its naval blockade on Wednesday, which it said had cut off maritime trade with Iran.
– **Pakistan shuttle diplomacy**
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif embarked on a four-day diplomatic blitz to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, his office said, as the country engages in feverish diplomacy ahead of potential new US-Iranian peace talks.
– **Iranian sailors repatriated**
Sri Lanka has repatriated 238 Iranian sailors stranded in the South Asian country after their warship was torpedoed by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean on March 4, a minister told AFP.
© 2024 AFP
