Paris – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
Gas outages in Tehran
Gas outages hit parts of Tehran after a strike on a university, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.
Local media also reported several attacks on residential areas over the Iranian capital.
Iran threatens ‘devastating’ retaliation
Iran’s central military command warned of “much more devastating” retaliation if its adversaries hit civilian targets.
“If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread,” a spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
US President Donald Trump previously threatened to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Tehran does not strike a deal to reopen the Gulf to shipping.
Strikes on Gulf states
Kuwait’s army said its air defences were working to intercept missiles and drones fired towards the Gulf nation’s territory.
The country previously said it was responding to similar attacks overnight.
The United Arab Emirates defence ministry said its air defences were responding to a missile and drone attack.
Hezbollah strikes on Israel
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired a salvo of rockets at Israel, targeting towns in the north.
Lebanon has increasingly been dragged into the conflict since Iran-backed Hezbollah resumed targeting Israel.
Oil benchmarks open above $110
Crude oil prices opened higher on Monday as the war in the Middle East continues to squeeze global energy supplies.
North Sea Brent crude increased 1.16 percent to $110.30 a barrel, while the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 1.86 percent to $113.62 a barrel.
Israel strikes on Lebanon kill at least 15
Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 15 people Sunday and wounded 39, Lebanese officials said.
One of Israel’s strikes in Beirut Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 52 in the Jnah neighbourhood, according to the Lebanese health ministry, while a strike targeting an apartment building in Ain Saadeh town east of Beirut killed three people and injured three others.
A strike in the southern town of Kfar Hatta, far from the border with Israel, killed seven people including a four-year-old girl, the ministry added.
Trump deadline
Trump appeared to extend by 24 hours his deadline for Iran to make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating infrastructure attacks.
“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” he simply said on his Truth Social platform.
Israeli residential building hit
The Israeli military and medics said a missile fired from Iran hit a residential building in the northern city of Haifa, injuring four people.
The building was hit by a “direct impact of a missile”, the military told AFP.
Trump threatens ‘hell’
Trump threatened “hell” if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, vowing in an expletive-laden social media post to strike its bridges and power plants.
Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warned Trump in response that his “reckless moves” would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.
US rescue mission
Trump said a missing airman from a downed US F-15 fighter jet had been found in a “daring” and “miraculous” rescue, but Iran’s military said the American operation had been “completely foiled”.
Trump, in a social media post, said “dozens” of US aircraft took part in the rescue operation and that the crew member was “seriously wounded”.
‘Deep’ op
US news outlets reported that American commandos had deployed deep into Iranian territory to rescue the downed airman.
The Iranian military said the US operation had used an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province.
Two planes meant to transport the airman and his rescuers to safety were stuck in Iran and had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, The New York Times and CBS reported.
OPEC+ hikes quotas
The OPEC+ oil cartel agreed to again increase oil production quotas, by 206,000 barrels per day from May.
It warned that repairing energy facilities damaged in recent attacks is costly and “takes a long time”, potentially hitting global oil supplies well into the future.
Iran airport hit
A US-Israeli airstrike hit the Qasem Soleimani international airport in southwestern Iran, state media reported.
Pope urges peace
Pope Leo XIV urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace”, in his first Easter blessing as pontiff.
“We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people,” he told a crowd in St Peter’s Square.
Holy Sepulchre restrictions
Israeli security forces imposed restrictions on access to the Holy Sepulchre in occupied east Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and rose from the dead.
The usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City were unusually quiet on Easter Sunday, the holiday overshadowed by the war.
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Source: AFP
