Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **Tehran blasts** – An AFP journalist heard a series of explosions in central Tehran, as US-Israeli strikes wore on into their fifth week. AFP journalists also confirmed that air defences had been activated over the capital, including in the north.
– **UN slams Israel death penalty ‘war crime’** – The United Nations rights chief slammed the Israeli parliament’s approval of a “deeply discriminatory” new death penalty bill for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, warning that applying it on occupied Palestinian territory “would constitute a war crime”.
– **Canada slams Israel ‘illegal invasion’** – Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney denounced Israel’s deployment of troops against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon as an “illegal invasion” that violates its “integrity and sovereignty.”
– **Save fuel, EU says** – The EU urged member states to try to push down domestic demand for fuel in the face of surging energy prices caused by the Middle East war.
– **Trump criticism surprises France** – French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Tuesday it was “surprised” by US President Donald Trump’s criticism of France as “very unhelpful” after not allowing planes with military supplies to fly over its territory. “We are surprised by this tweet,” the presidency said.
– **Fresh Beirut attacks** – An Israeli strike hit an apartment in Christian-majority Mansourieh, north of Beirut, state media reported, in the first attack on the area since the outbreak of the Israel-Hezbollah war. Earlier, a strike hit a building adjacent to Beirut’s main airport road, AFPTV’s live broadcast showed, after the Israeli military warned it would hit a “Hezbollah facility”.
– **Guards threaten US tech** – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they would target leading US technology firms like Apple, Google, and Meta if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations”.
– **Israel blamed for killing peacekeepers** – A UN security source told AFP that Israeli fire had killed an Indonesian peacekeeper at the weekend, after the UN force said it was investigating the incident. The source told AFP on condition of anonymity that evidence had been identified that the source of the fire on Sunday was an Israeli tank.
– **Infantino on Iran** – FIFA president Gianni Infantino told AFP that Iran “will be at the World Cup” and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war. The war has thrown in doubt Iran’s participation at the World Cup, hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada from June 11.
– **Italy refusal** – Italy recently denied authorisation for some US aircraft headed to the Middle East on a combat mission to land at its Sigonella base, a defence ministry source and Italian media said. Under the terms of agreements with the United States, some Italian bases can be used by US military aircraft, but only for logistical purposes, which was denied in this case on the grounds that there was not enough time to get parliament’s approval.
– **Deadly Iraq strike** – A strike in western Iraq killed three fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi, the alliance said in a statement, blaming the US and Israel for the attack. The alliance, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), is now part of Iraq’s regular armed forces although it also contains pro-Iran factions.
– **Riyadh blasts** – Multiple explosions rattled the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to an AFP journalist, the latest apparent barrage targeting the city as Iran carries out attacks across the Gulf region.
– **’Completely baseless’** – Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected as “completely baseless” reports that the Islamic republic had fired missiles at Turkey and offered to jointly investigate the issue.
– **’Decisive’ days** – Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the next days of the Iran war will be “decisive” while refusing to rule out US ground forces playing a role in the conflict. Hegseth also revealed during his first news conference in nearly two weeks that he had visited US troops in the Middle East over the weekend, and said that talks on ending the conflict were “gaining strength”.
– **’Take it’** – US President Donald Trump said that countries that have not joined the Middle East war but are struggling with fuel shortages should “go get your own oil” in the Strait of Hormuz.
© 2024 AFP
