PARIS, April 29: The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- US lawmakers to grill Pentagon chief on Iran war -
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face tough questions from lawmakers about the Iran war on Wednesday during his first testimony to Congress since the start of the conflict.
Hegseth's appearance before the House Armed Services Committee will be for a hearing on President Donald Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget request.
Lawmakers from both parties have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the information provided in classified briefings on the war, setting up a potentially fiery public hearing in which top US military officer General Dan Caine is also set to testify.
- Trump says US 'militarily defeated' Iran -
Trump told Britain's King Charles III and other guests at a state dinner Tuesday that Iran has been "militarily defeated", in his first public comments on the sensitive topic during the ongoing royal visit.
"We have militarily defeated that particular opponent," Trump said at the White House dinner, adding: "Charles agrees with me even more than I do -- we're never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon."
- Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill eight: health ministry -
The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes Tuesday killed eight people, including civil defence rescuers, and wounded two soldiers in the country's south, despite an ongoing ceasefire.
Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since early March, sending troops into south Lebanon to battle the Iran-backed militant group, with the violence ongoing despite a shaky April 17 ceasefire.
- Oil jumps -
Oil prices jumped on reports that US President Donald Trump was unlikely to accept an Iranian proposal to restore traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and Qatar warned of a possible "frozen conflict".
Brent is above the level it hit before the two sides announced a ceasefire at the start of April, sitting around $112, while West Texas Intermediate broke $100 Tuesday for the first time in two weeks.
Both contracts were slightly higher Wednesday.
- King Charles urges Western unity -
In an address to the US Congress, King Charles III urged the United States to stand firm with its Western allies, noting that the meeting in Washington came "in times of great uncertainty".
The monarch added that these were "times of conflict from Europe to the Middle East which pose immense challenges for the international community and whose impact is felt in communities the length and breadth of our own countries".
Trump has publicly and repeatedly criticised the UK for not supporting the war in Iran.
- Trump slams Merz -
Trump lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war, after comments by Merz that Tehran is "humiliating" Washington at the negotiating table.
Merz said that "the Americans obviously have no strategy", in a visit to a school in western Germany, to which Trump said the chancellor "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon", and that "he doesn't know what he's talking about!"
- Drones target Iraqi Green Zone -
Air defence systems engaged drones flying over Baghdad's Green Zone -- the site of the US embassy -- a military source told AFP.
Iran-backed groups in Iraq have targeted US interests since the conflict in the Middle East began on February 28, but this was the first such incident since a fragile ceasefire took effect on April 8.
- Israel says destroyed militant tunnels -
The Israeli military said it found and destroyed a large Hezbollah-builttunnel network used by elite fighters, as it ordered a wave of new evacuations from Lebanon's battle-scarred south.
The tunnels, found in Qantara, were 800 metres and 1.2 kilometres in length and were destroyed with "over 450 tonnes of explosives", the Israeli military said.
- US Marines board ship believed bound for Iran port -
US troops boarded, searched, and later released the M/V Blue Star III, which the US suspected of trying to violate its blockade of Iranian ports.
- Gulf leaders meet in Saudi Arabia -
Saudi Arabia welcomed leaders and officials to Jeddah from across the Gulf to discuss the ongoing crisis in the region.
It was the first in-person meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members since the war broke out on February 28.
- UAE's OPEC pull-out -
The United Arab Emirates will withdraw from the OPEC and OPEC+ oil cartels to focus on "national interests", in a bombshell announcement as energy prices soar over the Middle East war.
The UAE, one of the world's top oil producers which has previously chafed at OPEC production quotas, will pull out on Friday, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said.
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War in the Middle East: latest developments
