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Iran Indicates US Response to Proposal 10/01 06:29
Iranian officials indicated they received an official U.S. response to
Tehran's proposal to end the seven-month war but did not say if it was a
rejection. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly dismissed the plan a few days
ago.
(AP) -- Iranian officials indicated they received an official U.S. response
to Tehran's proposal to end the seven-month war but did not say if it was a
rejection. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly dismissed the plan a few days
ago.
The response came as oil and fuel exports neared prewar levels with
alternate routes.
On an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight from Dubai on Wednesday, a copilot
stabbed the pilot and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner carrying
around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers
and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is
available here.
Iran indicates it received official US response to latest offer on ending
the war
Iranian officials indicated Wednesday they have received an official U.S.
response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month war, which U.S.
President Donald Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier.
The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a
rejection.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to
President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson
Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.
"We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will
firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people," Pezeshkian said. "The
agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy."
The Cabinet meeting followed Araghchi's return to Iran after traveling to
New York for last week's United Nations General Assembly, where officials held
indirect talks with U.S. officials and also met with Qatari and Pakistani
mediators on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.
Copilot stabs captain on Israel flight before passengers stop attack
A copilot stabbed a captain in an apparent attempt to crash a jetliner
Wednesday as it was flying 174 people to Israel. Passengers burst into the
cockpit and wrestled with the attacker as the plane descended sharply,
witnesses and Israel's government said.
A pilot on a FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed
another pilot Wednesday and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner
carrying around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi
Arabia.
The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The shaken passengers
from the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed Wednesday evening in
Israel on another flight, as onlookers cheered. Israel's emergency services
said they treated three passengers with minor injuries.
It was not clear what motivated the attack, which led Israel to scramble
warplanes amid concerns about a possible hijacking. In a CNN interview aired on
Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker
was an Omani national and was being interrogated in Saudi Arabia, where he was
arrested.
-- By Samy Magdy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Isaac Scharf
in Jerusalem, and Josh Funk
Israeli strikes kill 5 Palestinians and wound 19 in Gaza
Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 19 in Gaza, hospital
officials said Wednesday, the latest of almost daily attacks since Israel and
Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago, halting the heaviest of the
fighting.
Officials at Shifa Hospital said an Israeli strike killed a woman and
critically wounded her husband in Gaza City, while another struck a bus,
killing four and wounding at least 14. Elsewhere in the territory, a strike in
Khan Younis wounded four Palestinians, officials at Nasser Hospital said.
Israel's military didn't immediately respond to questions about the bus
strike, but said it was reviewing information about the strike in Khan Younis.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians since the
ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which maintains detailed
records that are generally seen as reliable. Five Israeli soldiers have been
killed in militant attacks over the same time period, while two more were
killed by friendly fire.
Hundreds of mourners in Gaza City also held a vigil Wednesday for 105 people
killed during the war and whose bodies were recovered in the past several days
from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes.
US troops withdraw from Iraq
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it had completed the withdrawal of its
troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.
Baghdad touted the move as a sign of the country's growing strength and
sovereignty. It was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups, but raised concerns
among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the withdrawal in a social media post,
saying it "marks the end of a very expensive excursion into Hell."
"It has been a long time, with very bad decision-making that got us involved
in this quagmire in the first place, but soon, that will be part of History,"
Trump said.
Oil and fuel exports near prewar level with alternate routes
Alternate export routes and a U.S.-protected route through the Strait of
Hormuz have helped restore oil and fuel exports from the Gulf to near prewar
levels, according to figures from data firm Kpler.
Exports through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal -- along with a pipeline to
Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman and a U.S.-protected route that guides tankers at
night -- have been a key workaround after the threat of Iranian attacks
disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Kpler said during a Tuesday
podcast.
About 21.8 million barrels per day of crude and fuel products made from
crude are being shipped weekly, on average, compared to the prewar baseline of
23.3 million barrels per day, Kpler said.
"We are not at pre-conflict levels, but we are getting close to there," said
Matt Smith, Kpler's director of commodity research.
Still, the workarounds are time consuming and expensive.
Egypt's president says Suez Canal revenue down $20 billion
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says that the Suez Canal has lost a
cumulative $20 billion in revenue since the Hamas-led attack on Israel
unleashed the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and because of maritime navigation
disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
During a televised meeting on Tuesday with Cabinet members, top military
leaders and local governors, el-Sissi blamed the government's tight budget and
little education and health spending on the volatile geopolitical situation
that led to increases in food and energy prices.
Traffic was significantly disrupted after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels
began targeting vessels heading to Israel through the Suez Canal after the
start of the war in Gaza.
Saudi Crown Prince says he is confident kingdom can deter all foes
Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de-facto ruler says his kingdom is capable
of deterring its enemies as the oil-rich country remains embroiled in a proxy
war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"Your country possesses highly efficient human and military capabilities,
capable -- by the grace of God Almighty -- of repelling threats and deterring
them completely, regardless of their sources," Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new session of the unelected
advisory Shura council.
The Houthis recently captured the strategic port city of Mokha and several
Red Sea islands, extending their reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a
maritime route through which about 12% of global trade passes. They, along with
allied militias in Iraq, also have attacked Saudi oil facilities and sought to
prevent Saudi tankers from using the strait, disrupting the kingdom's oil
exports.
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