The Latest: Iran says nuclear facilities have been targeted after Israel warns attacks will escalate
Israel warned Friday it will expand its attacks on Iran as Tehran kept firing missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab nations. The U.S. military also continued striking Iran, while President Donald Trump delayed his threat to obliterate Iran’s energy plants over its effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Israel has moved thousands of troops across the border into Lebanon, where Israeli officials said they want to take control of the entire area south of the Litani River, some 20 miles (about 30 kilometers) north of the border.
Facing a convulsing stock market, Trump on Thursday extended a deadline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz until April 6, saying Iran asked for the grace period and that talks were going “very well,” despite Iran continuing to publicly insist it is not negotiating with the White House on a 15-point proposal to end the conflict.
The war has killed more than 1,900 people in Iran and nearly 1,100 in Lebanon. Eighteen people have died in Israel, while four Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. Thirteen U.S. military members have died, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Trump has been pressing Israel and Saudi Arabia, the two biggest powers in the Middle East, for years to normalize ties as part of his Abraham Accords efforts.
“It’s now time,” Trump said at a Miami event sponsored by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. “We’ve now taken them out, and they are out bigly. We got to get into the Abraham Accords.”
Significant headwinds remain, including Saudi Arabia’s insistence that there needs to be a credible path to a Palestinian state before it normalizes commercial and diplomatic ties with Israel.
At the start of remarks on Friday evening at a Miami event sponsored by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund, Trump assured the audience that the U.S. military is achieving it’s military objectives in its four-week old war against Iran.
He also jokingly referred to the Strait of Hormuz by another name.
“They have to open up the Strait of Trump. I mean, Hormuz,” Trump said. He added sarcastically, “Excuse me ... I’m so sorry — such a terrible mistake.”
“The fake news will say he accidentally said” Strait of Trump), he added. “No, there’s no accidents with me. Not too many.”
The man in his 60s was pronounced dead late Friday, after suffering severe injuries, emergency services said.
Israel’s medical service, Magen David Adom, said two other people were mildly to moderately wounded in another area in central Israel, and taken by ambulance to hospitals.
An Associated Press journalist reported numerous ambulances in Tel Aviv and loud explosions.
Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service said it was responding to 11 different impact sites across the Tel Aviv metro area.
Witnesses are reporting a partial power outage in eastern Tehran following the airstrikes.
Russia said its condemnation was made at a closed Security Council meeting, where Moscow opposed attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
A statement from Russia’s U.N. Mission after the meeting singled out the attack on an elementary school in Iran that killed more than 165 people.
Russia’s condemnation of such attacks never mentioned Moscow’s attacks on civilian infrastructure during the war in Ukraine including on schools, apartment buildings, hospitals and the energy grid.
In the statement, Russia urged council members to focus on de-escalation, a cessation of hostilities, and “a political and diplomatic settlement” to the war. It also warned of the threats to nuclear safety.
During the meeting, the United States told the council it takes international humanitarian law very seriously and exercises precautions when it comes to civilians, a U.N. diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
The agency said on X that the production plant at Khondab hit earlier Friday contains no declared nuclear material.
Earlier, the IAEA said it was looking into damage on Iran’s yellowcake production facility that was hit, but that no off-site radiation levels had been reported.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the Iran-backed group could join the war if U.S. and Israeli allies enter the conflict, if the Red Sea is used for hostile operations by the U.S. and Israel against Iran or other Muslim countries, and if the escalation against Iran and its allies continues.
“We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention,” Saree said Friday during a video statement in a first appearance since the Iran war began.
Since the war began nearly a month ago, Houthis maintained their support for Iran through statements and protests, despite playing an active role in the Israel-Hamas war when they upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion worth of goods passed each year before the war.
U.S. and Iraq officials decided during a coordination meeting Thursday to “intensify cooperation” as the weekslong war in the Middle East has spiraled and left collateral damage on nearly every country in the region.
In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said the two sides agreed to work together to prevent terrorist attacks and to “ensure that Iraqi territory is not used as a launching point for any aggression” against the country, its assets as well as U.S. personnel and global partners.
The announcement came after Iran-linked Iraqi militias — some of them at least nominally affiliated with the Iraqi security forces — have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. bases and facilities in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
U.S. strikes have targeted militia bases. On Wednesday, a strike hit a military clinic in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing seven soldiers and wounding 23. The U.S. denied involvement in the strike.
In the space of less than half an hour late Friday, Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles twice at the country.
The first launch targeted the area around Beer Sheba, while the second made sirens go off in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and parts of the occupied West Bank.
