The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has decided to join over 130 other Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring legislation to codify sanctions on violent settlers that were first put in place by former president Joe Biden before being reversed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office.
Jeffries’ decision to become a cosponsor of the West Bank Violence Prevention Act demonstrates its widespread support among Democrats, given that the minority leader has been one of the party’s most ardent backers of Israel.
It also comes against the backdrop of another uptick in unchecked settler violence across the West Bank.
A version of Representative Jerrold Nadler’s bill in the Senate has over 40 Democratic cosponsors as well.
Neither has any chance of passing, given current Republican control of Congress and the White House.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert urges the International Criminal Court to intervene against settler violence in the West Bank due to what he says has been the failure of Israeli authorities to crack down on the daily phenomenon.
“I have decided not only to not remain silent, but to draw the attention of the ICC in The Hague so that it may take enforcement measures and issue arrest warrants,'” Olmert says in a statement to the Guardian.
The former premier, who has long been critical of the policies of successive governments headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urges The Hague to prosecute violent settlers who are “assisted, supported and inspired by government circles” as they seek to clear Palestinians from areas in the West Bank with attacks reminiscent of those “once directed against Jews in Europe.”
“If law enforcement authorities in Israel do not fulfill their duty, perhaps international legal authorities will do what is necessary to save the Palestinians and us from the criminal acts being committed by Jewish terrorists right in front of all our eyes,” Olmert says.
While Olmert urges ICC intervention only in cases of Israeli civilian violence, he laments that “too many” attacks on Palestinians have been committed by Israeli soldiers.
Chief of the US Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, says the American military has struck over 10,000 targets in Iran since the start of the war, as part of which it destroyed two-thirds of the regime’s military production facilities.
“We hit the 10,000th Iranian target just hours ago. And if you combine what we’ve accomplished with the success of our Israeli ally, together we have struck thousands more, clearly demonstrating that we’re stronger together,” he says in a video statement.
Cooper says the strikes are having “tangible effects.”
“For decades, Iranian warships have roamed regional waters, threatening and harassing global shipping. But those days are over because we’ve now destroyed 92% of the Iranian Navy’s largest vessels. They’re not sailing, and my operational assessment is that they’ve now lost the ability to meaningfully project naval power and influence around the region and around the world,” he says.
Cooper notes that the rate of Iran’s missile and drone attacks has dropped by 90% since the start of the war. “And not only have we significantly degraded Iran’s naval, drone and missile capabilities, we’ve also removed the regime’s ability to rebuild them,” he says.
“We have damaged or destroyed over two-thirds of Iran’s missile, drone, naval production facilities and shipyards, and we’re not done yet,” Cooper continues.
“We are on a path to completely eliminate Iran’s wider military manufacturing apparatus,” he adds.
Far-right MK Yitzhak Kroizer defends the conduct of Israeli security forces who shot dead a Palestinian couple and their two young children earlier this month, claiming that their vehicle sped toward them in the northern West Bank.
“I stand behind IDF soldiers in every situation. Even if the collateral damage is children or women — it does not matter to me,” Kroizer says in remarks at a Knesset plenary session.
“And in Jenin, there are no innocent civilians. In Jenin, there are no innocent children,” Kroizer claims.
“Those who were born in 2006 during the expulsion from Gush Katif [Israel’s unilateral Disengagement from Gaza, which actually took place in 2005] were the Nukhba fighters of 2026 on October 7 [2023].”
Kuwait has arrested six people linked to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group who were planning “assassinations” in the Gulf state, the Kuwaiti interior ministry says.
Those arrested were planning “assassinations targeting symbols and leaders of the state and recruited people to carry out these missions,” the ministry says in a statement.
The United States and Israel have temporarily removed Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf from a hit list of top Iranian officials amid efforts to jumpstart peace talks between Washington and Tehran, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citing US officials, the report says the pair have been removed from the list for 4-5 days as the Trump administration signals openness to diplomatic talks, which the officials say have a low chance of succeeding due to the sizable gaps in the US and Iranian negotiating positions.
Iran has told intermediaries that Lebanon must be included in any ceasefire agreement with the United States and Israel, six regional sources familiar with Iran’s position say, linking an end of the war to a halt to the fighting between Israel and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.
