3h ago
06.01 BST
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Hello and
welcome to our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, the crisis in the
Middle East and its wider repercussions around the world.
US
President Donald Trump warned late on Thursday about striking and destroying
bridges and electric power plants in Iran in his latest threat to hit the
country’s infrastructure.
The US
military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next,
then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media. His post said that
Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”
Here is a
summary of recent developments. Stay with us for the latest news.
Trump
shared footage on his Truth Social of a bridge strike near Tehran that
reportedly killed at least eight people, and appeared to take US responsibility
for the attack. He warned there was “much more to follow” and urged Tehran to
“make a deal before it is too late”. Strikes hit the B1 bridge between Karaj
and Tehran on Thursday, which had already been hit around an hour earlier,
Iranian state TV reported.
The UN
security council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorizing the
use of “defensive” force to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz from
Iranian attacks, according to the official program. The 15-member body was set
to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain, but by
Thursday night the schedule shifted. The reason given was that the United
Nations observes Good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic
sources – despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced.
The
French president, Emmanuel Macron, has hit out at Donald Trump, saying he was
undermining Nato by creating “daily doubt about his commitment” to the
alliance. Macron said: “You have to be serious. When you want to be serious,
you don’t go around saying the opposite every day of what you just said the day
before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day.” The US president, in
interviews to various media yesterday, made disparaging comments about Nato,
calling it a “paper tiger” and threatening to pull the US out of the alliance.
The UK
foreign secretary Yvette Cooper convened a virtual meeting of more than 40
countries on the strait of Hormuz crisis on Thursday, in which officials from
every continent discussed possible ways to increase pressure on Iran to reopen
the critical waterway.
Randy
George, the US army’s top officer, is stepping down from his role after the
defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, reportedly requested that he retire
immediately. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that George, who had been
serving as the army’s 41st chief of staff, was retiring.
Iran is
drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic in the strait of Hormuz, the
official IRNA news agency cited deputy foreign minister Kezem Gharibabadi as
saying. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, apparently told
Sputnik, the Russian government-owned news agency, that Iran has nearly
completed its draft protocol, which would establish a new navigation regime in
the strait of Hormuz.
UN
secretary general António Guterres warned that the Middle East conflict risked
spiralling into a wider war, as he called for an immediate halt to US-Israeli
strikes on Iran and Iranian attacks on its neighbours. “We are on the edge of a
wider war that would engulf the Middle East with dramatic impacts around the
globe,” he said in New York.
Wall
Street’s main indexes pared declines and were muted on Thursday, in the last
session of the week, as investors assessed latest indications that energy
shipping through the strait of Hormuz could be restored. Iran was drafting a
protocol with Oman for traffic through the Strait, its foreign ministry said.
Britain also said that about 40 countries are discussing joint action to reopen
the strait to stop Iran from holding “the global economy hostage.”
Israeli
defence minister Israel Katz has warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would
pay an “extraordinarily heavy price” for escalating attacks during the ongoing
Jewish holidays. “I have a clear message for Naim Qassem … you and your
associates will pay an extraordinarily heavy price for the intensified rocket
fire directed at Israeli citizens as they gathered to celebrate Passover
Seder,” Katz said in a video statement.
Germany
and China both want to restore the freedom of navigation in the strait of
Hormuz and agree that individual states must not control sea lanes or levy
tolls for passage, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. China can
exert its influence on Iran to bring about a negotiated solution and an end to
hostilities against the Gulf states, added the ministry.
The
Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said there was no end in sight to the war
that has killed hundreds of people and left a million more displaced. Marking
one month since Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war, with the Israeli
military fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants along the southern Lebanese
border, Salam said his country was committed to “employing all available means
to stop the war”.
The
Philippines said Iran has pledged to allow safe passage of oil shipments
through the strait of Hormuz. Officials said a “productive phone conversation”
between the Philippine foreign secretary, Theresa Lazaro, and her Iranian
counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, had opened the door to crucial oil shipments.
Strikes
in Iran have caused extensive damage to a century-old medical centre in the
capital Tehran, the country’s health ministry spokesperson said. “The
aggression against Pasteur Institute of Iran – a century-old pillar of global
health and member of International Pasteur Network – is a direct assault on
international health security,” Hossein Kermanpour wrote in a post on X, with
images of a heavily damaged building.
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