France presses on with Hormuz ideas
France is pushing on with efforts to put together a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises, two French officials said on Friday, after a report suggested Paris was negotiating safe passage for its ships.
European states have been largely sidelined as the US-Israeli war on Iran has escalated, with Iran carrying out strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states.
But with shipping lanes affected and the conflict pushing up oil prices, European powers are trying to work out how to defend their interests.
France has been consulting with European, Asian and Gulf Arab states over the past week with a view to putting together a plan for warships eventually to escort tankers through the strait.
"In the current context the conditions don't allow for any mission to deploy forces, but we are initially working on the diplomacy so we can then enter into details and eventually it can become operational," said one official.
Over 100 children killed in Israeli strikes since start of war: Lebanon
Israeli strikes have killed over 100 children in Lebanon since the latest fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah militants. That's according to a toll released Friday by Lebanon's Health Ministry.
It says a total of 773 people have been killed during the latest conflict. Sixty-two women are among those killed, and over 1,900 people have been wounded, according to the ministry.
US Navy destroyers intercept Iranian missiles over Turkey
The US Navy destroyer USS Oscar Austin shot down the Iranian ballistic missile that was intercepted over Turkey on Friday, a US official confirmed to The Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss ongoing military operations, said it was the third time in the last two weeks that a US Navy destroyer in the Eastern Mediterranean intercepted an Iranian missile in Turkish airspace.
Summit of Muslim-majority countries is postponed due to Iran war
The summit of the Developing Eight group of nations in Jakarta, scheduled for April 13-15, was delayed because of security concerns linked to the fighting, said Tri Tharyat, director general of multilateral cooperation at Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry. No new date has been set.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation and Southeast Asia's largest economy, was set to host leaders from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkiye.
The group meets to boost economic cooperation among Muslim-majority nations across Asia and Africa.
UAE says it 'engaged' with 7 ballistic missiles and 27 drones from Iran
The United Arab Emirates said the strikes were launched from Iran on Friday amid continuous air attacks targeting US bases in the Gulf.
The UAE's Defence Ministry said on X that since "blatant Iranian aggression" began in the ongoing war with the US and Israel, its defence systems have "engaged" with 285 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,567 drones.
Germany's Merz calls for 'convincing plan' to end Iran war
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called for a "convincing plan" on how to end the Iran war.
The German leader spoke alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at military exercises in Norway.
Merz said the world was witnessing "a dangerous escalation" and noted that Iran was "indiscriminately" carrying out attacks on countries across the region.
No operation in place to seize Iran's enriched uranium: Trump
Trump says no operation is in place to seize Iran's enriched uranium, but that could change.
The president said, "No, not at all," when asked if the US would attempt to retrieve the material, which is believed to be buried underground in Iran.
"We're not focused on that," Trump said. "But at some point, we might be."
Trump again suggested the US is holding off from escorting ships through Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, in an interview on Fox News Radio that aired Friday, said that when it comes to the US Navy escorting ships through the shipping lane, "We would do it if we need to."
"Hopefully things are going to go very well," Trump said.
All 6 airmen in refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq dead: US military
The US military on Friday said all six airmen aboard a refuelling aircraft that went down in Iraq are dead.
The military says the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.
UAE says Iran must halt attacks on neighbours
US President Donald Trump will bring about a diplomatic conclusion to the war with Iran "in his time", and Tehran must halt attacks on its neighbours before they can mediate, one of the UAE's top diplomats said in an interview on Friday.
Lana Nusseibeh, a former UAE ambassador to the United Nations who now holds the rank of minister of state in the Gulf country's foreign ministry, expressed confidence that the war would end in a negotiated settlement. But she said neighbours were shocked that Iran had unleashed attacks on them.
"Ultimately, it will be a diplomatic solution, but there needs to be that tipping point moment, and I think that president Trump will lead us all to that moment in his time," Nusseibeh said in an interview.
Asked about efforts to mediate, she said Iran must halt its attacks first: "It is difficult to talk about mediation when under attack... Mediation can only happen when the guns go silent."
She said Iranian officials had given her no indication the UAE was a target when she visited Tehran for talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis two weeks before it erupted into conflict. That lack of warning made Iran's attacks on the UAE "so shocking and so egregious".
France's position in Middle East is defensive: Macron
President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday a drone attack in Northern Iraq against French soldiers was "unacceptable" and that France's position in the region was "defensive".
Macron told a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris that he had asked for a full military analysis to be made of the attack.
One French soldier was killed and six others were wounded after a drone attack in northern Iraq that President Emmanuel Macron earlier had said was said was unacceptable and unjustified.
US forces continuing to go after Iran's mine laying capabilities: Caine
US forces continuing to go after Iran's mine laying capabilities, says top US general Caine
Iran's new supreme leader wounded: Hegseth
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says Iran's new supreme leader "is wounded and likely disfigured." Hegseth spoke Friday, a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement vowing to continue the war.
It was Khamenei's first statement since he assumed Iran's top office after the death of his father in an Israeli strike.
The US Central Command has designated an officer outside of the command to complete an investigation on a strike on Iranian school, Hegseth said. There is no clear evidence that Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he added.
The United States has a range of options to deal with nuclear weapons, including Iran deciding to give them up, Hegseth said.
Iran's Shi'ite allies step up strikes
Shi'ite Muslim armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq are stepping up their role in the war with the US and Israel, showing the Iran-backed "Axis of Resistance" can still wage attacks despite damage inflicted on the alliance during the Gaza conflict.
Groups that have long been armed and financed by Iran and loyal to its Shi'ite Islamist rulers are now helping Tehran intensify the war around the region, strikes in recent days show.
Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday launched their first-ever simultaneous rocket barrage on Israel, with the Lebanese group firing 200 missiles. Israel reported that only two of these hit its territory.
Iraqi Shi'ite militants have also picked up the pace of drone and missile attacks on US interests in Iraq in the last 3-4 days, according to three Iraqi security sources and two sources close to the groups.
One group yet to enter the fray are Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen, heavily armed and capable of disrupting maritime navigation around the Arabian peninsula, as shown during the Gaza war when they fired at Red Sea shipping and Israel.
Turkey says NATO defences intercepted third missile from Iran
NATO air defences in the eastern Mediterranean have shot down a third ballistic missile that was fired from Iran towards Turkey, the Turkish Defence Ministry said on Friday, adding that it was asking Tehran for clarification.
NATO air defences shot down the first Iranian ballistic missile fired at Turkey on March 4, followed by the shooting down of a second Iranian missile on March 9.
The ministry has said the first incoming missile was downed en route to Turkish airspace, while the second entered it.
Turkey has not disclosed the target of the third missile, saying only it was "entering" Turkish airspace, but an explosion was heard and windows were shaken overnight near the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey's Adana province, according to a Reuters witness and social media footage verified by Reuters.
IAEA says it is trying to broker a new nuclear deal between the US and Iran, TASS reports
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said on Friday that the IAEA is trying to arrange a new nuclear deal between the US and Iran, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Grossi said he hopes for the resumption of negotiations on a long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear programme.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry says 56 drones have been intercepted on Friday
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry says 56 drones have been intercepted on Friday, including one that tried to approach the high-security diplomatic area in Riyadh, Al Jazeera reports
Trump tells Fox News: US would escort oil tankers in Strait of Hormuz if needed
President Donald Trump said the United States would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz if needed but added that he hoped the U.S.-led war efforts would go well, vowing in a Fox News interview that aired on Friday to strike Iran "very hard over the next week."
China to provide $200,000 for victims of bomb attack on Iranian school
China on Friday said it will provide USD 200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to the students killed in an airstrike on an elementary school in Iran in the ongoing joint US-Israel attacks on the country.
China expresses deep condolences regarding the deaths of students in the recent attack on an Iranian elementary school and extends sincere sympathies to their families, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a media briefing here.
Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide the Iranian Red Crescent Society with USD 200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance, he said.
Guo said China condemns all indiscriminate attacks against civilians and non-military targets. Targeting schools and harming children constitute a severe violation of international humanitarian law and cross the bottom line of human morality and conscience, he added.
"China is willing to continue to offer necessary support to Iran in the spirit of humanitarianism to help the Iranian people overcome the difficulties," he said.
According to a statement by the United Nations on March 1, missiles reportedly destroyed a girl’s primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing around 150 and wounding almost 100. Many students are believed to be among the dead. Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the attack on the school.
The US military's Central Command (Centcom) said it was looking into reports of the incident, while Israel's military said it was "not aware" of any IDF operations in the area, the BBC reported.
The girls' school was located in Minab, near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base, which has previously been a target, it said.
Since the outbreak of hostilities with Israel and the US bombing Iran, leading to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, China, a close ally of Tehran, has been calling for an immediate stop to military operations with a ceasefire.
China urges parties to stop military operations at once, avoid further escalation, and prevent the regional turmoil from having a larger impact on global economic growth, Guo said in his media briefing on Thursday.
Four US service members killed in plane crash over Iraq
Four of the six crew members aboard a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are confirmed to have been killed, the U.S. military said on Friday, as rescue efforts continued for the remaining two.
A U.S. military refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
The deaths add to the seven U.S. service members who have already been killed as part of U.S. operations against Iran which began on February 28.
"The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," a statement from U.S. Central Command said.
A U.S. official told Reuters that the second aircraft involved in the crash, which landed safely, was also a military refueling aircraft known as the KC-135.
The United States has deployed a large number of aircraft into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran and the incident highlights the risk of not just operations, but of refueling aircraft in the air.
The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the U.S. military's air refueling fleet and is critical to allowing aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing the U.S. military refueling aircraft.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that as many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. News of the crash comes the same day two U.S. sailors were injured after the USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related fire on board.
The first seven U.S. troops were killed when a drone slammed into a U.S. military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
President Donald Trump and other senior officials have warned the Iran conflict will result in more U.S. military deaths as Tehran retaliates against U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Bodies of 84 Iranian sailors to be repatriated from Sri Lanka, Iran embassy source and local media say
The bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed in a U.S. submarine attack on a warship off Sri Lanka's coast last week will be repatriated, a Iran embassy source and local media in Sri Lanka reported on Friday.
Explosion heard overnight near Turkish military base hosting US troops
An explosion was heard and windows were shaken overnight near the Incirlik military base in southern Turkey where U.S. troops and others are stationed, according to a Reuters witness and social media footage.
NATO air defences stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have in the last week intercepted two ballistic missiles fired from Iran towards Turkey amid the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.
NATO has since beefed up its ballistic missile defences in the region, deploying a U.S. Patriot air defence system to the southeastern Turkish province of Malatya to increase defence at a radar base there used by the alliance.
Social media footage appeared to show a projectile flying in the night sky near the Incirlik Air Base in Adana province.
Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency said sirens were heard at the base early on Friday, without providing further details.
Ankara has not officially commented on the incident and it was not immediately clear what had caused the explosion.
Turkey has also not said where the previous missiles fired from Iran were aimed at, but U.S. air forces - along with personnel from other countries - are stationed at the Incirlik base.
Ankara says that Washington has not used Incirlik in its air assault with Israel against Iran, which triggered Tehran's missile and drone attacks.
