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Iran won’t negotiate with US, can ‘continue the war’, says senior adviser to Khamenei
Cyprus says it spots suspect object close to Lebanon, airspace shut
Cyprus said a suspect object was detected close to Lebanese airspace. A government source said the airspace above Cyprus’ Larnaca airport had been shut
🎥 Trump threatens to cut off trade with Spain over Iran war refusal
US President Trump threatened Tuesday to sever all trade with Spain after it refused to let US planes use its bases to attack Iran. Spain’s left-wing government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of Europe’s most defiant leaders against Trump, has said that bases long used by US forces could only be allowed for activities consistent with the United Nations Charter. FRANCE 24’s Sarah Morris reports from Madrid.
‘You cannot play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions,’ Spain’s Sanchez tells Trump
Spain is against the “disaster” of the ongoing war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said following US President Donald Trump’s threats to cut trade with Madrid over its position on the conflict.
“This is how humanity’s great disasters start … You cannot play Russian roulette with destiny of millions,” Sanchez said in a televised address to the nation.
Tensions between the two NATO allies increased after Sanchez denounced the US and Israeli bombings of Iran as reckless and illegal, and later banned US aircraft from using naval and air bases in southern Spain for the offensive against Tehran.
First UK repatriation flight to leave Oman
A British chartered flight will leave Oman this evening, prioritising vulnerable UK nationals who want to leave the region after the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, the British Foreign Office said.
British Airways, which is currently unable to fly from Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Amman and Tel Aviv, said it would also operate a flight from Oman in the early hours of Thursday local time.
Sri Lanka rescues 32 sailors from sunk Iranian warship
Sri Lanka rescued 32 “critically wounded” sailors aboard the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank just outside the island’s territorial waters, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
No information was immediately available on the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel, but Herath told parliament that the injured sailors were taken to a hospital in the island’s south.
The 180-crew frigate had issued a distress call at dawn.
Sri Lanka’s defence ministry said it was searching for the other crew of the IRIS Dena, which went down about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the island.
France says planning G7 finance meeting on Mideast ‘probably at the beginning of next week’
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure said that a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will be held “early next week” to assess the situation in the wake of US and Israel’s conflict with Iran.
“I spoke with my counterparts, notably with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. We agreed to set up a meeting that will likely be early next week because … We can let a week pass, see how the conflict evolves, even see how the markets evolve,” Lescure told radio station France Info.
Israel army says begun ‘broad scale strikes’ in Tehran
The Israeli military said it had begun a fresh wave of strikes on Tehran, as an AFP journalist reported an explosion in the northeast of the Iranian capital.
“The Israeli Air Force has begun a broad scale strikes targeting Iranian terror regime targets in Tehran, details to follow,” a brief army statement said.
Explosion heard in northeast Tehran, according to AFP journalist
An AFP journalist in Tehran saw a cloud of smoke rising in the northeast of the city and heard the roar of military aircraft in the sky at around 11:15am (0745 GMT).
Iranian state television confirmed a powerful explosion, without providing further details.
🎥 US has ‘seemingly used diplomacy as a fig leaf to prepare for military strikes’, expert says
Speaking with FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney, Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics and Middle East Studies at Lancaster University, says that the prospect of Iran coming back to the negotiating table is very remote, arguing that the US has lost any goodwill because during the past two rounds of diplomatic talks “diplomacy has seemingly been used as a fig leaf to prepare for military strikes”.
Romania summons Iranian ambassador over strikes
Romania’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest against Tehran’s strikes on Middle Eastern countries and Cyprus, underlining their impact on regional security and maritime safety.
“Romania firmly appeals for the urgent de-escalation of tensions and protection of civilians,” it said in a statement.
“The Romanian side conveyed its deep concern for the violation of the sovereignty of the states in the region that were the target of Iran’s indiscriminate attacks, and Romania’s full solidarity with these countries.”
France plans repatriation flights from Middle East
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said several repatriation flights for French nationals in the Middle East were planned.
“One will depart from the United Arab Emirates, another from Egypt … and one from Israel,” Barrot told France 2.
Barrot declined to say how many people would be on the flights. Around 400,000 French nationals are currently in the region.
French fighter jets neutralized Iranian drones targeting UAE, says FM Barrot
More than 470 Chinese citizens evacuated from Iran
More than 470 Chinese citizens have been evacuated since the conflict in Iran broke out, Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters.
🎥 What we know about the deadly strike on a primary school in Iran
Iran held a mass funeral this Tuesday for at least 165 schoolgirls killed Saturday in a strike on Minab. But online, some users claim the tragedy was staged by Iranian authorities.
In this edition of Truth or Fake, FRANCE 24 confirms the strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school, a building separated from nearby IRGC military barracks for nearly a decade. We also examine claims blaming US-Israeli strikes for the attack, as well as allegations of a failed Iranian rocket launch.
Canada PM says US-Israeli strikes on Iran ‘inconsistent with international law’
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that US-Israeli strikes on Iran had been “inconsistent with international law”, calling for a rapid de-escalation of the conflict.
Speaking at a gathering of the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney, Carney said Canada welcomed steps to change Iran’s form of government – which he said represented the “principal source of instability and terror” in the Middle East.
But, he said, the action “would appear, prima facie, not to be consistent or to be inconsistent with international law”.
South Korea presidential adviser to hold meeting on Middle East situation
South Korea’s presidential policy adviser Kim Yong-beom will hold a meeting to discuss how to respond to the current situation in the Middle East, a government official told Reuters.
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