U.S. President Donald Trump issued a warning to Tehran on social media to "get serious soon" on negotiating a deal to end the war. The post comes a day after Trump said a deal to end the war is near, despite Tehran's dismissal of his 15-point ceasefire plan.
Iran has been blocking ships it perceives as linked to the U.S. and Israeli war effort from the Strait of Hormuz, but it is letting through a trickle of others through the crucial waterway. Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, said Iran was charging for safe passage through the strait.
Meanwhile, the U.S. was preparing for the arrival of thousands of troops that could be used on the ground in Iran.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,900 people in Iran and nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, with dozens more killed in Israel and elsewhere in the region. Thirteen US. military members have died. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Iran war’s environmental toll could leave damage and health risks for decades, experts say
Oil depots spewing black smoke. Debris sinking in the Persian Gulf. Missiles pounding military sites.
The Iran war has unleashed a toxic mix of chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants that threaten everything from agriculture to drinking water to people's health — and will leave behind environmental damage and health risks that could persist for decades, experts said.
“All the burning of oil and gas fields in the coastal areas, all the ships that are there, the oil tankers that are being burned or (sunk) — all of these mean pollution,” said Kaveh Madani, an Iranian scientist and director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. “For someone like me who has fought for sustainability and protection of the environment in that region, this is like going many years backward.”
Documenting the damage has proved daunting, with a full accounting impossible for now, said Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, a U.K.-based nonprofit that monitors environmental harms from armed conflicts.
Most Republicans are loyal to Trump. A prolonged war in Iran could test that, an AP-NORC poll shows
It's costing more and more to gas up the hot rods Donnie Beson has spent a lifetime tinkering with. He's not questioning his support for Trump, but he feels as though the war in Iran has distracted the Republican president from the issues that got him elected.
“Come on, Trump. Worry about us,” said Beson, 68, of Woodland Park, Colorado. “We’re in a billion-dollar-a-day war. It’s like, ‘Man, you forgot about the other stuff, and you got to take care of that first.’”
Trump still has deep support among Republicans, but a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates the president risks frustrating his voters during a midterm election year if the United States gets involved in the kind of prolonged war in the Middle East that he promised to avoid.
Although 63% of Republicans back airstrikes against Iranian military targets, the survey found, only 20% back deploying American ground troops.
Rising gas prices could also pose a problem for Trump. The cost of oil and gas has soared since the Iran war began nearly four weeks ago, adding more financial pressure when many Americans are already worried about affording essentials.
Egypt’s top diplomat is in Lebanon for talks
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut on Thursday amid a swirl of diplomatic discussions about the Iran war.
Abdelatty said that, in shuttling messages between Iran and the United States, Egypt has noted a mutual “desire for calm, for the exploration of negotiations” on both sides. But he warned the talks have not yielded “specific conclusions.”
When asked about Egypt’s role in mediating between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, he told reporters that Egyptian diplomats were voicing to all parties their opposition to Israeli occupation and destruction of civilian infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
He said the goal was to prevent the region “from sinking into a state of chaos from which it cannot emerge.”
Israel’s military says it has killed the Iranian navy intelligence chief
The Israeli military says Behnam Rezaei was a “central knowledge authority in maritime intelligence.”
Earlier Thursday, Israel said it had killed the commander of Iran’s navy, Alireza Tangsiri, in an overnight airstrike in Bandar Abbas. Israel said Tangsiri had been responsible for bombing operations that blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan says it’s actively working to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table
But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry did not confirm whether direct talks would take place in Islamabad later this week.
At a weekly news briefing, ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said details on the timing, venue and itinerary would be shared in due course. Asked whether Iranian or U.S. delegations were expected to hold talks in Islamabad later this week, he said, “We will let you know when these developments take place.”
He added that Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts are aimed at ending the conflict and emphasized that the initiative is not directed against any country.
More booms and debris reported in occupied West Bank
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, residents say they’re increasingly confronting missile debris after it’s intercepted by Israel’s air defenses. Debris was reported Wednesday and Thursday, including in Silwad, Ramallah and Beitin as well as in Israeli settlements.
Palestinians in the West Bank lack the siren alerts and shelter infrastructure that most of Israel has relied on to limit wartime fatalities, leaving communities exposed to missiles and debris. In Beitin, Bahjat Mousa Haj said he heard a boom and later learned through social media that debris had fallen nearby Thursday morning. Nobody was killed. Emergency crews tended to the missile fragment’s husk in a nearby field.
Last week, shrapnel struck a beauty salon near Hebron, killing four women. Despite the dangers, bystanders have filmed interceptions and gathered around the fallen fragments and scorched casings, drawn by a mix of curiosity and disbelief.
