The Times reports that President Rouhani of Iran has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East “could be in danger”, a day after Britain, France and Germany launched an official challenge to Tehran over its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Sky News and Reuters report that five nations whose citizens died in a plane shot down by an Iranian missile will meet in London on Thursday to discuss taking legal action against Iran, Ukraine’s foreign minister said.

BBC News reports that at least 18 civilians are reported to have died in air strikes that hit a market and an industrial zone in the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, whilst monitoring groups said Russian and Syrian government planes carried out the attacks.

BBC News reports that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for a new “Trump deal” to replace the 2015 nuclear agreement. The Independent reports that Iran has rejected as “strange” a proposal from Boris Johnson that it should strike a new nuclear deal with the US, suggesting that Donald Trump’s administration was not trustworthy enough.

The Times and Reuters report that the Trump administration has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on European automobile imports if Britain, France and Germany do not formally accuse Iran of breaking the 2015 nuclear deal, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed European officials.

The Independent reports that Iranian security forces used unlawful force in moving to quell peaceful protests over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, according to human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

The Independent reports that the UK’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, is returning to London for talks following his arrest by the Iranian authorities.

Reuters reports that Iranians buried their dead from an airliner shot down by the military as authorities on Wednesday identified more of the 176 victims of last week’s crash, which led to days of rage against Iran’s rulers followed by a police crackdown.

Reuters reports that Turkey summoned a senior Egyptian diplomat on Wednesday to protest about a raid by Egyptian security forces on a Cairo office of Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu, a move in which four people were detained.

Reuters reports that protests in Lebanon turned violent for a second night on Wednesday, leaving dozens injured after Lebanese security forces used batons and tear gas to forcefully break up demonstrations.

The Associated Press reports that Germany’s foreign minister was flying to Libya on Thursday to meet one of the country’s rival leaders, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, in a bid to push forward troubled efforts to secure a cease-fire.

The Jewish News reports that Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, has told Boris Johnson to spell out his own “red lines” on any Middle East Peace Plan to be unveiled by the White House or else reprise Britain’s role as “honest broker” between Israel and the Palestinians.

In The Independent, Vince Cable says Trump’s failure to inform the British government of plans to assassinate Qassem’s Soleimani was ‘embarrassing’ for the UK, and has left Boris Johnson facing an ‘awkward dilemma’ when traversing US and European positions over the JCPOA.

In The Telegraph, Juliet Samuel argues that Middle Eastern regimes ‘must be open to change’ as the region begins to encounter reduced oil revenues.

In The Guardian, Ali Vaez says Europe must build on the Iran nuclear deal rather than jettison the agreement altogether, as invoking dispute mechanisms is escalating pre-existing tensions between Iran and the E3.

In The Financial Times, David Gardner argues that Iran’s theocrats will not ‘risk losing control’ in turbulent times, claiming that Iran’s protestors struggling for greater freedom and a decent livelihood are ‘gambling with their lives’.

In The Financial Times, Katrina Manson says the US’s disregard for allies in the Middle East ‘risks backfiring’, as there are signs some senior US officials are waking up to the risk of fractured relations with European counterparts over its Iran strategy.

Israel’s Ynet news interviewed the UK Ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, who said Iran faced a “last opportunity to come into compliance” with the terms of the JCPOA nuclear agreement or, in his words, “face the end of the nuclear deal and a return to sanctions.” Ambassador Wigan said Iran’s “behaviour needs to change quickly” and added that it also had an “opportunity to de-escalate tensions in the region” — in particular relating to its nuclear programme and a full investigation into the shooting down of Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752. Ambassador Wigan also criticised Iran for arresting of the British ambassador in Tehran, calling it a “breach of international law” by the Iranian government. The ambassador’s comments came after the UK, Germany and France triggered the JCPOA’s Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) on Tuesday, increasing pressure on Iran.

All the Israeli media reported that four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel yesterday afternoon, with two intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system. In response IDF aircraft bombed Hamas military targets, including a weapons manufacturing facility. No injuries or casualties were reported. The incident was the first rocket attack for three weeks and followed reports of progress in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Israeli military analysts blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad for the attack, in particular loyalists of Bahaa Abu el-Atta, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander who was killed by Israeli forces in November 2019. A cluster of explosive balloons launched from Gaza landed in the Israeli town of Sderot yesterday and were defused by police sappers.