Iran-US battle newest: Oil costs fall after Trump sends Tehran 15-point peace plan and says Iran received’t get nukes | EUROtoday

Israel struck the Iranian capital Tehran this morning, even as president Donald Trump said the US was making progress in efforts to negotiate an end to the war, with reports of a 15-point plan sent to Tehran.

The Israeli Defense Forces said it launched a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure across Tehran. Iran’s semi-official SNN News Agency reported the strikes hit a residential area, with rescuers searching through the rubble.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia said they had repelled fresh drone attacks on Wednesday, without stating their origin. Drones targeted a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties, Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority said.

The Iranian military has responded to Donald Trump’s latest claims over ceasefire negotiations and his alleged “15-point” ceasefire plan.

Addressing the US, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying: “Has the level of your internal conflicts reached the state of negotiating with yourselves.”

He also said: “Don’t call your failure an agreement.”

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been urging US president Donald Trump to continue the war against Iran, The New York Times reported.

The crown prince has spoken to Mr Trump several times over the past week, pushing the president to keep fighting until the regime in Iran is toppled, the report stated.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gulf states were “inching toward” a more active role, after Riyadh allowed US forces to use an air base within its borders.

However, Saudi officials rejected the idea that Prince Mohammed has pushed to prolong the war.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always supported a peaceful resolution to this conflict, even before it began,” the Saudi government told The Timesnoting that officials “remain in close contact with the Trump administration and our commitment remains unchanged.”

“Our primary concern today is to defend ourselves from the daily attacks on our people and our civilian infrastructure,” the government added. “Iran has chosen dangerous brinkmanship over serious diplomatic solutions. This harms every stakeholder involved but none more than Iran itself.”

US president Donald Trump claims that Iran has agreed to his biggest demand to stop the war on Tehran.

“They’ve agreed,” he mentioned. “They will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that,” he said.

Tehran has not release any information regarding the alleged concession after previously denying even talking to the US.

“We’re actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make a deal,” Mr Trump mentioned.

The New York Times reported that Washington despatched Iran a 15-point plan to finish the battle within the Middle East. Israel’s Channel 12, quoting three sources, mentioned the US was in search of a month-long ceasefire to debate the 15-point plan.

The Israeli media outlet mentioned the plan would come with the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme, ceasing assist for proxy teams, akin to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February after claiming that they had didn’t make sufficient headway in talks aimed toward ending Iran’s nuclear programme, though mediator Oman mentioned important progress had been made.

Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif mentioned Islamabad is able to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to finish the Iran battle.

The US has agreed in precept to affix talks in Pakistan, in accordance with three Pakistani officers, one Egyptian official and a Gulf diplomat, whereas mediators had been nonetheless working to persuade Iran, the Associated Press reported.

One diplomat from the area mentioned the talks might occur by early subsequent week, and that particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are anticipated to signify the US.

A former govt director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency has mentioned he’s involved American service members might be despatched to the Middle East to “die for no reason.”

The Pentagon has ordered about 2,000 troopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to assist in the Iran battle, The New York Times reported.

This is on high of the roughly 2,500 Marines from the thirty first Expeditionary Unit which are reportedly set to reach within the Middle East this week.

“I’m very worried that Trump is gearing up to send hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. troops to die for no reason”, Major Harrison Mann informed CNN. “Every option we’ve heard the Trump administration discuss for employing these troops sounds foolhardy and dangerous”.

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has declared a state of nationwide vitality emergency in ‌response to the Middle East battle and what he known as an “imminent danger” posed to the nation’s vitality provide.

The first cargo of Russian crude oil in 5 years arrived within the Philippines yesterday as Manila seems to hunt an alternate provide supply.

Mr Marcos yesterday mentioned a committee has been shaped to make sure the orderly motion, provide, distribution and availability of gas, meals, medicines, agricultural merchandise and different ​important items.

He mentioned the battle had created uncertainty ​in international vitality markets, extreme supply-chain disruption and important volatility and upward stress on ⁠worldwide oil costs, “thereby posing a threat to the country’s energy security”.

“The declaration of a state of national ​energy emergency will enable the government…to implement responsive and coordinated measures under existing laws to address the risks ​posed by disruptions in the global energy supply and the domestic economy,” he mentioned.

Stocks rose and oil fell this morning on reviews of a US diplomatic push to finish the battle with Iran.

Brent crude fell about ‌7 per cent to $97 a barrel, whereas West Texas Intermediate was close to $87.S&P 500 futures rose 0.9 per cent within the Asia morning as European futures lifted 1.2 per cent.

John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser turned foe, has warned Iran will proceed its pursuit of nuclear weapons with out regime change.

“If you leave this wounded animal in Tehran able to recover, it will return to the nuclear weapons program, return to its terrorism, and now its third big threat, closing the Strait of Hormuz”, Bolton informed CNN.

Trump has claimed regime change in Iran, on condition that its leaders have been killed within the battle.

But Bolton mentioned, “This is a regime based on a radical Islamicist ideology, and it’s deeply inculcated in the ranks of the ayatollahs, in the civil government, in the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“Trump doesn’t have a philosophy, so I don’t even think he understands what motivates these people. The faces may change, but the ideology remains the same. The regime will change when the ayatollahs and Revolutionary Guard are gone, and we’re not at that point yet”.