Wall Street follows global markets lower with missiles fired at Israel and confusion on peace talks
Wall Street followed global markets lower and oil prices jumped above $100 per barrel Thursday as a de-escalation of the Iran war appeared further out of reach.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell 0.7% before the opening bell. Nasdaq futures lost 0.8%.
Iran and the United States hardened their positions as a diplomatic push for a ceasefire in the Middle East war appeared to falter Thursday, sending oil prices back up.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.4% to $100.61 per barrel. It was below $95 on Wednesday. Benchmark U.S. crude was 3.2% higher at $93.25 a barrel.
The rise in oil prices lifted shares of energy producers such as ConocoPhillips and Valero Energy, though the gains were modest at about 1%.
President Trump has said a deal to end the Iran war is near, even after Tehran dismissed his 15-point ceasefire plan.
Philippines, a US treaty ally, secures a Russian oil shipment
The Philippines has received a shipment of Russian crude oil as the country scrambled to secure fuel from non-traditional sources to boost its buffer amid global price spikes, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said Thursday.
More than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude oil has been received by Petron Corp., the country’s only refiner, this week, Garin told The Associated Press.
She didn’t elaborate but said a second Russian oil shipment bound for the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of the United States, has been finalized.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national energy emergency Tuesday to brace for the impact of the Middle East hostilities which his administration said posed “an imminent danger of a critically low energy supply.”
Marcos later said the Philippines has more than a month of fuel stockpiled and there was no need for people to panic.
Rains compound challenges in Gaza, where ceasefire progress has stalled
Frigid temperatures have lingered into spring in Gaza, where the flow of humanitarian aid remains limited and the Iran war has set back progress on last year’s phased ceasefire.
Tareq Hamouda, a man displaced from Jabaliya, told The Associated Press that the tent where he and his daughters live has collapsed five times since they moved there.
“No matter how prepared we are, it’s still just a tent,” he said from Gaza City.
Muddy waters coursed through displacement camps in Gaza City and Khan Younis, where many residents faced soaked mattresses and flooded floors inside their waterlogged tents.
Aid groups say broken infrastructure and inconsistent electricity have turned untreated sewage into a growing public health risk in the territory.
Iranian official says death toll in Iran reaches at least 1,937
An Iranian health official says the death toll from the war in Iran has reached at least 1,937 people.
Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian gave the figure to the pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera on Thursday. He said 240 of the dead were women and 212 were children.
More than 24,800 others have been wounded so far, he added.
Iran has not offered any official death toll figures in days.
Loud booms heard across Israel
The booms could be heard in Tel Aviv, the central Israel city of Modiin and Jerusalem after the Israeli military warned of another wave of incoming missiles from Iran.
The barrage is the eighth such wave launched at Israel on Thursday.
Pakistan’s top diplomat says ‘US-Iran indirect talks are taking place’
Pakistan’s top diplomat says indirect talks between the United States and Iran are still ongoing, even as Washington and Tehran offer opposing proposals.
The comment by Ishaq Dar mark the first time Islamabad has publicly acknowledged being the channel by which the two countries were negotiating.
“US-Iran indirect talks are taking place through messages being relayed by Pakistan,” Dar wrote on X.
He said Egypt and Turkey, as well as other countries, are working to back the talks.
Trump tells Iran via social media to ‘get serious soon’ on negotiations to end the war
Without offering a specific threat, Trump said on Truth Social that Iranian leaders should engage “before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NOT TURNING BACK.”
The post comes a day after Trump insisted a deal is near. He said again Thursday that Iran is "'begging' us to make a deal" after the U.S. pitched a 15-point ceasefire plan that Iran rejected.
Israel says Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy chief is killed in a strike
Israel said Thursday it killed Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, the head of Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tangsiri had been killed along with other senior naval commanders in a strike overnight.
Katz said Tangsiri was responsible for bombing operations that have blocked ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz. He said the strike should serve as a “clear message” to top Iranian military officials that the Israeli military would hunt them down.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge Tangsiri’s killing.
Official says Iran ‘charging fees’ for safe passage through Strait
The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Thursday that Iran is charging fees for ships to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi is the first top official to accuse Iran of charging for safe passage through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all natural gas and oil once passed.
Al-Budaiwi oversees the GCC, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He spoke during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
French armed forces chief hosting talks on safeguarding waterway after the war
The chief of France’s armed forces is gathering counterparts from about 20 nations Thursday to examine how shipping in the Strait of Hormuz could be reestablished and safeguarded after the Iran war dies down, an official involved in the planning said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the video meeting hosted by Gen. Fabien Mandon, chief of the French defense staff.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that “when circumstances permit” and fighting has subsided, he envisions warships escorting oil tankers and other commercial shipping through the narrow strait.
