PARIS: Iran said it targeted US bases and Israeli positions with missiles and drones, as hostilities spread across the Middle East, oil prices fell, and diplomatic efforts intensified to contain the conflict.
Here are the latest developments:
Guards target US bases
Revolutionary Guards said they had fired missiles and drones at military bases hosting US forces in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain, as well as targets in Israel, according to a statement carried by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
Oil prices drop
Brent crude oil, the global market benchmark, was down 6.3 percent at $97.90 per barrel at around 0200 GMT.
Benchmark US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, was down 5.2 percent at $87.52.
Fire at Kuwait airport
Drones hit a fuel tank and sparked a fire at Kuwait International Airport, the Gulf state’s civil aviation authority said, reporting no casualties.
Deadly strikes on Lebanon
Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes killed at least six people in a town and a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern Sidon area, and three more in another town.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which earlier warned of an imminent attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been targeted multiple times during the war.
Strait of Hormuz transit
Iran has said “non-hostile vessels” can transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement released to the International Maritime Organization.
Missiles target Israel
Israel’s military said air defences responded to missiles launched from Iran, with blasts heard late Tuesday in Jerusalem and over the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank.
Iraq summons US, Iran diplomats after deadly strikes
Iraq said it would summon the US charge d’affaires and the Iranian ambassador after deadly strikes blamed on their countries, as Baghdad granted targeted former paramilitary groups the “right to respond”.
Iran says strike hit Bushehr nuclear plant
The UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had informed it that “another projectile hit the premises” of the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday, without damaging it.
Trump says Iran gave US ‘gift’
US President Donald Trump said he was upbeat about a negotiated deal with Iran after its surviving leadership gave him a “very big present” related to the Strait of Hormuz, “worth a tremendous amount of money”.
He earlier said negotiations to end the Middle East war were underway “right now,” adding that Tehran wants to make a deal “so badly”.
US to deploy 82nd Airborne: media
The United States is planning to send some 3,000 soldiers from its elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, US media reported.
Hezbollah backs Iran diplomat
Hezbollah called Lebanon’s decision to expel the newly appointed Iranian ambassador a “national and strategic sin”, and demanded authorities “immediately reverse” the move.
China, France encourage talks
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that “talking is always better than keeping fighting,” after Tehran denied Trump’s claim that negotiations had taken place.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iran to “engage in good faith” in talks to end the war, after a call with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Islamabad talks offer
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad is prepared to host negotiations to stop the US-Israeli war with Iran, after mounting speculation it could act as a mediator.
Iran arrests
Iranian authorities said that 466 people have been arrested, accused of seeking to destabilise the country through their online activity.
Iran security chief
Iran named a former Revolutionary Guards commander, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, as head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, succeeding Ali Larijani, who was killed last week in an Israeli strike.