Iran’s Press TV cites an Iranian official saying Tehran wants any deal with the United States to secure an end to the war, both on Iran and other “resistance groups” in the region.
The six regional sources, who speak on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, say Tehran informed mediators as early as mid-March that it sought a deal that would also stop Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah.
Hezbollah was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1982 and is widely seen as the spearhead of Iran’s regional alliance of armed actors. It opened fire on Israel on March 2, which sparked the current fighting in Lebanon, by attacking in response to the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, leading to the Israeli air and ground campaign in Lebanon.
A senior Trump administration official says ending Iran’s “proxy activities” and disarming Hezbollah are “crucial to ensuring peace and stability in Lebanon and across the region.”
The IDF says troops killed a Palestinian terror operative who crossed the Gaza ceasefire line in the Strip’s south earlier today.
According to the IDF, the operative crossed the Yellow Line and approached troops of the 188th Armored Brigade “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
The soldiers then “eliminated the terrorist to remove the threat,” the military says.
Republican lawmakers say Pentagon officials failed to give a congressional panel sufficient information regarding a potential US ground operation against Iran during a classified briefing earlier today.
“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered, and we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers tells reporters after the hearing.
Rogers says troops movements in the Middle East should be “thoughtful and deliberate,” indicating that what he heard from Pentagon officials didn’t reflect that.
“That’s what I conveyed to them at the end of this hearing, is this has consequences if you don’t remedy it,” he adds.
Given Rogers’ hawkish reputation, his criticism indicates that US President Donald Trump could lose support from key members of his party if he proceeds with a ground operation against Iran.
The hearing comes as the Pentagon prepares to deploy thousands of troops from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East.
Asked about Rodgers’ concerns, Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker tells reporters, “Let me put it this way: I can see why he might have said that.”
Also upset by the hearing was fellow Republican Nancy Mace, who has been more critical of the war from the get-go.
“Just walked out of a House Armed Services briefing on Iran. Let me repeat: I will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing,” tweets Mace.
“The justifications presented to the American public for the war in Iran were not the same military objectives we were briefed on today in the House Armed Services Committee. This gap is deeply troubling. The longer this war continues, the faster it will lose the support of Congress and the American people,” she adds in a separate post.
US airline Delta says it is extending the suspension of its New York and Atlanta routes to Tel Aviv through September 5, due to the “ongoing conflict in the region.”
“Delta is extending its pause of service to Tel Aviv (TLV) as we continue to closely monitor conditions in the region and prioritize the safety of our customers and employees,” the US carrier says.
Delta previously put the Tel Aviv route on hold through May 31, following the closure of Israel’s airspace on February 28 amid the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran. Flights between Tel Aviv and Atlanta had been delayed through August 4.
Affected flights on the non-stop service to Tel Aviv from New York’s JFK airport and Atlanta will be “processed in Delta’s system on March 28, when customers will receive cancellation notifications,” the carrier announces.
The launch of Delta’s Boston to Tel Aviv service, planned for late October, has been frozen until further notice.
Palestinian media outlets report that a 31-year-old Palestinian was killed and eight others were wounded by IDF gunfire while they were driving in the South Hebron Hills area of the southern West Bank.
According to the report, IDF troops, together with settlers, pursued the Palestinian vehicles and then opened fire at them.
No further details about the incident were provided.
The IDF has not yet issued a response.
عاجل | إصابة عدد من العمّال بعضهم بجراح خطيرة، بعد إطلاق الاحتلال النار على مركبة وانقلابها في مسافر مدينة يطا، جنوب الخليل. pic.twitter.com/UJau7jKEcn
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) March 25, 2026
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Iran doesn’t plan to negotiate with the United States and that Tehran intends to keep fighting, after US President Donald Trump said Washington had proposed a peace plan.
“At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance,” Araghchi says on state TV, adding: “We do not intend to negotiate — so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled.”
“Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat,” he says.
Araghchi also says the Strait of Hormuz is “closed only to enemies.”
“The Strait of Hormuz, from our perspective, is not completely closed — it is closed only to enemies,” Araghchi says. “There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass.”
He says Tehran’s armed forces already “provided safe passage” for ships from friendly nations.
An IDF reservist was seriously wounded by Hezbollah rocket fire in southern Lebanon earlier today, the military says.
