PARIS, May 11 — Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
Trump rejects Iran peace response
President Donald Trump said yesterday he has rejected Iran’s response to a US proposal for ending the Middle East war, deeming it “totally unacceptable.”
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it—TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without providing further details.
UK, France ministers to hold Hormuz meeting
The United Kingdom and France will host a multinational meeting of defence ministers tomorrow on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.
“The Defence Secretary John Healey will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, Minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission’s first Defence Minister’s meeting,” a defence ministry statement said Sunday.
Iran Nobel laureate released on bail for medical treatment
Iranian authorities have released Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi on bail following growing alarm over her health and she has already been transferred to Tehran for medical treatment, her supporters said yesterday.
After 10 days of hospitalisation in Zanjan in northern Iran where she had been serving her sentence, Mohammadi “has been granted a sentence suspension on heavy bail”, her foundation said in a statement.
Trump to ‘pressure’ Xi on Iran
Trump is expected to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Iran when he visits Beijing this coming week, a senior administration official said Sunday, as the US leader seeks a deal to end the Middle East war.
“I would expect the president to apply pressure,” the official said in a call with reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that Trump has done so in previous calls with Xi.
Iran sends response
Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to end the war in the region via Pakistan, Iranian state media reported.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran sent today (Sunday) through Pakistani mediators its response to the latest text proposed by the United States to end the war,” the official IRNA news agency said, without offering details.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat.”
Iran warns UK, France over warships
Iran warned Britain and France that its armed forces would launch “a decisive and immediate response” if they sent warships to the Strait of Hormuz.
London and Paris have both dispatched vessels to the region, as part of international efforts to secure the strategic waterway in the event of a peace deal between the United States and the Islamic republic.
Drone attacks
Drones were launched at several targets in the Gulf yesterday, with one hitting a freighter sailing towards Qatar from Abu Dhabi.
Qatar’s defence ministry said a small fire was sparked on the commercial vessel but there were no casualties.
Kuwait’s military said it repelled a dawn drone attack.
Israeli PM says war ‘not over’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s stockpile of uranium must be “taken out” before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over.
“It’s not over because there’s still nuclear material — enriched uranium — that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” the Israeli leader told CBS News programme 60 Minutes.
Iran threatens US sites
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to target US sites in the Middle East and “enemy ships” if its tankers come under fire, Iranian media reported.
“Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships,” it said, a day after US attacks against two Iranian tankers in the Gulf of Oman. — AFP