Sirens alerted people to seek shelter in and around the city of Beer Sheba and areas near Israel’s main nuclear research center, which where targeted by Iranian strikes that injured dozens last weekend.
Shortly after, loud booms were heard over Jerusalem.
In the West Bank, sirens could be heard while AP footage captured what seemed to be a cluster munition missile that was seen in the sky over the occupied territory following the alert by the Israeli army of an incoming attack from Iran.
U.S. stocks closed out their worst week since the Iran war began and their fifth losing week in a row. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% and is now 8.7% below the all-time high it reached in January.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.7%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%. Crude oil prices rose again with no clear end in sight for the conflict.
Investors fear that the war will disrupt the Persian Gulf’s energy industry for a long time, setting off a punishing wave of global inflation by keeping large amounts of oil and natural gas out of global markets.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced Friday night that he will be meeting with his Egyptian, Saudi and Pakistani counterparts in Pakistan over the weekend regarding the war in Iran.
Fidan was asked about Turkey’s role in the war during an interview with private news channel A Haber, where he said telephone diplomacy was ongoing and that they were currently in the middle of a “difficult and painful” process.
He also added that Turkey was working to prevent the escalation of mistrust between Iran and its Gulf neighbors, who are under attack by Tehran.
“That’s exactly the scenario Israel wants, for the Muslim countries engaging in a long-term regional war,” Fidan said.
Cargo volumes have fallen by roughly 50% since the war began at Umm Qasr, Iraq’s primary deep-water sea port, according to local port officials.
Port director Mohammed Taher Fadhil said Friday traditional shipping routes are no longer viable and that with direct access blocked via the Strait of Hormuz, shipping companies are resorting to costly and time-consuming alternatives.
Large mother ships are now rerouted to Khor Fakkan Port, located along the Gulf of Oman. From there, cargo is offloaded and transported overland by truck to Sharjah before being reloaded onto smaller vessels bound for Umm Qasr.
This multi-step process has significantly increased both delivery times and transportation costs, he said.
As U.S. gas prices approach $4 a gallon amid the conflict in Iran, members of Congress are pushing to suspend the federal gasoline tax.
Lawmakers say the action would provide much-needed relief for families and businesses that rely on their cars and trucks to get around. President Donald Trump said he has “thought about” suspending it but suggested states should look at suspending their taxes on fuel.
The federal gas tax, currently set at 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, provides more than $23 billion per year in revenue for federal highway and public transit programs.
Trump cannot suspend the federal tax on his own. Congress would have to approve the move.
The IAEA is looking into the damage caused by a strike on Iran’s Shahid Rezayee Nejad Yellow Cake Production Facility in Yazd province. The agency said on X that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. and Israel launched multiple attacks on industrial and nuclear sites in Iran just hours after Israel threatened to “escalate and expand” its campaign against Tehran.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he will meet with his Egyptian, Saudi and Pakistani counterparts in Pakistan over the weekend regarding the Iran war.
Speaking to private news channel A Haber Friday night, Fidan said telephone diplomacy was ongoing and that they were currently in a “difficult and painful” process.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Israel struck two of his country’s largest steel factories, a power plant and nuclear sites, among other infrastructure that were hit earlier in the day.
“Israel claims it acted in coordination with the U.S. Attack contradicts POTUS extended deadline for diplomacy. Iran will exact HEAVY price for Israeli crimes,” he wrote on X.
The U.S. and Israel launched multiple attacks on industrial and nuclear sites in Iran just hours after Israel threatened to “escalate and expand” its campaign against Tehran.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said that the strikes posed no risk of contamination, according to state media. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned about retaliatory operations and urged workers at industrial companies in the region with U.S. shareholders to leave their workplaces immediately.
Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries it considers “hostile,” Iranian state TV reported Thursday ahead of Tractor FC’s scheduled soccer game in Saudi Arabia.
The ban announced by Iran’s Ministry of Sports in Tehran didn’t mention the World Cup which starts June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The ministry’s statement singled out the Tractor game against Shabab Al Ahli of Dubai that was set to be played in Saudi Arabia. It’s a playoff game in the Asian Champions League Elite.
“The presence of national and club teams in countries that are considered hostile and are unable to ensure the security of Iranian athletes and team members is prohibited until further notice,” it said.
Ali Bahreini, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said Friday that Tehran has accepted a request from the world body to allow the safe passage of critical humanitarian aid and agriculture shipments through the critical waterway.
“This measure reflects Iran’s continued commitment to supporting humanitarian efforts and ensuring that essential aid reaches those in need without delay,” Bahreini said in a post on X.
