(AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **Hezbollah: Talks are ‘surrender’**
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiating with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender” for Lebanon, and urged the government to reverse its ban on the party’s military activities. “When negotiations with the Israeli enemy are proposed under fire, this is an imposition of surrender,” Qassem said, rejecting the Lebanese president’s initiative to start direct negotiations “with an enemy that occupies our land and carries out daily attacks”.
– **15-point plan?**
Proposals from the United States to end the war in Iran have been sent to Tehran through Pakistani intermediaries, two senior officials in Islamabad told AFP. Both confirmed that the 15-point plan to stop the fighting, which has spread across the Gulf and Middle East, had been “conveyed to Iran via Pakistan”.
– **UN condemns Gulf strikes**
The UN Human Rights Council condemned Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbours, calling for full and swift “reparation” to all victims of its strikes. The 47-member council backed a resolution condemning Tehran’s actions aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, and demanding Iran immediately “cease all unprovoked attacks”.
– **Iraq to file UN complaint**
Iraq will submit a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council over strikes in its territory, the prime minister’s office said, following an attack in the country’s west that killed seven security personnel.
– **Iran targets US carrier**
Iran fired cruise missiles at the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the military said in a statement carried by state television, warning of further launches when the strike group’s ships come in range.
– **’Do not test our resolve’**
Iran’s powerful parliament speaker on Wednesday warned Washington not to test the Islamic republic’s determination to defend its territory after the United States was reported to be sending more troops to the Middle East. “We are closely monitoring all US movements in the region, especially troop deployments. What the generals have broke, the soldiers can’t fix; instead, they will fall victim to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s delusions,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in an X post in English. “Do not test our resolve to defend our land.”
– **Deadly ‘mistake’**
The leader of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region told local media on Wednesday that Tehran acknowledged that a strike that killed six security personnel a day earlier was a “mistake”. On Tuesday, six members of the Kurdistan region’s peshmerga forces were killed in a ballistic missile strike, the first deadly attack of its kind since the outbreak of the Middle East war.
– **’Far worse’ than Iraq**
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned Wednesday that the Middle East war presented a “far worse” scenario than the invasion of Iraq in 2003. “This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper,” he told parliament.
– **No talks**
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said Tehran and Washington have not held talks, after US President Donald Trump signalled tentative progress in diplomatic efforts to end the war. “We have also heard such details through the media, but according to my information — and contrary to Trump’s claims — so far no negotiations, direct or indirect, have taken place between the two countries,” said Reza Amiri Moghadam, adding that it was “natural that friendly countries are always engaged in consultations with both sides to end this illegitimate aggression”.
– **’Unmitigated catastrophe’**
Strikes around Iran and Israel’s nuclear sites risk unleashing an “unmitigated catastrophe,” the UN rights chief said, warning that “recent missile strikes near nuclear sites in both Israel and Iran underscore the immense danger of further escalation.”
© 2024 AFP
