WASHINGTON, March 7 — Here are the latest events in the Middle East war today:
Israel launches ‘broad-scale’ strikes
The Israeli military said today it had launched a “broad-scale wave of strikes” on targets in Tehran, as the Iranian state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the capital.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said earlier it had detected another round of Iranian missile fire headed towards Israel after a series of explosions were heard in the Israeli commercial hub of Tel Aviv following the Iranian launches.
Iran rejects Trump’s succession overtures
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani yesterday condemned US interference after President Donald Trump insisted that he should be involved in selecting the successor of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The selection of Iran’s leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference,” Irvani told reporters in New York.
US to boost weapons production
Major US defence companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons, Trump said on the seventh day of his war against Iran.
The United States struck more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the conflict, the military said.
Oil prices surge
Crude prices surged on mounting fears about oil supply disruption as the US-Israel strikes and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region upend the world’s energy and transport sectors.
The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped to US$92.69 (RM365) per barrel, up 8.5 per cent for the day and nearly 30 per cent for the week.
Rockets target Baghdad airport complex
Rockets targeted the Baghdad airport complex that hosts a military base and a US diplomatic facility.
A shadowy group called Saraya Awliyaa al-Dam (Guardians of Blood), which claims to be part of the Tehran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said it was behind the attack on the base.
Trump to attend return of dead troops
Trump is to attend the dignified transfer today of six soldiers killed in an Iranian attack on Kuwait, the White House said, as the United States brings home its first dead from the war.
The troops were killed when a drone struck a key US command centre in Kuwait’s southern industrial hub of Port Shuaiba.
UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
Several Ghanaian members of a United Nations peacekeeping were wounded when their base was hit in southern Lebanon, state media reported, without specifying the source of the attack.
Israel has been hitting southern Lebanon in its battle against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
Trump demands ‘unconditional surrender’
Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” as the only acceptable outcome to end the Middle East war, promising to help rebuild the country’s economy if it complied.
His new stance appeared to be a major expansion of US aims for the war, which Washington has previously said was focused on Iran’s missile programme and naval forces.
UN chief slams ‘unlawful attacks’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned “unlawful attacks” across the Middle East and warned that the war could spiral out of control.
Guterres said the crisis was causing “tremendous suffering and harm” and posed a “grave risk” to the global economy.
Only nine commercial ships navigate Hormuz
Just nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships have been recorded passing through the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analysed by AFP.
Nearly 20 per cent of the world’s crude oil and about 20 per cent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit the waterway, but the conflict has virtually shut it down.
France deploys helicopter carrier
France has sent a helicopter carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the war, the French military told AFP.
Paris decided to deploy its flagship aircraft carrier and a frigate earlier in the week.
Lebanon records 217 dead, 300,000 displaced
The death toll in Lebanon rose to 217, the country’s health ministry said, as Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah holds sway.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said 300,000 people in Lebanon had been forced to flee and questioned the legality of the Israeli orders.
Explosions in Iraqi Kurdistan
Explosions sounded near Erbil airport in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and an attack forced a US-run oil field to shut production.
AFP journalists reported explosions and grey smoke rising from near the airport area, which hosts US-led coalition troops. Iraqi Kurdish authorities said earlier that oil production at a field operated by US firm HKN Energy had been halted following an attack. — AFP
