LIVE | Trump administration vows to 'unleash hell' if Iran doesn't cooperate in peace talks
The Israeli military announced Wednesday that it had struck two naval cruise missile production facilities operating under Iran's Defense Ministry in Tehran.
An explosion near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran
Iran launched a fresh barrage of missiles at countries across the Middle East on Wednesday, hours after President Donald Trump signaled tentative progress in diplomatic efforts to end the war.
The conflict that began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran has spread rapidly across the Middle East, causing a sharp decline in global energy markets.
Iran launched a barrage of "precision-guided" missiles and drones against Israel and bases hosting U.S. forces in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said early Wednesday.
AFP images captured the trails of rockets streaking across the skies over Netanya, an Israeli coastal city, while anti-aircraft sirens blared across much of the country's central region.
Times correspond to Eastern Standard Time.
Iran on the Strait of Hormuz: "It is closed only to enemies"
(AFP) Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday the Strait of Hormuz was "closed only to enemies", with the Middle East war having all but shut the vital oil and gas shipping route.
"The Strait of Hormuz, from our perspective, is not completely closed -- it is closed only to enemies," Araghchi said on state TV, adding: "There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass."
He said Tehran's armed forces had already "provided safe passage" for ships from friendly nations.
"President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell"
"If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment... Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt assured at a press conference Wednesday. The president, she assured, "does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell."
Leavitt assured that, despite denials from figures from Tehran, peace negotiations continue. Trump reported in recent days that the two countries are engaged in talks, and that they are heading in the right direction.
Pakistani officials earlier stated that Islamabad had conveyed to Tehran a 15-point U.S. plan to halt the fighting that began on Feb. 28, according to AFP.
UN: War in the Middle East “out of control”
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres stated that the conflict in the Middle East is “out of control,” while expressing his fear that it could “escalate further.”
“After more than three weeks, the war is out of control,” Guterres told the media on Wednesday, in remarks reported by AFP.
The ‘failed war’ narrative on Iran is political spin
Though not without cost, the U.S.-Israeli offensive has already made the world safer. Claims of a “quagmire” are an attempt to politicize an issue that should be bipartisan.
Read the full opinion piece by the editor of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).
Lebanese army claims Iranian missile was the cause of Tuesday's explosions north of Beirut
The Lebanese army said Wednesday that the explosions witnessed north of Beirut on Tuesday were caused by the malfunction or interception of an Iranian ballistic missile aimed beyond Lebanon.
"The missile was a guided ballistic missile of the Iranian-made 'Qadr-110' type," the army said of the projectile that caused rare explosions in areas north of Beirut that have otherwise been spared the war so far, and caused minor injuries.
Iran attacks U.S. aircraft carrier as unofficial diplomacy seeks to end war
Iran announced Wednesday that it fired a barrage of cruise missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier as attacks raged across the Middle East despite unofficial diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-week-old war.
OIE ready to approve the release of more oil reserves
During a visit to Tokyo, the head of the International Energy Agency said he was ready to approve the release of more oil reserves if necessary to cushion the impact of the war on world supply.
But the effects are already visible around the world: Sri Lanka has decreed an extra day off to save energy and the price of diesel has doubled in Vietnam.
No negotiations have taken place between the U.S. and Iran: Tehran envoy to Pakistan
Iran's ambassador to Pakistan on Wednesday said there had been no talks between Washington or Tehran, after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled tentative progress in diplomatic efforts to end the war.
"We have also heard such details through the media, but according to my information—and contrary to Trump's claims—so far no negotiations, direct or indirect, have taken place between the two countries," said ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam, adding that it was "natural that friendly countries are always engaged in consultations with both sides to end this illegitimate aggression."
Israel claims to have attacked two naval missile production facilities in Tehran
The Israeli military announced Wednesday that it had attacked two naval cruise missile production facilities operating under Iran's Defense Ministry in Tehran.
"In recent days, the Israeli air force acting on IDF intelligence struck two key naval cruise missile production sites in Tehran," the military said.
According to the statement, the facilities were used to "develop and manufacture long-range naval cruise missiles capable of rapidly destroying targets at sea and on land."
The strikes "represent another step in deepening the damage done to the regime's military production infrastructure," the military added.
The Strait of Hormuz
As the warring sides traded attacks, attention remained focused on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the key route through which one-fifth of the world's crude oil flows.
In a message released by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Tehran assured safe passage through the strait to "non-hostile vessels."
However, the IMO cited a statement by Iran's Foreign Ministry stating that passage would not be granted to vessels belonging to "the aggressor parties, namely the United States and the Israeli regime."
"A very big gift"
Israel also announced it would launch new missile strikes against the "infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime."
"The sounds, the explosions, the missiles—they are part of our daily life now," a 35-year-old woman in Tehran told AFP by telephone.
Attack on a fuel tank
Drones struck a fuel tank at Kuwait's international airport, triggering a fireball, while authorities in Jordan reported shrapnel falling near the capital Amman and air raid alerts were activated in Bahrain.
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