Here are the highlights of the last few hours:
Trump promises to destroy Iranian uranium. “We’re going to have it,” assured the American president on Thursday, questioned by the press from the White House on the stock of highly enriched Iranian uranium. “We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it once we have it, but we’re not going to leave it to them.”
Rubio hopes Pakistani mediation in Iran will help move toward an agreement. The US secretary of state expressed hope that the Pakistani army chief’s expected visit to Iran would advance diplomatic efforts to end the war, saying progress had been made. “Hopefully (…) this will move things forward,” Mr. Rubio told reporters.
Oil hopes and falls back. Renewed hopes for a resolution to the conflict caused oil prices to fall, following a seesaw session. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea fell 2.32% to 102.58 dollars. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, lost 1.94% to $96.35.
Nine injured in strike on hospital in southern Lebanon. Nine people were injured in an Israeli strike that damaged a hospital in Tebnine, southern Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, with the Israeli army continuing its raids despite a fragile truce with pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
Rubio castigates NATO for “refusing to do anything”. The head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, castigated NATO countries for their lack of support for United States operations in Iran. President Donald Trump “is not asking them to provide troops, to send fighter jets, but they refuse to do any of that,” Mr. Rubio told reporters, shortly before taking off for Sweden, where he will participate in a meeting of his NATO counterparts on Friday. “It upset us a lot,” he added.
Brussels revises European growth downwards because of the war. The European Commission has significantly reduced its growth forecasts for the euro zone due to the repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East, which is leading to a jump in inflation on the Old Continent. Brussels now only forecasts an increase of 0.9% in gross domestic product (GDP) in the 21 countries sharing the single currency this year, whereas it was counting on 1.2% in November.