The rocket strike also injured a reserve battalion commander and another reservist, both of whom are listed in good condition.
All three troops were taken to a hospital and their families were updated, the army says.
Rocket sirens sound in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and other communities along the Lebanon border as Hezbollah continues to launch attacks on the north.
US President Donald Trump rejected a proposal last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to jointly call on the Iranian public to take to the streets and topple the regime during the war against Iran, senior American officials and an Israeli source familiar with the details tell Channel 12 news.
The discussion reportedly took place last Tuesday, following Israel’s assassinations of top Iranian officials Ali Larijani, former secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij Force.
Netanyahu told Trump over the phone that the Iranian regime “was in a state of chaos,” according to the report, arguing that this was the time to further destabilize it by issuing the joint call.
Trump, however, expressed concern that such a call could lead to mass bloodshed as the IRGC would likely suppress the protesters, two American officials tell Channel 12.
The two leaders instead agreed to reassess developments the following day, when Iranians celebrated the Persian Fire Festival, a holiday often marked by large public gatherings. They decided that if significant protests emerged, they would proceed with the joint call, but in the end, no mass demonstrations materialized.
Israeli and American officials therefore concluded that the Iranian public remained too fearful to take to the streets after the regime’s deadly crackdown on protests earlier this year.
Over 60 percent of Americans disapprove of US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war, with a similar number believing that Washington made the wrong decision by using military force against Tehran, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
Sixty-one percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict, while 37% approve. Fifty-nine percent say the US made the wrong decision in using military force against Iran, while 38% say the US made the right decision, the poll shows.
Forty-five percent of respondents say the war is not going well, compared to 25% who say it is going extremely well or very well and 28% who say it’s going somewhat well.
Eighty-eight percent of Democrats say Trump made the wrong decision by striking Iran, while 71% of Republicans say Trump made the right decision.
Forty percent of poll respondents believe the war will make the US less safe, while 22% think it will make the US safer, 20% anticipate no change and 18% are unsure.
Pew polled 3,524 adults in the US between March 16 and March 22 and says the survey has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.
The United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States calls for a “conclusive outcome” to the war with Iran, arguing that a “simple ceasefire isn’t enough.”
The assertions by Yousef al-Otaiba in a Wall Street Journal op-ed confirm The Times of Israel’s reporting from last week about how most Gulf states are urging the US to continue striking Iran after cautioning against launching the war in the first place.
“A simple ceasefire isn’t enough. We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes,” Otaiba writes.
“This isn’t a war we wanted. Until hours before the first strike, Emirati officials undertook intensive diplomatic efforts from Tehran to Washington,” he says. “We knew we would be Iran’s first choice of targets.”
Explaining the Emirati rationale for continuing the war, Otaiba says, “More needs to be done to remove the missile and drone threats. And we are ready to join an international initiative to reopen the strait and keep it open.”
“We want Iran as a normal neighbor. It can be reclusive and even unwelcoming, but it can’t attack its neighbors, blockade international waters, or export extremism. Building a fence around the problem and wishing it goes away isn’t the answer. It would simply defer the next crisis,” the UAE ambassador adds.
Several Gulf countries, as well as Jordan, demand in a joint statement that Iraq act immediately to stop attacks from its territory by armed pro-Iran groups.
The statement is signed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
Some groups in Iraq belonging to the pro-Tehran movement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claim daily to have carried out “dozens” of drone and rocket attacks against “the enemy” in Iraq and the Middle East, without naming their targets.
Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels repeated their support for the Islamic Republic despite not taking part in the war against the United States and Israel, stressing that any decision to join the fight would be made independently and not dictated by Tehran, according to Houthi officials.
Three Houthi officials tell the Associated Press that the group is historically and religiously connected with Iran, calling it an ally of Yemen, but taking part in the war will be solely a Yemeni decision. The officials speak on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
Houthi attacks on vessels during the Israel-Hamas war upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion worth of goods passed each year before the war. The rebels also fired drones at Israel.
Jerusalem is concerned that US President Donald Trump will announce a ceasefire with Iran as early as this coming Saturday, even before finalizing understandings with Tehran on Washington’s 15-point proposal for ending the war, Channel 12 news reports, citing senior Israeli officials.
In response, Israel’s political and security leadership has drawn up a plan over the past day prioritizing targets in Iran to secure “maximal achievements” before a possible US push to halt the fighting, according to the report.
