Iran-US conflict newest: Lebanon ‘not aware’ of Israel talks after Trump claims leaders will maintain historic negotiations

An official in Lebanon’s presidential office told the BBC it is not aware of any plans of contact with Israel on Thursday.

“It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow,” Trump had said on Truth Social in a midnight post.

Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington, following more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The UK economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.5 per cent in February, the Office for National Statistics said.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 0.2 per cent growth in gross domestic product for the December-February period compared with the previous three months.

In February alone, the economy grew by 0.5 per cent, the Office for National Statistics said, against expectations for a 0.1 per cent increase.

Six weeks of US and Israeli bombardment have served to degrade Iran’s nuclear facilities and cripple parts of its military.

But the Islamic Republic’s offensive capabilities have been built up over nearly 50 years, during which Iran has been either at war or under the threat of conflict.

As an expert in military history and theory, I believe that to understand what may come next in Operation Epic Fury, it’s valuable to grasp the development of Iran’s modern military structure, capabilities and international activities, writes Paul J. Springer.

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Hajar and Rashid Hathaleen have always walked to school from their neighborhood on the outskirts of Umm al-Khair.

But when classes resumed this week for the first time since the Iran war began, coiled barbed wire blocked the Palestinian siblings’ path to the village center.

Israeli settlers had installed it overnight, according to a video that Palestinian residents provided to The Associated Press.

Palestinians say the improvised fence is just the latest attempt by settlers to expand control in part of the occupied West Bank where state-backed demolitions, arson and vandalism regularly occur and settler violence, at times lethal, is rarely prosecuted.

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The commander of Iran’s joint military command has threatened to halt trade in the Gulf region if the US does not lift its blockade on Iranian ports.

No vessels have made it past US naval forces during the first 48 hours of the blockade, according to the US Central Command. Even so, Trump said on Wednesday the war in Iran was “very close to over”.

The military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei also warned that Iran would sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz if the United States decided to “police” the key shipping bottleneck.

“Mr Trump wants to become the police of the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?” Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.

“These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them,” Rezaei, wearing his military uniform, told the state broadcaster.

Japan‘s Nikkei reached a fresh record in early trading, up 2.2 per cent, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.9 per cent, putting it on track for a third consecutive day of gains. S&P 500 futures were also higher.

The gains followed a strong Wednesday session on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.6 per cent after strong quarterly results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley lifted both indexes to record highs.

With around 6 per cent of companies having reported earnings, 84 per cent have beaten analyst expectations.

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A fire at one of Australia’s only two remaining oil refineries burned for 13 hours on Wednesday night before being extinguished, threatening petrol supplies in a country already struggling with the fallout from the US-Iran war.

The blaze broke out just after 11pm at Viva Energy’s Corio facility in Geelong, about 75km south-west of Melbourne, after multiple calls to emergency services reported explosions and flames.

Fire Rescue Victoria said the blaze was contained to the Mogas section – the part of the plant where motor gasoline is produced – an area of roughly 30 by 30m.

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The Trump administration is reportedly reaching out to U.S. automakers about using their factories to produce military gear, as the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine drain American defense supplies.

Defense officials have spoken with top executives at General Motors, Ford, GE Aerospace, and machinery maker Oshkosh about the effort, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Wisconsin-based Oshkosh told The WSJ it began speaking with Pentagon in November, prior to the Iran war, in response to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s call to put U.S. military manufacturing on a “wartime footing.”

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