Abu Dhabi says debris from intercepted threat hit Habshan gas facilities, operations suspended
Debris from an intercepted aerial threat fell on Abu Dhabi's Habshan gas facilities, prompting a temporary suspension of operations and a fire that emergency teams were working to contain, with no injuries reported, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said.
Bahrain waters down UN proposal over opposition to allowing force to open Strait of Hormuz
Bahrain has significantly watered down a proposed UN resolution on reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid opposition from China and Russia about allowing countries to use force to secure the critical waterway Iran has largely cut off to global shipping.
The final draft of the proposal, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, authorizes defensive - but not offensive - action to ensure vessels can safely transit the strait. One-fifth of the world's oil typically passes through the waterway, where Iran's stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.
Bahrain's initial draft would have allowed countries "to use all necessary means" - UN language that would include possible military action - "in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman" to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with navigation.
Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, had expressed opposition to approving the use of force. The final draft eliminates any reference to allowing offensive military action.
The Security Council originally scheduled a vote on the resolution for Friday, which is a UN holiday for Good Friday. But it later cancelled that meeting, and UN diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the new timing before it has been announced, said the vote was now expected to be held Saturday.
The three countries' views on the changes are not known, so the vote will be closely watched, and the delay will give diplomats more time to avoid a veto.
The proposal now authorizes countries "to use all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances in the Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters" to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with international navigation "for a period of at least six months."
It says countries acting alone on in "multinational naval partnerships" can take defensive means provided advance notification is given to the Security Council.
It comes after US President Donald Trump said in an address Wednesday that America and Israel will continue to bomb Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks but gave no definitive end date for the conflict. Iran has kept up retailatory attacks in the region and its chokehold on the strait has been a pain point for Trump and the world as rising energy prices roil the global economy.
Before Bahrain released its final draft, Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the proposal "does not solve the puzzle." He said what would do so is ending the hostilities.
China's UN Ambassador Fu Cong opposed the original draft's authorization for the use of force, calling it "unlawful and indiscriminate." Speaking to the council earlier Thursday, he warned that it "would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences." He urged the council "to proceed with caution" and actively work for de-escalation and dialogue.
France's UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont also called for de-escalation, telling the council that "defensive measures that avoid any broad use of force need to be promoted." He later indicated that the new draft focusing on defense might be acceptable.
The Security Council adopted a Bahrain-sponsored resolution on March 11 condemning Iran's "egregious attacks" on Gulf nations and called for Tehran to immediately halt its strikes, which followed the US and Israel launching the war on February 28.
That resolution, adopted by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, also condemned Iran's actions in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat to international peace and security and called for an immediate end to all actions blocking shipping.
Kuwait says Iranian attack damaged desalination plant
Kuwait said on Friday an Iranian attack damaged a desalination plant.
The attack came after an oil refinery was hit by drones on Friday morning.
Kuwait said without elaborating that the attack on the desalination plant caused "material damage to some of the plant's components."
Desalination provides the majority of the water for the Gulf Arab states and Iran, drawing the salty waters of the Persian Gulf into drinking water for the desert region.
About 90 per cent of drinking water in Kuwait comes from desalination.
Desalination plants have become a major target in the war, with Iran initially accusing the US and Israel of striking one before beginning to target them in the Gulf Arab states. Those states view attacks on desalination plants as a threat to their very livelihoods.
Drones hit Kuwait's Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, fires reported, no injuries
Iranian drones struck Kuwait's Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery on Friday, sparking fires at the facility.
The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. issued a statement on the attack and said firefighters were working to control the blazes.
There were no injuries reported, the company said.
Kuwait operates three oil refineries. Mina al-Ahmadi has come under attack multiple times in the war.
Refineries are key to Kuwait's oil production because, without them, oil wells would have to be shut down for lack of a destination for the oil.
Restarting refineries is extremely time-consuming for safety reasons, and those wells would remain largely inactive until refineries are back online.