“The likelihood of a detailed and comprehensive agreement between Iran and the US remains low, but the possibility of a more general framework agreement is plausible, necessitating Israeli preparation,” Israeli officials tell the network.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently discussing the matter in a meeting with senior defense officials, including Mossad chief David Barnea, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz, as well as some ministers and coalition members, the report adds.
The full security cabinet is also expected to convene later this evening.
This weekend will mark the fourth week of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, for which the US set a four-to-six week timeline. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this evening that Washington is “ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally,” and is “very close to meeting the core objectives of [the] operation.”
In a later report, senior American officials tell Channel 12 that there is no plan to announce a ceasefire at this stage, and that Washington has yet to receive a formal response from Iran on its 15-point proposal.
The US has not received any official Iranian response to the proposal, either directly or through mediators, the officials say, adding that the Iranians are currently public messaging in state media.
Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warns of the possible invasion of an Iranian island with the support of an unnamed regional country.
“Based on some intelligence reports, Iran’s enemies are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands with support from one of the regional states,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf writes in an X post.
“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with relentless, unceasing attacks.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ziv Agmon announces he is stepping down after racist comments he made against Mizrahi Jews and attacks on Netanyahu himself were aired last night.
In a statement released by Netanyahu’s office, Agmon acknowledges that the quotes are real, but claims they are taken out of context.
“Over the past week, a person with whom I had a long-standing friendly relationship decided to pass on partial quotes from our private conversations,” he says. “The vast majority of these conversations took place even before I entered my role in the Prime Minister’s Office. The quotes that were shared were taken out of context, and their sole purpose was to carry out a character assassination against me and harm the prime minister whom I serve.”
He says the reports about him do not represent him or his values, and that allegations of racism against Jews of Moroccan origin are “ridiculous in light of the fact that my immediate family has Moroccan roots.”
“The attempt to take fragments of sentences from personal and private conversations—most of them from years ago—make them public, and present them as current and official positions of the speaker must be condemned,” he says, while apologizing to anyone who was hurt by the statements.
He says that he joined Netanyahu’s office to serve behind the scenes, but since he is now in the limelight and “a divisive public discourse had formed around me,” he has informed Netanyahu that he is stepping down.
“I wish to express my deep appreciation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” he writes. “The great privilege of my life has been to assist him in these historic days, alongside Mrs. Sara Netanyahu, whose steadfast support strengthens the prime minister and the entire office.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denies that talks with Iran have hit a dead end after Iranian state media reported that Tehran rejected Washington’s 15-point proposal for ending the war.
“Talks continue… They are productive… and they continue,” Leavitt says during a press briefing.
She goes on to caution against media reports purporting to reveal the 15-point US proposal. “There are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories I read were not entirely factual.”
The Red Crescent says five Palestinians have been hospitalized for injuries they suffered while being beaten during a settler attack near the village of Mikhmas, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Earlier this evening, settlers were documented arriving from the direction of a nearby outpost to confront residents of the village.
🚨Right now:
Settlers armed with clubs are descending on the village of Mukhmas from the illegal outpost Kol Mevaser inside a closed military zone.
The situation is ONGOING, follow for live updates. pic.twitter.com/DuVdM5y725
— Herd of Justice (@JustHerds) March 25, 2026
The US remains ahead of schedule in its war against Iran after initially giving a timeline of four to six weeks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
“From the outset, President Trump and the Department of War estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve this critical mission. Twenty-five days in, the greatest military the world has ever known is ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally,” Leavitt says during a press briefing.
“We are very close to meeting the core objectives of Operation Epic Fury and this military mission continues unabated.”
She recalls Trump’s decision to push back his threat to bomb Iranian power plants after “it was made clear to the United States that Iran wanted to talk. President Trump is willing to listen.”
“The remaining elements of the Iranian regime have another opportunity to cooperate with President Trump, permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and cease actively threatening America and our allies,” Leavitt says.
“If Iran fails to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” she adds.
A Hezbollah rocket launcher used to fire a barrage of 10 projectiles at the Haifa Bay area this afternoon was destroyed in an airstrike, the military says.
The IDF says it bombed the launcher shortly after the rocket attack.
