**Paris (France) (AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:**
– **US aircraft carriers**
The US military noted that it now has three aircraft carriers — the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Gerald R. Ford, and USS George H.W. Bush — in the Middle East, for the first time since it waged the 2003 Iraq war. The three battle groups comprise “over 200 aircraft and 15,000 Sailors and Marines,” US Central Command said on X.
– **Kuwait drone attack**
The Kuwaiti military said two explosive drones connected by ultralight fibre-optic cables to operators in neighbouring Iraq struck northern border posts, causing damage but no casualties.
– **Tehran airport to reopen**
International flights from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport will resume on Saturday, the ISNA news agency reported, days after Iran reopened its airspace. The first flights to resume will be to Istanbul and Muscat, the announcement said.
– **’Tight’ gas markets**
The market for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has been strained by the war, will remain “tight” through 2026 and 2027, the International Energy Agency said.
– **Oil prices rise**
Oil prices pushed higher, with Brent at $107 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $97, while stocks struggled as investors worried about a lack of progress in ending the Middle East crisis, with Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed, and the US maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.
– **Condom prices up**
Prices of condoms and other products reliant on petrochemical supplies have risen, according to the world’s largest condom maker and a leading glove manufacturer, Karex and Top Glove, both based in Malaysia.
– **Everyone needs ‘stability’**
“It is in everyone’s interest for stability to return as soon as possible and for the world’s economies to be reassured,” French President Emmanuel Macron said as he attended an EU summit in Nicosia, where talks with Middle East leaders were also scheduled.
– **US reward**
The US State Department is offering up to $10 million for information on the leader of the Tehran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), which Washington designates as a terrorist organisation.
– **Peacekeeper dies**
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, announced that an Indonesian blue helmet died in hospital of wounds suffered on March 29 in an attack on his base.
– **Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended**
The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for three weeks, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday. “I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” Trump told reporters, adding that he plans to meet with top leadership from both countries in the next couple of weeks.
– **Hezbollah ‘right to respond’**
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon has “the right to respond at the appropriate time” to any Israeli “aggressions” during the ongoing truce by both sides, Ali Fayad, an MP for the party, said. Hezbollah said on Thursday it fired rockets at Israel, accusing it of “violation of the ceasefire and its targeting of the town of Yater in southern Lebanon.”
– **Trump says ‘clock is ticking’ for Iran**
Trump said Thursday the United States is under no pressure to end the war with Iran, but “the clock is ticking” for Tehran, as disruption from the conflict batters the world economy. He also ruled out striking Iran with a nuclear weapon. “A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody,” the US president told reporters at the White House.
– **Iran welcome at World Cup**
Iran’s footballers will be welcome at this year’s World Cup, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, distancing the US government from a proposal that Italy could take their place in the tournament. Rubio denied that Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come, but warned members of its delegation deemed to have ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may be barred.
© 2024 AFP
