Iran, US-Israel War News Highlights: Iran rejects Trump’s ultimatum; fire at Kuwait oil complex

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday welcomed the fishermen stuck in Iran after they landed in Chennai. He took to X and wrote, "Vanakkam and welcome to the motherland!"

Union Home Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday posted a video and said, "Our brothers and sisters suffering in Iran are coming back to their motherland."

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday said Tehran has “never refused to go to Islamabad” for peace talks, while stressing that any negotiations must lead to a “conclusive and lasting” end to the ongoing conflict.

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US President Donald Trump gives Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to make a deal.

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday slammed what he termed as Western 'double standards' over attacks on the Islamic Republic's Bushehr Nuclear power plant for the fourth time since the beginning of the conflict in West Asia, drawing comparisons in the difference in reactions by the West to hostilities near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amid the Ukraine-Russia war.

In a post on X, Araghchi warned that any radioactive fallout from such strikes could have severe regional consequences, particularly for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, while asserting that the attacks reflect broader strategic intentions. — ANI

Pakistan on Saturday rejected media reports that its initiative to facilitate talks between the US and Iran to end the ongoing conflict in West Asia had hit obstacles after the initial exchange of peace proposals.

Speculation emerged after a senior Foreign Ministry official briefed a select group of journalists on Pakistan's efforts to find a negotiated settlement of the ongoing conflict.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi rejected the media reports as "baseless" and a "figment of imagination." "We have noted several reports in the media, including on social media, citing so-called official government sources regarding the ongoing conflict in the region and Pakistan's efforts to promote peace and dialogue," he said in a statement. — PTI

Iran used a new air defence ⁠system on ​Friday to target ​a U.S. ​fighter ⁠jet, Iran's Khatam ‌al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday.

A ⁠spokesperson ⁠for the ⁠joint ‌military ​command ‌said the country would "definitely ‌achieve ​full ​control" ​over its airspace, ​according to ⁠Iranian state media. — Reuters

As US President Donald Trump considers a ground invasion of Iran, his Gulf allies — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Kuwait — have been pushing him to continue the war until Tehran has been decisively weakened, the Associated Press reported.

These countries, which have long projected themselves as safe investment destinations, have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory attacks since the US-Israeli alliance began the war on February 28. The expanding conflict has seen all sides target military, energy and civilian infrastructure and facilities in the region.

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The U.S. military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot over a remote area in southwestern Iran, after the Middle Eastern country shot down an American warplane and called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.The plane, identified by Iran as a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could mark a new turning point in the campaign. — AP

Iran Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi — We have never refused to go to Islamabad (for mediation talks). What we care about are terms of conclusive and lasting end to the illegal war that is imposed on us.

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a broader cabinet shake-up in the wake of Attorney General Pam Bondi's removal this week, as he grows increasingly frustrated with the political fallout from the war with Iran, five people familiar with internal White House discussions said.

Any potential reshuffling could serve as a reset for the White House as it confronts a politically challenging stretch: The five-week-old war has driven up gas prices, dragged down Trump's approval ratings and intensified anxiety about the consequences for Republicans heading into November's midterm elections. Some allies said his televised speech to the nation on Wednesday - which one senior White House official described as an attempt to project a sense of control and confidence about the direction of the war - fell flat, adding to the sense that changes in messaging or personnel were needed. "A shake-up to show action is not a bad thing, is it?" another White House official said. — Reuters

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed by Iran that a projectile has struck close to the premises of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The IAEA confirmed this is "the fourth such incident in recent weeks".

It added, "Iran also informed the IAEA that one of the site’s physical protection staff members was killed by a projectile fragment and that a building on site was affected by shockwaves and fragments. No increase in radiation levels was reported."

Iraq closes Southern Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran after airstrikes on Iranian side kill an Iraqi traveller, the Reuters reported.

Iran's recreational area in Tabriz was reportedly hit in an air attack, Reuters reported citing Iran's nournews.

The Kuwait Army responded to seven ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles, and 26 drones within Kuwaiti airspace, and they were dealt with in accordance with established procedures, the Army informed on Friday. It added, "The Iranian aggression resulted in the targeting of the Ahmadi Port refinery, leading to fires breaking out in several operational units. Additionally, one of the power stations and water distillation plants was targeted, resulting in material damage to some components of the station, with no human casualties recorded, praise be to God."