According to the IDF, some of the rockets fired at the Haifa Bay area were intercepted by air defenses, while others were allowed to hit open areas. No injuries were reported.
בסגירת מעגל מהירה: מוקדם יותר הערב (ד'), שוגרו רקטות לעבר מרחב חיפה והקריות, ללא נפגעים.
זמן קצר לאחר מכן, חיל-האוויר תקף והשמיד את המשגר בשטח לבנון ממנו בוצעו השיגורים.
צה"ל לא יאפשר פגיעה באזרחי מדינת ישראל וימשיך לפעול בעוצמה נגד ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה. pic.twitter.com/tg3gb6Yydr
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 25, 2026
Iran could seize Bahraini and Emirati territory if the US “makes any mistakes,” says an analyst on Iranian state TV.
“Iran’s forces are fully prepared,” says Morteza Simiyari on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. “If the Americans make any mistake in the region, we will seize the coastlines of Bahrain and the UAE.”
The military has trained for the operation, he says, and seizing the coastlines “is on the agenda of our armed forces.”
If Iran tried such an operation, it would be doing so with almost no air cover or warships.
An Iranian military source told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim that a new front could be opened in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the US tries to open the Strait of Hormuz by force, the opposition Iran International reports.
The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen attacked international shipping around the Red Sea after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, and suspended their attacks when the Gaza ceasefire went into effect in October 2025.
The “present” that US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iran gave Washington was allowing the safe passage of a number of fuel tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, a senior Arab diplomat and a US official tell The Times of Israel.
In trying to explain his decision to pursue talks with Iran, Trump told reporters that Tehran “did something yesterday that was amazing — they gave us a present…worth a tremendous amount of money… [it] arrived today.”
“They gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. That meant one thing to me. [That we’re] dealing with the right people,” Trump said, declining to identify the gift beyond that it was oil and gas related and tied to the Strait of Hormuz.
The US official tells The Times of Israel that when the Trump administration began passing along messages to Iran through mediators over the weekend in order to test whether a diplomatic off-ramp to the war was possible, it asked Tehran to make a gesture of goodwill.
In response, Iran agreed to allow a number of fuel tankers that weren’t tied to the US or Israel through the Strait of Hormuz in order to help calm global markets, the Arab official says.
The Arab official acknowledges that the safe passage of a small number of tankers is not likely to have a significant or longterm impact on global oil prices, a concession that Iran is not yet prepared to offer while US and Israeli strikes continue.
The limited impact of the “present” explains why Trump avoided specifying exactly what it was, the Arab official says.
Asked for comment, the White House refers The Times of Israel to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments on the matter during a Wednesday press briefing.
Leavitt said then that the US is tracking “very closely” how to get oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, without commenting further on the nature of the “present” described by Trump.
Israel is working to urgently hit as many high-priority targets in Iran as it can due to concerns that US President Donald Trump could end the war suddenly, the New York Times reports, citing two senior Israeli officials and two people briefed on the matter.
According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed the military to take out as much of Iran’s arms industry as possible in the coming 48 hours.
Netanyahu and Israel’s security chiefs do not believe that Trump’s 15-point plan would ensure that the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat is removed.
The campaign against Iran is “continuing at full force, despite what is reported in the media,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says during a video meeting with local government heads from the northern border area.
He asserts the threat of an invasion of northern Israel by Hezbollah terrorists “no longer exists,” adding that Israel is creating an expanded buffer zone in Lebanon to push back threats from Hezbollah anti-tank missiles.
Now, he says, the focus is on “dismantling Hezbollah.”
“We are determined to do everything to fundamentally change the situation in Lebanon,” he promises.
Netanyahu also stresses that Israel’s commitment to protecting the Druze in Syria “remains in force.”
Israel’s wartime restrictions on the country’s airspace are expected to remain in place through April 16, subject to security developments.
That’s because Israeli aviation authorities have extended a so-called technical notice to airmen (NOTAM) through April 16. A NOTAM provides pilots, flight crews, and other users of airspace with critical safety notices, including airspace and airport restrictions or operational conditions impacting flight activity.
Israel’s airspace has been shut to most regular commercial traffic since February 28, when joint attacks with the US on Iran began. Since the country’s airspace was partially reopened in early March for repatriation flights, only Israeli airlines have been permitted to operate a restricted wartime flight schedule.
