South Korea says it provided $2 million in humanitarian assistance to Lebanon through international organizations and has also decided to provide $500,000 in aid to Iran through the International Red Cross.
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it hopes the aid will help ease the humanitarian crisis in affected regions
IEA predicts Iran war will drive down oil demand more sharply than at any time since the pandemic
The war in Iran will lead to an annual decline in oil demand for the first time since the pandemic, when billions of people were trying to live in isolation, according to the International Energy Agency.
The agency, formed after the 1974 oil crisis, said Tuesday that oil demand is expected to decrease by an average of 80,000 barrels a day this year, a sharp revision from the increase of 850,000 barrels a day that it had forecast before the war began.
The drop-off in March was particularly severe because of attacks on energy infrastructure and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the IEA, which expects a decline in demand of 1.5 million barrels in the current quarter.
While the biggest cuts in oil usage have initially come from the Middle East and Asia Pacific region, demand destruction is anticipated to spread as oil prices increase and scarcity continues.
Red Cross delivers first emergency aid shipment to Iran since war began
The Red Cross delivered its first emergency aid shipment to Iran since the war began over a month ago, which is expected to meet the needs of nearly 25,000 people.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Tuesday that it dispatched assistance to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, or IRCS, including five truckloads delivered Monday.
Supplies included blankets, jerrycans, tarpaulins, hygiene kits and solar lamps. The remaining aid shipment, comprised of nine aid trucks, will be given to IRCS later this week.
Macron, Starmer to co-chair talks on Strait of Hormuz mission to protect shipping
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a conference Friday in Paris, bringing together non-belligerent nations willing to participate in a mission in the Strait of Hormuz “when security conditions allow.”
Other participants will take part via videoconference, Macron’s office said. European and other partners are ready to contribute to a “purely defensive mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said.
France and Britain have been working in recent weeks to set up an operation to escort oil tankers and container ships to help ensure safe passage through the strait.
Vessel reported exiting Strait of Hormuz
A tanker that aborted an attempt to exit the Strait of Hormuz on Monday turned around and transited the waterway early Tuesday, in one of the first tests of the U.S. blockade.
The Rich Starry, a chemical and oil tanker, had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping data firm Lloyd’s List, which cited data from the energy cargo-tracking firm Vortexa.
The U.S. military said on Monday that the blockade applied only to vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports, and it was not immediately clear whether the Rich Starry had earlier docked in Iran or was carrying Iranian oil. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to questions about the vessel.
Egypt discusses de-escalation efforts with EU
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed de-escalation efforts in the region with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
During a Monday phone call, both assessed the situation in the region following the U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.
The foreign minister urged the international community, along with the EU, to play a role in advancing diplomacy and political solutions.
France says Lebanon must be included in ceasefire, calls Israeli strikes ‘intolerable’
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reaffirmed Tuesday that Lebanon must be included in the initial ceasefire agreement.
“The ceasefire must absolutely include Lebanon, which under no circumstances can be the scapegoat of the Israeli government,” Barrot said on French radio RFI.
Israel’s strikes on Lebanon are “intolerable,” he said, because they undermine the ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran and because it strengthens militant group Hezbollah.
“Destroying Lebanon, targeting the Lebanese state, does not weaken Hezbollah — quite the opposite, it strengthens it,” Barrot said.
Spain’s prime minister asks China to do more to end war
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he sees China as the main global interlocutor that can help end the war in Iran and other conflicts, such as Ukraine, and urged the Asian giant to do more on the diplomatic front.
“I find it very difficult to find other interlocutors, beyond China, who can resolve this situation created in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said Tuesday after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Sánchez is in China for his fourth trip in just over three years as Spain looks to strengthen its political and commercial ties with the world’s second-largest economy.
Sánchez said Spain wants to avoid impunity for those who commit crimes and described what has happened in Gaza as “genocide.”
“International law is being violated today, fundamentally by one country: the government of Israel,” he said. “There is also an absolutely illegal response from the Iranian regime regarding a war that we have described from the very beginning as a mistake and an illegality.”
Source: AP news
