Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **Iran says not behind Oman attacks**
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Tehran and allied forces in the region were “in no way” behind attacks on Oman and Turkey during the war, instead blaming “deception by the Zionist enemy,” referring to Israel.
– **Khamenei: enemy ‘defeated’**
Khamenei said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz. “At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots…the enemy has been defeated,” said Khamenei. He is yet to appear in public after being named to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war.
– **NATO Iraq mission moved**
NATO’s mission in Iraq has been fully relocated to Europe, the alliance said, with the last personnel from the non-combat force of several hundred departing the country.
– **Tehran blasts**
AFP journalists reported hearing several blasts in Tehran. The blasts, which came as Iranians celebrated Nowruz, came from the eastern and northern parts of the capital, the journalists said.
– **Hezbollah targets Israeli forces**
Hezbollah said it has targeted Israeli soldiers in six south Lebanon villages, in a series of statements, as Israeli ground forces attempt to push into southern Lebanon. The pro-Iran armed group said it targeted a “gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers” in each of the six border villages, and a Merkava tank, as its war with Israel neared the three-week mark.
– **UK warns Iran**
Britain’s foreign minister Yvette Cooper warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly,” a foreign office statement said. This came after an Iranian foreign ministry statement which said top diplomat Abbas Araghchi told Cooper in the call on Thursday that any US use of British bases would be seen as “participation in aggression” against the Islamic republic.
– **Impact by Jerusalem Old City**
A blast blew a crater in a hillside just inside Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, spraying debris across a road, after a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran. AFP journalists at the scene saw the damage just a few hundred metres from Jerusalem’s revered holy sites of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
– **Trump: NATO allies ‘cowards’**
President Donald Trump branded the United States’ NATO allies “cowards” for not heeding his demand for military assistance against Iran to control the Hormuz Strait shipping route. “COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
– **Iran military threats**
Iran’s military threatened to hunt down US and Israeli officials and army commanders even while they were on holiday or visiting entertainment centres. “We are watching your cowardly officials and commanders, pilots and wicked soldiers,” armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi said, quoted by state TV.
– **’Major concessions’**
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on a visit to Israel that Iran must make “major concessions” as part of any long-term political solution to the Middle East war.
– **UAE arrests**
UAE authorities have arrested at least five members of a “terrorist network” linked to Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, state media said. The alleged network had “sought to infiltrate the national economy and carry out external schemes threatening the country’s financial stability,” working “in coordination with external parties linked to Hezbollah and Iran,” the official WAM news agency said, citing the UAE State Security Apparatus. Hezbollah denied that it has a presence inside the UAE.
– **Caspian hit again**
Israel’s military said it was launching strikes in Iran’s Noor region on the shores of the Caspian Sea, a day after carrying out its first strikes against Iranian targets in the body of water bordered by five nations.
© 2024 AFP