“We would like to clarify that there is no change to the status of Israel’s airspace,” the Israel Airports Authority says in a statement. “The NOTAM published today is a technical extension of the status existing since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, and can be updated, shortened, or extended at any time, including on a daily basis and in accordance with developments.”
The NOTAM issued as Israel’s airspace was closed means that foreign airlines can’t operate flights to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. EU and US aviation safety agencies have also issued warnings against flying in the region.
Ten members of a Hamas cell in the West Bank that planned to carry out terror attacks, including a kidnapping, were recently arrested, Israeli security authorities announce.
In a joint statement, the Shin Bet security agency, police, and IDF say that the 10 Hamas members, from the town of Beita near Nablus, had carried out several explosive attacks against troops and had been planning “additional major attacks, including a kidnapping attack against a Jewish resident of the area.”
The statement says Israeli forces captured numerous weapons from the suspects, including an assault rifle and explosives.
During their interrogation, it emerged that the cell was behind several explosive attacks against troops in the West Bank between March and April 2025, which wounded three soldiers, including two seriously, along with several shooting attacks, authorities say.
The Shin Bet, police, and military say that the Hamas members “were preparing to carry out additional significant mass-casualty attacks, including plans to execute a kidnapping attack.”
For this purpose, one of the cell members dug a six-meter-deep tunnel in his home, which was “intended to hold hostages,” authorities say.
“As part of the planning for the kidnapping attack, the cell members conducted surveillance on a local resident they intended to abduct. However, due to the understanding that they would have difficulty carrying out the attack, it was ultimately not executed,” the statement adds.
Indictments were filed against all 10 members of the cell at the Samaria Military Court. Some were charged with “attempting to intentionally cause death” — the equivalent of attempted murder under military law — and attempted kidnapping.
Iran could open a new front in the Bab el-Mandab Strait if attacks are carried out on Iranian territory or its islands, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim cites an unnamed Iranian military source as saying.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has previously launched attacks in the region where the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait is located.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls on the United Nations Security Council to formally designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in a letter to the body shared by his office.
“Hezbollah has carried out more than 3,500 attacks against Israel since March 2. The attacks include the launching of rockets, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles toward Israel,” Sa’ar writes in the letter, amid intensified fighting with the Iran-backed terror group during the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran.
The foreign minister calls on the Security Council to condemn Hezbollah, designate it as a terrorist organization, pressure Lebanon to disarm it in line with UN resolutions, and hold Iran accountable for supporting the group.
Amid international concerns surrounding Israeli plans to expand ground and air attacks in Lebanon, Sa’ar stresses that “Israel will not accept violations of its sovereignty and attacks against it and its citizens and will take all necessary measures to protect them, in accordance with international law.”
He adds that in the IDF’s targeted operations against Hezbollah since the campaign began, “hundreds of terrorists have been neutralized, including through precision strikes against senior Hezbollah commanders, key leaders of the Radwan elite force, and Iranian operatives involved in planning imminent attacks against Israeli civilians.”
Sa’ar reiterates criticism of inaction from Beirut. “The failure of the government of Lebanon to act against Hezbollah’s military infrastructure demonstrates a lack of will and, sufficient effort and inability to effectively address Hezbollah,” he writes.
The letter was also sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to Sa’ar’s office.
In a strong statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres blasts the various factions of the ongoing Middle East conflict, saying the fighting “has broken past limits even leaders thought imaginable.”
He specifically calls on the US and Israel, whose joint strikes last month started the war against Iran, to end the fighting as “human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount, and the global economic impact is increasingly devastating.”
Guterres adds, “My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbors.”
He also announces the appointment of veteran UN envoy Jean Arnault to lead the world body’s efforts on the conflict and the recent peace efforts that are underway.
A commander in a Hezbollah-allied militia was captured by Israeli troops during an overnight raid on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov, the IDF says.
The military says troops of the Egoz commando unit captured a cell commander from the Lebanese Resistance Companies during the raid on Tuesday night.
He was taken to Israel to be questioned by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, which specializes in human intelligence.
The IDF says the Lebanese Resistance Companies is funded by Hezbollah and its members have taken direct part in attacks on Israeli troops.
