Trump administration offers 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran
The Trump administration offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, a person briefed on the contours of the proposal said late Tuesday, even as the US military prepared to call up at least 1,000 more troops to supplement some 50,000 troops already in the Mideast.
The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Top WTO official sounds fertiliser warning over Middle East war
Disruptions to fertiliser supplies caused by the Middle East war pose a double threat to global food security through scarcity and high prices, a top World Trade Organization official has warned.
A third of the world’s fertilisers normally transit the strait of Hormuz, and the disruption has prompted multiple warnings about the impact on food production.
“Fertilisers are the number one issue of concern today. If there is no more fertiliser, there is an impact on quantities but also on prices,” WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam told AFP in an interview in Yaoundé.
“The effect compounds the following year: harvests shrink and prices rise.”
Iran Guards say fired missiles at Israel, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had fired missiles at Israel as well as military bases hosting US forces in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.
A Guards statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB said that “targets in the heart of the occupied territories”, meaning Israel, and US military bases in the region “were struck by precision-guided liquid- and solid-fuel missile systems and attack drones”.
Oil prices tumble, stocks soar over hopes for war end
Oil prices tumbled and stocks rose Wednesday on hopes for a de-escalation of the Middle East war after Washington sent a peace plan to Iran, while Tehran announced it will let “non-hostile” oil vessels through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
After nearly four weeks of conflict, investors jumped on the first signs that hostilities could wind down, though analysts pointed out that the arrival of more US troops in the region suggested the chance of escalation remained.
The economic impact of the crisis has begun to bite around the world, with governments looking to cut energy consumption and airlines scaling back flights.
Both main crude contracts plunged more than 6% – with Brent back below $100 – after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism at ending the war and said officials were “in negotiations right now”. Iran has not confirmed any formal talks.
US media: US to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to Middle East
The US military is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The unit is considered the Army’s emergency response force and can typically be deployed on short notice.
The force would include a battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team as well as Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the division’s commander, and division staff, according to the people, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans or private conversations.
It’s the latest addition of American troops to the Iran war effort after US officials recently said thousands of Marines aboard several Navy ships will be heading to the region.
While the Marine units are trained in missions that include supporting US embassies, evacuating civilians and disaster relief, the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, are trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.
Israeli strikes kill 9 in south Lebanon
Lebanese state media reported on Wednesday that Israeli strikes killed at least six people in a town and a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern Sidon area, and three more in another town.
Israel has stepped up its campaign against Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah, whose rocket attacks on March 2 pulled Lebanon into the regional war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Citing the health ministry, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said four people were killed in an “Israeli enemy raid” on the town of Adloun, and another two in a strike on an apartment in the Mieh Mieh refugee camp that left four others wounded.
In another area of southern Lebanon, the NNA earlier said an Israeli raid on the town of Habboush killed at least three people and wounded 18 others.
