Iran received a 15-point proposal from the U.S. to reach a ceasefire in the war, two Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
The Pakistani officials described the proposal broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The Trump administration reportedly offered the plan to Iran as the U.S. appears to seek an end to the war even while more troops head to the Middle East.
The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from the government of Pakistan, which has offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, a person briefed on the plan's contours but who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The U.S. 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 move who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.
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Conservatives are holding one of their largest annual gatherings at a perilous political moment for President Trump and with open division on the right over the war he launched in Iran.
While Trump maintains broad support among conservatives, the war in Iran is more than a wrinkle for activists drawn to his “America First” campaign pledge against getting involved in foreign conflicts. A new AP-NORC poll shows about 59% of Americans think the military action in Iran is excessive. The debate will be a subtext — and likely flare publicly — as thousands of activists, influencers and Republican lawmakers gather at the Conservative Political Action Conference that begins Wednesday outside Dallas.
The event also comes a day after a Democrat flipped the Florida state legislative seat that’s home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Pakistan is working to engage all parties in the conflict to help secure a peaceful resolution amid rising regional tensions, while reaffirming that its “commitment to the security and defense of Saudi Arabia remains unequivocal,” senior Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
It underscore the long-standing strategic partnership between the two countries and come as tensions have escalated following recent attacks on Saudi Arabia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media on the record.
The officials said Islamabad is encouraging dialogue among the parties to help end the war, and stands ready to host the talks if all parties agree. At the same time, they stressed there’s no ambiguity about Pakistan’s commitment to the Kingdom’s defense, describing ties as rooted in historic and close bilateral relations.
— Munir Ahmed
The Lebanese military said after collecting shrapnel fragments that scattered across several towns north of Beirut that it resembled a Qadr 110, an Iranian-made medium-range ballistic missile that had “smaller rockets attached to it.”
It said the missile burst at high altitude, suggesting it wasn’t targeting Lebanon.
“As for the cause of its explosion, it was likely either a technical malfunction or an interceptor missile,” the military said. “The military command notes that there are no interceptor missile platforms located within Lebanese territory.”
Qadr 110 missiles are capable of striking any targets in the Mideast, including Israel. The incident horrified Lebanese residents as fragments scattered across towns and villages in the Keserwan district north of Beirut, and far from the epicenter of the conflict.
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Wednesday that 30% to 40% of refining capacity in the Gulf has been damaged or destroyed, leading to an oil crisis especially in some Asian countries.
“As a result, we are now facing an oil market where 11 million barrels per day are missing,” he said.
Lescure said he had talks with his counterpart in Qatar, where 17% of gas production capacity has now been destroyed as a result of the attacks carried out on the facilities. “It will take year — around three years — to restore them,” Lescure said. In addition, it will take months to relaunch some gas facilities that have been shut down in emergency by Qatar, he said.
France is relatively preserved regarding a shortage of gas supplies, Lescure noted, because the country relies on gas for less than 5% of its electricity, which is mostly produced by nuclear plants.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday discussed the “trajectory” of the war and efforts to halt attacks during telephone calls with his Syrian, Qatari and Uzbek counterparts, ministry officials said.
Turkey has been holding a series of talks with neighboring and regional countries to push for de‑escalation and to open the way for negotiations to end the conflict.
A Tehran resident says President Trump’s threats to strike Iranian power plants earlier in the week have spread “anger and confusion” in Iran.
“There have been some days when the bombings are so intense you can’t do anything,” the 26-year-old university graduate student said, adding his friends mostly stayed home. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of security fears.
He said the U.S. leader’s comments have deepened fears that the strikes will move toward targeting civilian infrastructure and “innocent civilians.” He described seeing serious damage to residential sites in his area of western Tehran, including an apartment building and pharmacy.
“I wake up sometimes from the sounds of bombardment but I manage to sleep somehow or I immediately text my friends to see if they are ok. It’s stressful,” he said.
Iran’s government has almost entirely cut links with the global internet. The student said he and his friends were relying on the national government-controlled network to use domestic ride hailing and messaging apps, but connections to that system were also not reliable.
— Amir-Hussein Radjy
Mourners gathered Wednesday in the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon to bury a paramedic killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Ahmed Ibrahim Deeb was a first responder with the civil defense team affiliated with the Amal Movement, a Shiite political party allied with Hezbollah.
Amal spokesperson Alwan Sharafeddine said he was killed by a strike in his hometown, Shohour, to the east of Tyre, while on a motorcycle heading to his civil defense post for work.
He was buried in a temporary grave because the fighting has made it too risky to hold funerals in some hometowns.
“He was one of the young men from the town who refused to be displaced and insisted on remaining steadfast on their land,” Sharafeddine said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Wednesday that Israeli strikes have killed 42 paramedics since the resurgence of war between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2.
Lt. Edgar Blum at the Ramat Gan fire department told The Associated Press that fire fighters have had to adapt their response because Iran is using cluster munitions.
Instead of a team arriving at the site of a missile strike and identifying the most damaged houses, now they must decide which areas across a much larger space have been hardest hit and send separate crews to each spot.
“The challenge is to understand if you have five places that have been hit, which of the scenes needs more attention. You asses by the biggest fire, the biggest threat and where the most amount of people are,” he said.
He also reminds his teams that cluster munitions don’t always explode, so firefighters have to keep their distance, especially at night when it’s hard to see.
Keeping the price at the pump down is a goal uniting Americans in both parties.
About two-thirds of Americans in a new AP-NORC poll say keeping U.S. oil and gas prices from rising should be an “extremely” or “very” important foreign policy goal for the U.S.
However, they are just as likely to say it’s important to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a juxtaposition that could be difficult for the White House to manage.