The statement comes hours after the U.N. announced a task force to address the ripple effects the Iran war has had on crucial aid getting through.
Russia is sending a shipment of drones to Iran including upgraded versions of the drone technology that Tehran originally supplied to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, U.S. and European officials told The Associated Press.
Iran has been firing drone barrages at Israel, its Gulf neighbors and U.S. bases across the Middle East for more than a month following the U.S. and Israeli attack on the country. While Iran has its own stocks of Shahed drones, Russia has made improvements to the design during the war in Ukraine, including adding better navigation capabilities.
One month into their war with Iran, the United States and Israel find themselves confronting an opponent that fights more like an insurgency than a nation — using increasingly limited resources to inflict maximum pain.
Despite being battered daily by airstrikes from two of the world’s most sophisticated militaries, Iran has shown it can still torment its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel with missiles and drones and maintain a stranglehold on the world’s economy, primarily through threats.
Tehran’s ability to control the flow of traffic — and therefore the flow of oil — through the Strait of Hormuz is its biggest strategic advantage. And, in fact, it’s a tactic that Iran’s very own proxies have adopted for years under decades of its tutelage as the leader of the self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been in contact with Iran’s foreign minister and the U.S. ambassador about his new task force to enable food, fertilizer and humanitarian aid to get through the Strait of Hormuz unhindered, the U.N. said.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres has also spoken to the foreign ministers of Egypt and Pakistan and Bahrain’s U.N. ambassador — but not yet to an official from Israel.
He called Iran’s support for the initiative “pretty critical,” and said the secretary-general plans to speak to Iran’s U.N. ambassador later Friday and will be making more calls.
Dujarric said the U.N. has a lot of past experience in verifying cargo and inspections in conflict zones — in the Black Sea earlier in the Ukraine war, in Yemen and in Gaza.
“We hope that all member states involved will support this” initiative, Dujarric said, stressing that the focus is strictly on meeting humanitarian needs and getting fertilizer to farmers and food to millions of people impacted by the Iran war — not on oil shipments.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said workers at industrial companies in the region either with U.S. shareholders or allied with Israel should leave their workplaces immediately, citing retaliatory operations underway, according to Iranian state media, IRNA.
Meanwhile, Seyed Majid Moosavi, IRGC’s Aerospace Force commander, issued a stark warning on X, threatening retaliatory responses meant to harm interest of United States and Israel in the region.
“You tested us once before; the world has once again seen that you yourselves started playing with fire and attacking infrastructure. This time, the equation will no longer be ‘an eye for an eye’, just wait,” he wrote on X.
The warnings came after the U.S. and Israel launched multiple attacks on industrial and nuclear sites in Iran on Friday, targeting a heavy-water plant and a yellowcake production plant were struck, IRNA reported earlier. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said that the strikes posed no risk of contamination, according to state media.
The United Nations on Friday announced the creation of a new task force focused on addressing the rippling effects the Iran war has had on humanitarian aid and agriculture production getting through the critical waterway.
“While the Secretary-General is committed to making every effort to achieve a comprehensive and durable settlement of the conflict, immediate action is essential to mitigate these consequences,” Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said during a daily briefing.
The task force will include representatives from the world body’s trade, maritime and commerce agencies, who will focus on developing and proposing technical mechanism to get critical aid through the strait. It will be modeled after similar U.N. initiatives, including the humanitarian operation in Gaza and the inspection and monitoring mechanism for Yemen.
Iran’s judiciary has threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies say.
The celebrity athlete’s assets were on a list of 16 individuals judicial authorities in the northern province of Golestan planned on confiscating, according to the Fars news agency.
The list included Iranian musician Mohsen Yeghaneh, both agencies added.
The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.
Azmoun was dropped from Iran’s national team after a posting on his Instagram account showed a photo of him with political leaders of the United Arab Emirates.
After security forces shot thousands of anti-government protesters in early January, Yeghaneh posted a message on his Instagram saying “every compatriot whose blood is spilled on the ground waters the tree of hatred for the oppressor.”
Saying “I won’t discuss military tactics,” Rubio stressed that most U.S. objectives in Iran are “ahead of schedule,” adding, “We can achieve them without any ground troops.”
Asked again what role aside from ground invasion the troops could play, Rubio said that Trump “has to be prepared for multiple contingencies” and that U.S. forces are available “to give the president maximum optionality and maximum, opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge.”
Thousands of U.S. troops are en route to the region, including at least 1,000 from the 82nd Airborne Division.
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