{"id":38706,"date":"2026-03-27T13:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/38706\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:31:08","slug":"israel-expands-strikes-in-iran-as-rubio-heads-to-europe-to-rally-g7-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/38706\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel expands strikes in Iran as Rubio heads to Europe to rally G7 support"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TNND) \u2014 Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Iran on Friday and warned attacks \u201cwill escalate and expand,\u201d even as President Donald Trump said Tehran is seeking negotiations and extended his deadline for action in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are begging to work out a deal. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that,\u201d Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.<\/p>\n

Iran, however, rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal <\/a>earlier this week, saying any end to the war would come on its own terms.<\/p>\n

As Trump\u2019s deadline for Iran<\/a> to open the strait approached, he pushed it back to April 6, saying talks on ending the war were going “very well.”<\/p>\n

Israel appeared to diverge from Washington\u2019s tone. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran \u201cwill pay heavy, increasing prices for this war crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the warnings, the firing continues,\u201d Katz said. \u201cAnd therefore attacks in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli citizens.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military said Friday\u2019s strikes targeted sites \u201cin the heart of Tehran\u201d used to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons, as well as launchers and storage facilities in western Iran.<\/p>\n

Iran, meanwhile, continued firing missiles and drones at Gulf Arab neighbors, with sirens warning of attacks in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

As diplomatic efforts continued, a group of U.S. ships carrying about 2,500 Marines moved closer to the region. At least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne<\/a> \u2014 trained to land in hostile territory and secure key airfields \u2014 have also been deployed to the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his G7 counterparts in France after Trump repeatedly insulted U.S. allies. During the Cabinet meeting, Rubio said the U.S. would defend NATO, but argued allies had not reciprocated during the Iran conflict.<\/p>\n

As diplomats gathered, France\u2019s Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said the war \u201cis not ours,\u201d emphasizing that France\u2019s position is strictly defensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim is truly this diplomatic approach, which is the only one that can guarantee a return to peace,\u201d she said on Europe 1 and CNews. \u201cMany countries are concerned, and it is absolutely essential that we find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio defended the president, saying critics should be grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I think countries around the world \u2014 even those that are out there complaining a little bit \u2014 should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that\u2019s willing to confront a threat like this,\u201d he said Thursday.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNND) \u2014 Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Iran on Friday and warned attacks \u201cwill escalate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[989,6316,34,37,49,10203,2081,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-38706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-diplomacy","9":"tag-g7","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-rubio","14":"tag-strikes","15":"tag-trump"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116301390375568309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38706","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=38706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}