Iran says second US F-35 fighter jet shot down over central Iran
Iran says second U.S. F-35 fighter jet shot down over central Iran: Iran’s Mehr
Iran says pilot survival unlikely: Iran’s Mehr
Trump threatens to strike Iran's bridges and electric power plants
US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday about striking and destroying bridges and electric power plants in Iran in his latest threat to hit the country's infrastructure.
The U.S. military "hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants," Trump wrote on social media.
His post said that Iran's leadership "knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!"
Iran claims to be drafting proposal with Oman to 'monitor' Strait of Hormuz
Iran on Thursday claimed its drafting a proposal with Oman to 'monitor' Strait of Hormuz. The comments by Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency, described the proposal as "intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships passing through this route."
Iran's attacks on shipping in the region, as well as reportedly demanding as much as USD 2 million for passage through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, have created a stranglehold on the route.
It is unclear what the proposal would mean. Oman did not immediately acknowledge it. The strait runs through Iranian and Omani territorial waters but is considered an international waterway that should freely allow ships to pass.
"Naturally, when we face an act of aggression, navigation encounters serious problems, and this is the result of the aggressive act," Gharibabadi said. "We are currently at war and cannot expect pre-war rules to govern wartime conditions."
No sign of war winding down in Middle East as Friday dawns with attacks across region
There was little sign Friday of the war in the Middle East winding down as Israel said it faced incoming fire from Iran, Kuwait and Bahrain reported being under attack, and Iran said eight people were killed while celebrating the close of Persian new year near a major bridge hit by a US strike.
Tehran continued to demonstrate its ability to strike its neighbours even as US President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated and cheered the collapse of the bridge on Thursday, reportedly the tallest in the Middle East.
Iran decried the strike on the bridge, which also injured 95 people celebrating Nature Day, when Iranians gather for picnics and other celebrations outdoors on the last day of Nowruz, the Persian new year.
"Striking civilian infrastructure only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote Thursday in a post on X.
Iran's attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world's energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran's greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain held a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.
Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force - but said it is not up to the US to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to "build some delayed courage" and go "take it."
Meanwhile, USS Gerald R Ford has left Croatia. The largest American aircraft carrier in service sailed out of Split and "remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation," the Navy's 6th Fleet announced Thursday.
It was unclear where it was going. It went to Croatia after a stop in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs after a fire in its laundry room. It underwent further repairs in Croatia and saw its sailors take liberty while at port.
The Ford left Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24, 2025, making its deployment one of the longest in Navy history.
If it heads to the Middle East, it would have to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Yemen's Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have entered the war and begun firing on Israel, meaning the Ford could face fire from them.
The USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea. The US military's Central Command said Friday that it "continues to conduct flight operations, both day and night."
The USS George H W Bush aircraft carrier departed Norfolk on Wednesday to head to the Middle East.
Iran continues to strike Israel, Gulf countries
Iran responded defiantly to Trump's speech, in which the American president claimed US military action had been so decisive that "one of the most powerful countries" is "really no longer a threat."
A spokesman for Iran's military, Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by US strikes are "insignificant."
Trump, in his address, said US "core strategic objectives are nearing completion."
Iran state media reported the attack on the B1 bridge, which was still under construction, citing authorities in Alborz province.
Trump posted footage on social media showing what he said was the collapse of Iran's biggest bridge and threatening, "Much more to follow." It was not immediately clear if the footage Trump shared was the B1 bridge.
In Lebanon - where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants - Israeli strikes killed 27 people over 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 US service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Nearly three dozen nations talk about securing Strait of Hormuz
Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94 per cent over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments.
Saudi Arabia piped about 1 billion barrels of oil away from the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to maritime data firm Kpler, while Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to avoid the strait.
The 35 countries that spoke Thursday, including all G7 industrialised democracies except the US, as well as the UAE and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait.
Thursday's talks were focused on political and diplomatic measures, but British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said military planners from an unspecified number of countries will also plot ways to ensure security once fighting ends, including potential mine-clearing work and "reassurance" for commercial shipping.
No country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. French President Emmanuel Macron, while on a visit to South Korea, called a military operation to secure the waterway "unrealistic."
But there is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the waterway even after US and Israeli attacks cease.
