{"id":38694,"date":"2026-03-27T13:21:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/38694\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:21:27","slug":"israel-launches-new-wave-of-strikes-on-iran-with-no-sign-of-diplomatic-breakthrough-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/38694\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel launches new wave of strikes on Iran with no sign of diplomatic breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel launched a new wave of\u00a0strikes on Iran<\/a>\u00a0on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed talks on ending the war were going well and gave Tehran more time to open the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, though there have been no signs of Iran backing down.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0stock markets reeling<\/a>\u00a0and economic fallout from the war extending far beyond the Middle East, Trump is under growing pressure to end Iran\u2019s chokehold on the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil is usually shipped.<\/p>\n

The United States has offered Iran a 15-point proposal for a ceasefire that includes it relinquishing control of the strait, but at the same time has ordered thousands more troops to the region \u2014 possibly in preparation for a military attempt to wrest the waterway from Iran\u2019s tight grip.<\/p>\n

With time running out on a deadline set by Trump for Iran to open the strait, after which he had threatened to destroy Iran\u2019s energy plants, he pushed his self-imposed deadline back to April 6 on Thursday, saying that talks on ending the conflict were going \u201cvery well.\u201d Iran, however, maintains it is not engaged in any negotiations.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s attack Friday \u201cin the heart of Tehran\u201d targeted sites used by Iran to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons, the Israeli military said. It also hit missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran.<\/p>\n

Smoke also rose over Beirut after a pre-dawn strike, and Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry later reported two people were killed. Air raid sirens sounded in Israel as the military said it was working to intercept Iranian missiles and Iran kept firing missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors, with sirens warning of attacks in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s Defense Ministry said it shot down both missiles and drones targeting the capital, Riyadh.<\/p>\n

Kuwait said both its Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City and the Mubarak Al Kabeer Port to the north, which is under construction as part of China\u2019s \u201cBelt and Road\u201d initiative, had sustained \u201cmaterial damage\u201d in attacks.<\/p>\n

It appeared to be one of the first times a Chinese-affiliated project in the Gulf Arab states came under assault in the war. Throughout the conflict, China has continued to purchase Iranian crude.<\/p>\n

After Wall Street\u2019s worst day since the war began,\u00a0Asian shares mostly fell Friday<\/a>\u00a0over growing doubts about the chances of de-escalation. Oil prices rose again, the Brent crude, the international standard, at $107 a barrel in morning trading, up more than 45% since Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.<\/p>\n

US pushing diplomatic solution but sending more troops to the region<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, has caused growing concerns of a global energy crisis, and appears part of a strategy to get the U.S. to back down by roiling the world economy. A Gulf Arab bloc said Thursday that Iran is now exacting tolls from ships to ensure their safe passage through the waterway.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff said\u00a0Washington had delivered<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a015-point \u201caction list\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to Iran for a possible ceasefire, using Pakistan as an intermediary. The list includes restrictions on Iran\u2019s nuclear program and re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Iran has rejected the U.S. offer and put forth its own\u00a0five-point proposal<\/a>, which includes reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Diplomats from several countries have been trying to organize a direct meeting between envoys from the U.S. and Iran, possibly in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that the country\u2019s foreign minster, Badr Abdelatty, held phone calls the day before with his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts as part of their \u201cintensive efforts\u201d to organize the talks.<\/p>\n

Abdelatty said he hoped the tri-country effort would result in \u201cgradual de-escalation efforts that would ultimately lead to the end of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the diplomatic efforts went on, a group of U.S. ships drew closer to the region with some 2,500 Marines. Also, at least 1,000 paratroopers from the\u00a082nd Airborne<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 trained to land in hostile territory to secure key territory and airfields \u2014 have been ordered to the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council is to hold closed consultation on Iran on Friday, according to two U.N. diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting is not public.<\/p>\n

They added that Russia had asked for the meeting on U.S.-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country, that the U.S., which holds the Security Council presidency, had scheduled it.<\/p>\n

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the humanitarian organization\u2019s teams in Iran have reported that \u201ccountless homes, hospitals and schools have been damaged or destroyed,\u201d and that nearly every neighborhood in Tehran has sustained damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivilians are paying the highest price for this war \u2014 it must end\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The International Organization for Migration said Friday that 82,000 civilian buildings, including hospitals and the homes of 180,000 people have been damaged in Iran so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this war continues, we risk a far wider humanitarian disaster,\u201d Egeland said. \u201cMillions could be forced to flee across borders, placing immense pressure on an already overstretched region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deaths continue to climb, primarily in Iran and Lebanon<\/p>\n

The Israeli army said Thursday it had deployed the 162nd Division into southern Lebanon, joining thousands of troops that were moved there after the war erupted. Israel says the open-ended invasion is aimed at protecting its northern border towns from Hezbollah attacks and uprooting the militant group from the area.<\/p>\n

Eighteen people have died in Israel, while four Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. Two Israeli soldiers were severely injured in Lebanon on Friday during an \u201coperational accident,\u201d the military said.<\/p>\n

Authorities said more than 1,100 people have died in Lebanon and more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran.<\/p>\n

At least 13 American troops have been killed and four people in the occupied West Bank and 20 in Gulf Arab states have also died.<\/p>\n

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell\u2019Orto in Miami, Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sam McNeil in Brussels and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Israel launched a new wave of\u00a0strikes on Iran\u00a0on Friday after U.S. President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[16804,5405,34,37,1258,213,1983,392,153,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-38694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-deployed","9":"tag-friday","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-nuclear","13":"tag-oil","14":"tag-troops","15":"tag-trump","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116301351203283246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}