About three-quarters of Republicans and about two-thirds of Democrats say it’s highly important to prevent U.S. oil and gas prices from going up.
Slightly fewer than half of U.S. adults, 45%, are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.
A new AP-NORC poll finds most Americans believe recent U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far and many are worried about affording gasoline.
As the war continues in its fourth week, the survey indicates that while President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration.
About 59% of Americans say U.S. military action has been excessive.
Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about affording gas in the next few months, up from 30% shortly before Trump took office.
However, there is significant support for Trump’s objective of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom says more of its workers are being evacuated from Iran’s Russia-built nuclear power plant following another strike on its territory.
Alexei Likhachev said last week that Rosatom had 480 workers at the plant in Bushehr. He announced another group left Wednesday and more will be pulled out later this week.
He said Rosatom will reduce the number of workers to a minimum until the situation normalizes.
Likhachev late Tuesday reported another strike on the plant’s territory close to the working nuclear reactor following an attack last week.
He said there were no injuries, but noted the situation was developing according to a “negative scenario.”
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said there might be talks between Iran and the United States soon in Pakistan.
“I think there could be talks this weekend in Islamabad, Pakistan,” Rafael Mariano Grossi told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera without elaborating.
Khalid al-Yaqoubi, security advisor to Iraq’s prime minister, says his country will file a sovereignty complaint to the United Nations Security Council.
He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Iraqi security forces have lost 80 members and 150 have been wounded since the Middle East war began Feb. 28.
Al-Yaqoubi said the U.S. has violated Iraq’s airspace, while Iran is to blame for attacks against Kurdish forces in the country’s north.
“We are against the aggression on Iran because it is not justified,” he said about the war that was launched by the U.S. and Israel.
He said the security forces include Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force, a coalition of Iran-backed militia that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military.
South Korean trade official Yang Ki-wook said Wednesday his country has likely secured enough gas through the end of the year from alternative sources.
Yang estimated Iran’s recent attacks on two Qatari liquefied natural gas plants damaged about 20% of the country’s capacity andi it may take three to five years to restore affected supply.
Yang says South Korea has not received direct communication from QatarEnergy following media reports it declared force majeure on long-term natural gas contracts with South Korea and other nations.
Israel issued a flurry of alerts around midday Wednesday as Iran targeted large parts of the country with multiple ballistic missiles.
Police and rescue services said they were treating several sites impacted by debris from either missiles or interceptors.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Drone and rocket fire from Lebanon also continued unabated toward communities in northern israel.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Wednesday told U.S. envoy Massad Boulos there needs to be “concerted regional and international efforts to de-escalate the situation.”
He warned of the war’s severe economic repercussions. Egypt imposed fuel price hikes in March and has announced measures including reducing official overseas trips and tightening fuel consumption across sectors.
Abdelatty also spoke with European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas and called for coordination between Egypt and the EU while seeking a diplomatic solution to the war.
European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that businesses in Europe might be quicker to raise prices in response to the Iran war due to bitter memories of energy price inflation after Russia invaded Ukraine.
She said the inflation that peaked in 2023 in double digits “left a mark” and firms “may be faster than last time” to change price tags.
The last time was 2022, when inflation hit double digits in Europe after Russia cut off most natural gas supplies over the war, sending gas and electricity prices higher.
The Iran war has sharply increased oil prices, raising fuel, travel and manufacturing costs.
Lagarde said the big question is how long the higher oil prices last.
An Islamabad-based senior security analyst with knowledge of the ongoing ceasefire talks said Wednesday that discussions facilitated by Pakistan’s top political and military leadership were making quiet but swift progress.
“There has been significant and rapid progress in these indirect talks between the United States and Iran, which are being facilitated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and some senior Pakistani officials,” Syed Muhammad Ali said.
Ali said Iranian leaders remain deeply distrustful due to what he described as “decapitation strikes” on their political, military and intelligence leadership.
They would agree to direct talks in Pakistan only if firm U.S. guarantees are provided to halt attacks, Ali said.
China on Wednesday said it supports all attempts to de-escalate the tensions in the Middle East and start peace talks.
“A ceasefire and an end to hostilities are the top priority, and dialogue and negotiations are the way forward,”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing.
Lin said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that all parties should “seize every opportunity and window for peace” so peace talks can start as soon as possible.
“We support all efforts conducive to de-escalating the situation and resuming dialogue”, he added when asked about Pakistan as an intermediary between the U.S. and Iran.
Hezbollah said Wednesday its air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles toward an Israeli warplane that was conducting strikes over southern Lebanon on Tuesday evening.
Hezbollah said the plane was forced to withdraw, adding it was the first time the group fired surface-to-air missiles against an Israeli warplane since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war broke out March 2.
Hezbollah last week said it shot down an Israeli drone over the southern village of Baraachit.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Iran also has claimed use of a new surface-to-air missile system during the war.
Iraq’s Ministry of Defense says an airstrike on a military clinic in the Habbaniyeh area of Anbar province killed seven troops and wounded 13.
The ministry gave no further details about Wednesday’s strike, saying rescue teams remain at the site.
The ministry condemned the attack, calling it a violation of international law and affirming its right to respond.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi asked International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol to consider an additional coordinated release of some global oil reserves if Middle East tensions drag on.
Takaichi on Wednesday called for flexibility from Birol, who is in Japan as part of a regional trip to discuss the Iran war’s fallout.
The release of 400 million barrels of oil from the reserves of IEA member countries is only 20% of their stocks and a significant amount remains, Birol said.
“We are ready to move forward, but I very much hope that it will not be necessary,” he said, while recommending energy conservation steps including working from home.
Birol said dozens of energy installations have been damaged and will take time to come back online.
