Iran hits targets across Middle East after Trump signals talks progress

Iran targeted countries across the Middle East with a fresh volley of missiles Wednesday hours after US President Donald Trump signalled tentative progress in diplomatic efforts to end the warThe conflict that began on February 28 with USIsraeli strikes on Iran has mushroomed throughout the Middle East sending world energy markets into tailspinIran fired a salvo of precisionguided missiles and drones at Israel and bases hosting US forces in Kuwait Jordan and Bahrain the countrys Revolutionary Guards said early WednesdayAFP images captured rocket trails streaming over the skies of Israeli coastal city Netanya as air raid sirens blasted across much of the countrys central regionDrones hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport sparking a fireball while authorities in Jordan reported shrapnel falling near the capital Amman and air raid warnings rang out in BahrainIran has lashed out at Gulf nations long seen as a relative safe haven in a volatile region hammering the tourism industry and crippling global air travel as their major hubs come under attackThe war has also drawn in Lebanon with Israeli forces aiming to take control of ground up to the Litani River around 30 kilometres 20 miles from the border stepping up its campaign against Iranbacked HezbollahIn the Lebanese town of Sahel Alma north of Beirut AFP images showed shattered windows and rubble lining the streets after an explosionWe have twoyearold children scared and crying and going through this local resident Gaia Khouiri told AFPThe Israeli campaign has killed at least 1072 people in Lebanon with more than one million people displaced according to Lebanese authoritiesIsraeli warplanes pounded Beiruts southern suburbs a Hezbollah stronghold again overnightAn AFP correspondent saw a street covered in debris including shattered cement and and warped pieces of metal after the early morning strike while an apartment buildings upper floors appeared badly hitVery big presentIsrael also said it was launching fresh missile strikes on the infrastructure of the Iranian terror regimeThe sounds the explosions the missiles they are part of our daily life now a 35yearold woman in Tehran told AFP by telephoneAs the fighting on the ground showed little sign of respite Trump appeared to be ramping up efforts to bring the conflict to an endThe US president whose daily statements on the war have swung wildly from threatening to conciliatory said Washington was in negotiations right now with TehranHe told reporters in the Oval Office that Iran had given him a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money which he said demonstrated that were dealing with the right peopleTrump did not elaborate further but said it related to the Strait of Hormuz which Iran has largely blockaded in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes sending global energy prices soaringSeveral media reported Trump had sent a 15point plan to Iran via Pakistan which has offered to mediate a possible end to the warTrumps cryptic statements on his eagerness to talk with Iran included repeating a claim that Tehran has agreed they will never have a nuclear weaponIran had agreed in 2015 to broad restraints on its contested nuclear programme in a deal that Trump ripped up during his first termDespite the US leaders stated hopes for a deal The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is planning to send a further 3000 soldiers to the Middle EastIranian officials have yet to confirm any formal talksAggressor partiesAs the warring parties traded strikes focus remained on the strategic Strait of Hormuz the key route through which one fifth of the worlds crude oil flowsTehran in a message circulated by the International Maritime Organization IMO assured safe passage through the strait to nonhostile vesselsHowever the IMO cited a statement from Irans foreign ministry as saying no passage would be granted to vessels belonging to the aggressor parties namely the United States and the Israeli regimeThe economic impact of the crisis has begun to bite around the world with governments looking to cut energy consumption and airlines scaling back flightsBut Irans pledge plus Trumps more conciliatory tone pushed stocks higher and sent oil prices lower in Asian tradeThe wider impact of the choking of the Strait of Hormuz was highlighted by a warning from a top World Trade Organization official in an interview with AFPFertilisers are the number one issue of concern today If there is no more fertiliser there is an impact on quantities but also on prices JeanMarie Paugam told AFP in an interviewThe effect compounds the following year harvests shrink and prices rise