LIVE: Iran Guards Say 'Turned Back' 3 Ships in Strait of Hormuz
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its "enemies".
"This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities... were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy," the Guards said on their Sepah News website.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi on Friday slammed the United States and Israel for the attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran, most notably the Minab Elementary Girls' school which killed over 160 people. Calling the actions a war crime, he urged the world to come together against the injustice towards Iran and underlined that the country would continue to defend itself as long as needed.
Guards claim missile, drone attacks
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had carried out missile and drone strikes the previous day targeting sites in Israel and military facilities in the Gulf used by US forces.
A maintenance facility for US air defence system Patriot was targeted in Bahrain, the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian news agencies.
Israel strike Tehran
Israel's military said its forces carried out "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran" early Friday.
Australia defends efforts
Australia's leader said Friday it was not consulted over the war with Iran, responding to President Donald Trump's swipe the US ally was not doing enough.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was in close contact with Gulf states under attack from Iran, providing a surveillance aircraft to help defend the United Arab Emirates, where many Australians live.
"There is no request been made to Australia that has not been agreed to," Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
Blasts in Beirut
Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, as AFP correspondents heard several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has repeatedly struck since war erupted.
AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area after the raid.
Trump pushes back deadline
US President Donald Trump said he would not yet strike Iranian power plants as previously threatened after a request from Tehran, adding that talks with the Islamic republic were "going very well."
"I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
"Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well."
Israel army demands more soldiers
The Israeli military said it needs more troops for deployment in southern Lebanon, where forces are engaged in fighting Hezbollah as part of efforts to establish a so-called "buffer zone".
"On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional (Israeli army) forces," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said, noting that the military is operating across multiple fronts, including the West Bank, Gaza and Syria.
Israel opposition leader attacks government
Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the government of steering the country towards a "security disaster" by "sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means and with far too few soldiers".
"The (Israeli army) is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield," Lapid said.
Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon
The Israeli army announced the death in combat of a soldier in south Lebanon, just hours after reporting another death from its ranks.
Four Israeli soldiers have now been killed in fighting in south Lebanon since Hezbollah began launching rocket attacks against Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
World Bank ready 'at scale'
The World Bank said it was prepared to provide immediate financial assistance to countries in emerging markets dealing with the economic fallout of the conflict in the Middle East.
"We are ready to respond at scale -- combining immediate financial relief with policy expertise and private sector support for the recovery of jobs and growth," the World Bank Group said in its first statement on the crisis.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday he expected Washington's war objectives in Iran to be completed in the next two weeks, regardless of whether the United States sends ground troops.
The Israeli military confirmed on Friday it had struck a heavy water plant in Arak, central Iran, after Iranian media said US-Israeli strikes hit the Khondab complex.
The US-Israeli war against Iran is unlikely to lead to "regime change", German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, as the month-long conflict showed no signs of abating.
US-Israeli airstrikes on Friday damaged two major steel plants in Iran, Iranian media reports said.
Iran's foreign minister on Friday branded a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war as a "calculated" US assault.
Addressing an urgent debate in the United Nations Human Rights Council focused on the February 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab, Abbas Araghchi said "more than 175 students and teachers were slaughtered in cold blood" in a "calculated, phased assault".
Defense Minister Israel Katz made the comment in a statement noting that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “warned the Iranian terrorist regime to stop firing missiles at the civilian population in Israel.”
“Despite the warnings, the firing continues — and therefore (Israeli military) attacks in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli citizens,” Katz said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its "enemies".
"This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities... were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy," the Guards said on their Sepah News website.
Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have signed an air defence agreement during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the kingdom facing Iranian drone attacks, two senior officials told AFP on Friday.
Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations, which are being attacked with the same kind of Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia fires on Ukraine.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called for a “swift resolution” to the war in the Middle East and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on the outskirts of Paris, Cooper said Iran is undermining the global economy by blocking international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important waterway for oil shipments. “Frankly, Iran cannot be allowed to hold the global economy hostage as a result of a strait that is vital to international shipping routes and the freedom of navigation,” she said.
Attacks on Iran have damaged 82,000 civilian buildings, including hospitals, residential units and the homes of 180,000 people, across 20 of Iran’s 32 provinces, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.