The Consulate General of Iran in Mazar-e-Sharif on Friday posted an animated video on X taking an apparent jibe at the pilot of the downed American F-35 fighter jet. The clip showed an animated figure, representing a US fighter jet pilot, being chased by armed men. The caption, translated to English, reads, "Wait, we want to give you kebab."

Iranian state media, Iran international, said Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran and areas around Mehrabad Airport in the west of the capital were targeted in US and Israeli strikes on Friday.

The Iranian Embassy in South Africa took a MAGA dig at the US in a tweet on Friday.

US-Israeli attack kills one, damages passenger terminal and civil infrastructure at Iran's Gulf port of Charak, Reuters reported quoting Tasnim news agency.

Amid US President Donald Trump's threat to send Iran back to the Stone Age and the Iranian Army's response, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said, "Does threatening to send an entire nation back to the Stone Age mean anything other than a massive war crime?"

Nearly five weeks after it started with a joint US-Israeli aerial ‌assault, the war in Iran continues to spread chaos across the region and roil financial markets, raising the pressure on Trump to find a quick resolution to the conflict.

Iran has ⁠effectively shut ⁠down the Strait of Hormuz , a key waterway that carries about ⁠a ‌fifth of the world's ​total oil consumption, in retaliation for ‌U.S.-Israeli strikes that began in late February. Reopening it has become ‌a priority ​for governments around ​the ​world as energy prices soar. — Reuters

Our signal to the United States and countries in the Middle East about the Strait of Hormuz was that we were open to discussing it. As of today, I don't see any country lifting the blockade on its own, only joint steps can bring results. Ukraine has experience with launching the Grain Corridor in the Black Sea despite Russia’s attempts to block the flow of food and other goods. The situation now is similar, but it is about energy. — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A local channel of Iranian state television claimed Friday that a US fighter pilot ejected from their aircraft over southwestern Iran.

The US did not respond immediately to requests for comment over the claim.

The anchor on the channel in Iran's Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province read the following announcement: "If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize." The channel provided no other immediate details.

US Central Command, the Pentagon and White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. — AP

A Japanese liquefied natural gas tanker has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, its joint owner Mitsui ⁠O.S.K. ​Lines said on Friday.

Crew members on the ​Panama-flagged ship, "SOHAR ​LNG", remain safe, ⁠a Mitsui O.S.K. Lines spokesperson ‌told Reuters, while declining to disclose when it crossed the strait and whether there was ⁠any ⁠kind of negotiations to ⁠do so.

The ‌Asahi ​newspaper earlier on ‌Friday reported that the ship was ‌the ​first ​Japanese ​vessel to have exited the ​Strait of Hormuz since ⁠the onset of the Iran ‌war. — Reuters

The CMA CGM Kribi, sailing under a Malta flag and operated by French shipping company CMA CGM, became possibly the first vessel with links to France to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since Iran effectively closed it.

The CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping company, declined to comment when contacted by AP.

Traffic through the strait has dropped by about 90 per cent since the start of the Iran war.

Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited the strait since March 1, according to data firm Lloyd's List Intelligence.

Most were linked to Iran and countries including China, India and Pakistan. — PTI

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group on Friday claimed carrying out a joint military operation involving a "barrage of ballistic missiles" targeting Israel's Jaffa area, in what signals a widening of the ongoing regional conflict in West Asia.

In a statement released by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, the group said the attack was conducted in coordination with allied forces across the region, with support for the "resistance and jihad fronts in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon." Saree stated that the group "carried out a military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting vital Israeli enemy targets in the occupied Yaffa area". — ANI

Iran’s army warns aggressors, declaring that the country’s elite commando forces stand ready to crush any invasion with overwhelming force, vowing to “send invaders not to the Stone Age, but to the time before the Stone Age”, the Tasnin News Agency reported.

A US-sanctioned tanker carrying Iranian crude oil has rerouted mid-voyage from its previously indicated destination of India - where it would have marked the first such shipment in nearly seven years - to China.

The Aframax tanker Ping Shun, built in 2002 and sanctioned by the US in 2025, is now signalling Dongying in China as its destination instead of Vadinar in Gujarat, which it had indicated earlier this week, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler.

There is no confirmation that the destination that the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder - a tracking system mandated on most commercial vessels - is indicating is the final and it may not change at any time during the transit. — PTI