By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours and Stephen Quillen
- US President Donald Trump claims in a social media post Iran took “too long” to negotiate an agreement and will now “have to pay the price”. In separate comments, he says he may order new attacks on Iran’s power plants and bridges.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard attacks US assets in the region in response to US military strikes on southern Iran as the peace process stares down its latest challenge.
Two dozen Palestinians leave Gaza for medical care abroad
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says 24 patients and 45 of their companions were able to leave the bombarded territory for medical treatment abroad today.
The group left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the ministry said.
Warning “a large number” of patients and wounded people are still waiting to leave Gaza for treatment, it called for the process to be expedited to allow more Palestinians to get life-saving medical care.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has decimated the local health system, destroying and damaging dozens of hospitals and clinics and fueling shortages of medicine and medical equipment.
Blaze on tanker off Oman likely caused by US strike, analysts say
Two seamen remain missing after a suspected US missile strike on a tanker off the coast of Oman.
“This was likely the result of US operations to blockade Iranian ports,” British maritime security group Ambrey said. “In the past, crews have been warned to gather on the bow of a vessel before an attack on the stern.”
A second unnamed security source also told Reuters news agency the vessel was likely to have been hit by a US missile.
There were 24 Indian sailors out of a crew of 28 aboard, an Indian government source told Reuters, and Indian officials are trying to establish if the two missing seafarers are from India.
The ship was a Palau-flagged chemical-oil products tanker that reported an engine room fire 37km (20 nautical miles) northeast of Oman’s port of Sohar, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
US-Iran ceasefire in ‘increasing jeopardy’ as mediators scramble to salvage talks
Just on Monday, Trump was saying the US and Iran were very close to signing a deal that would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons programme and could lead to an end to the war.
Of course, the latest retaliatory strikes on both US and Iranian targets put the ceasefire, which has been in place for the past couple of months, in increasing jeopardy.
But negotiations do continue. Intermediaries such as Qatar, Pakistan, and Turkiye are trying to keep the parties at the negotiating table in order to work out a deal to end a war, which has not only consequential impacts on the greater Middle East, but on the global economy as well.
