(AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **US sends negotiators**
President Donald Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan Monday to resume talks on ending the war with Iran, but he again threatened to destroy its power plants and bridges if no deal is reached. He said in a social media post he was offering Iran “a reasonable deal,” but if Tehran refuses, “the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” Iran’s foreign ministry said meanwhile that a continuing US naval blockade on Iranian ports was a violation of the ceasefire as well as an “unlawful and criminal” act.
– **Lebanon PM to Paris**
French President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, his office announced, a day after a French peacekeeper was killed in Lebanon and amid a fragile 10-day truce between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
– **Israel warns ‘full force’**
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said his military will use “full force” in Lebanon — even during the ongoing ceasefire — should Israeli troops face any threat from Hezbollah. Lebanon’s military said meanwhile it has reopened a road and bridge between the city of Nabatieh and Khardali that was damaged by Israeli strikes in the south.
– **Iranian airport reopens**
Iran will resume international flights on Monday from Mashhad airport in the country’s northeast, its civil aviation authority said.
– **Turkey hopes for extension**
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday he was “optimistic” that a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States that expires on Wednesday would be extended, allowing more time for talks between the sides.
– **Israeli soldier killed**
Israel’s military announced the death of a second soldier during combat in southern Lebanon, where fighting has not stopped despite a temporary ceasefire that started Friday. The Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.
– **Hormuz closed**
The strategic Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Sunday, a day after Iran’s central military command announced a new closure in response to a US blockade of Iranian ports. On Friday, Iran had declared the strait — where around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits — open after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement.
– **Iran says deal is ‘far’ off**
Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran’s parliamentary speaker said late Saturday, but the two sides remain far from an agreement. “We are still far from the final discussion,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s negotiators, said in a televised address. “We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain.”
© 2024 AFP
