The Evening Standard notes that various Iranian officials have depicted the Syrian civil war as a clash of outside powers, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey serving as proxies for the US and the UK, trying to remove Bashar al-Assad’s regime in order to weaken the alliance of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. BBC online reports that a large blast struck the centre of the Syrian capital Damascus, near a military compound as well as a hotel used by United Nations observers. The Daily Mail and BBC online report that Standard Chartered bank has agreed to pay £217million to settle allegations from a US regulator that it laundered £160billion for Iranian clients. Benjamin Lawsky accused the bank last week of being a ‘rogue institution’, which hid 60,000 secret transactions linked to terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. The Independent, meanwhile, reports that Iran’s defence minister has dismissed threats from the Israeli government against his country as bluster, saying an attack would be unthinkable. The Guardian’s editorial focuses on speculation about a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Guardian also reports on the resignation of Kadima MK Avi Dichter from the Knesset and his appointment as homeland security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

In the Israeli press, several papers highlight US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta statement on Tuesday that he did not believe that Israel had made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear programme, and added that he thought there was still time for a stronger sanctions push. Ynetnews and Haaretz report that US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey postulated that an Israeli strike would not annihilate Iran’s nuclear programme. The Jerusalem Post reports that leaders of Muslim countries are expected to suspend Syria’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at a summit in Mecca on Wednesday, despite the vocal objections of President Bashar Assad’s main ally Iran. According to a Haaretz source, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bury the Levy Report, which recommended legalising most unauthorised settlement outposts in the West Bank and making it easier for existing settlements to expand. Haaretz, Yisrael Hayom and the Jerusalem Post report that the municipality of Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut appears for the first time on the European Union’s newly published list of settlements whose exports will not be considered as made in Israel, and thus will not be eligible for tax breaks when imported to EU member countries. Part of the municipality is situated in the no-man’s-land the separated Israel from the Jordanian-controlled West Bank before the 1967 Six Day War.