The meeting hosted by Mandon aims to help determine what resources such a mission could expect from countries interested in taking part, including warships, intelligence and other military assistance.
Iraq says number wounded in strike on military clinic rises to 23
Iraqi officials had initially reported seven soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in Wednesday’s strike on a military clinic in western Iraq’s Anbar province.
Officials took journalists on a tour Thursday at the site of the destroyed clinic, where Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Tahsin al Khafaj said the number wounded had risen to 23.
The defense ministry has condemned the attack as a violation of international law and affirmed its right to respond. Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
When asked about reports of a U.S. strike on an Iraqi medical clinic, a U.S. defense official said the military was aware of the reports but added that U.S. forces did not target a medical clinic in Iraq. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Explosions heard in western Iran
Witnesses say they heard constant explosions from airstrikes Thursday afternoon in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.
Japan begins releasing oil reserves
The release of 30 days’ worth of the state oil reserves is aimed at ensuring a stable oil supply and minimize the fallout from the war in the Middle East.
The release began at the Kikuma national petroleum stockpile base in the western city of Imabari.
It was transferred to a nearby commercial refinery via pipeline, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security said in a statement.
The discharge of the state-held reserves comes 10 days after Japan started releasing 15 days’ worth of oil from private-sector reserves.
Shrapnel for missile interception kills 2 people in the UAE
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities in Abu Dhabi said two people had been killed and three others wounded by shrapnel from a ballistic missile interception.
Paramedic in Israel describes ‘chaos’ at scene of missile attack
An Israeli paramedic who arrived first to the scene in Kfar Qasim described it as “chaos”.
“We arrived within minutes with intensive care units and ambulances. At the scene there was chaos. We began searching inside the house and saw destruction in the center of the home. Five casualties who were inside were injured by the blast,” said Tomer Gussman, according to a statement released by Israel’s rescue services.
Gussman said the injured were evacuated to the hospital in mild condition.
Meanwhile, Israel warned of a third barrage of missiles Thursday incoming from Iran.
Oil climbs and Asian shares fall over Iran war de-escalation uncertainties
Oil prices gained again Thursday and Asian shares were mostly lower as a de-escalation of the Iran war remains uncertain.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.5% to $98.72 per barrel. It was below $95 on Wednesday.
Benchmark U.S. crude was 2% higher at $92.16 a barrel.
The rise in oil prices came as Tehran Wednesday dismissed a ceasefire plan by the U.S., after the Trump administration offered a 15-point proposal to Iran and the American president this week delayed a self-imposed deadline to "obliterate" its power plants in order to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
On Thursday, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.8% to 53,343.25. South Korea’s Kospi lost 3.3% to 5,458.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.9% to 24,855.12.
Iran’s parliament working on bill to impose fees on ships in Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s parliament is working on a bill to formalize the fees it is reportedly charging on some ship transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, local media reported.
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi as saying that “that “parliament is pursuing a plan to formally codify Iran’s sovereignty, control and oversight over the Strait of Hormuz, while also creating a source of revenue through the collection of fees.”
“This is entirely natural, just as goods pay transit fees when passing through other corridors, the Strait of Hormuz is also a corridor,” he reportedly said. “We provide its security, and it is natural that ships and oil tankers should pay such fees.”
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, is considered an international waterway open to all shipping. Imposing fees would end that and likely be strongly opposed by the Gulf Arab states, the United States and others.
Emirati oil executive calls Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz ‘economic terrorism’
The comment by Sultan al-Jaber, who leads the massive state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., signaled the hardening rhetoric of the United Arab Emirates as the war nears its one-month mark.
“Weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz is not an act of aggression against one nation,” al-Jaber said in a speech for an event hosted by the Middle East Institute in Washington.
“It is economic terrorism against every consumer, every family that depends on affordable energy and food. When Iran holds Hormuz hostage, every nation pays the ransom, at the gas pump, at the grocery store and at the pharmacy. No country can be allowed to destabilize the global economy in this way. Not now. Not ever.”
Sirens sound in central Israel
Sirens sounded about an hour after sunrise across a large swath of central Israel, including areas around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s military said early Thursday morning that Iran had launched missiles toward the country.
The first such alert of the day came after an unusually long lull of more than 14 hours.
Hezbollah rocket fire, however, remained constant overnight in northern Israel, and once reached the Tel Aviv area overnight.