בתיעוד ממצלמות גוף של יחידת אגוז בהר דב שבדרום לבנון: נעצר אחראי חולייה בארגון הטרור ׳הפלוגות הלבנוניות׳ במבצע לילי
לכל הפרטים:https://t.co/V0tJliorjE pic.twitter.com/HSKfhGeFfL
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 25, 2026
A barrage of some 10 rockets was fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the Haifa Bay area a short while ago.
According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses while others were allowed to hit open areas.
No injuries are reported.
Israel’s flag carrier El Al says it extends the cancellation of the vast majority of regular flights planned through April 4, as more severe wartime airspace restrictions continue to limit operations at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
“Following the decision of the Ministry of Transportation to significantly reduce air traffic, which includes a major decrease in flight frequency and limits on the number of passengers permitted on each outbound flight from Israel, customers who planned to depart Israel through April 4 had their flights canceled, including the corresponding return flights,” El Al says.
Instead, El Al will operate a restricted wartime flight schedule to a limited number of key cities: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Rome, and Athens. Flights arriving in Israel from these gateways are operating without passenger restrictions.
“Most passengers originally scheduled to fly through March 23 have already been rebooked on these flights,” El Al says. “Due to the limited number of available seats, rebooking for passengers waiting to be assigned is handled according to ticketing time order, giving priority to exceptional humanitarian and medical cases.”
Ticket sales for departing flights from Israel are closed through April 15, while inbound flights to Israel can be purchased based on available seats.
Sirens sound in the Haifa Bay area amid a Hezbollah rocket attack from Lebanon.
Earlier today, Hezbollah fired a barrage of 10 rockets at the Haifa area, with no damage or injuries caused.
The Israeli military says it has killed at least 700 Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon since hostilities escalated amid the war with Iran.
They include hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, the IDF says.
Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed over 1,000 since the war began.
Veterans of Israel’s security services “don’t recall efforts on this scale” by the Iranians to carry out terrorist attacks abroad, says a senior National Security Council official.
“We’re seeing record Iranian motivation to achieve immediate results — anywhere, by any means, without restraints or barriers,” he says of attempts to strike Jewish and Israeli sites.
Ahead of the Passover holiday next week, the NSC today renewed its call for Israelis traveling abroad to exercise caution due to the increased threat of Iran-backed terror attacks.
“We expect attempts to carry out attacks wherever possible at concentrations of Jews worldwide and against Israelis,” says the official. “Therefore, our message is very clear — we call on Israelis to avoid going to unsecured places, and also to open venues — any place that cannot be tightly secured or hermetically controlled. Simply avoid attending public Seder events there.”
The official says that Israel’s security bodies are investigating, along with foreign partners, who stands behind recent attacks on synagogues and Jewish targets. “It wouldn’t be surprising if we find, after the investigative process, that Iranian efforts are really behind this.”
Iran rejects the current US proposal to reach a ceasefire, a “senior political-security official” tells state-owned PressTV.
US President Donald Trump sent through Pakistan a 15-point proposal to reach a ceasefire in the war.
According to the official, the war will only stop “on Tehran’s own terms and timeline.”
The official lays out five Iranian conditions — recognition of Tehran’s “natural, legal right” over the Strait of Hormuz; the end of the war against Iran and all of its proxies; “guaranteed” war reparations; concrete guarantees to prevent the resumption of hostilities; and “an end to aggression by the enemy.”
Iran has also reportedly demanded the closure of all US bases in the region and the removal of all sanctions against it, and rejected limitations on its missile program.
However, a senior Iranian official is less strident, telling Reuters that Iran’s initial response to the US proposal to end the war has not been “positive” and adding that Tehran is still reviewing it.
The official says that Tehran’s initial response has been delivered to Pakistan to be conveyed to Washington.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The latest Iranian ballistic missile fired at southern Israel was likely intercepted, according to initial military assessments.
No injuries are reported.
Sirens had sounded in the southernmost city of Eilat and nearby towns in the Arava region, in the seventh attack since midnight.
Iraq says its armed forces “will not remain silent” after an airstrike yesterday killed seven soldiers at a site said to belong to a coalition of pro-Iran militias that is part of the Iraqi military.
Despite Iraq’s attempts to stay out of the war in Iran, says the Iraqi prime minister’s office on X, “the condemned attacks that targeted our military units have persisted, the latest of which occurred this morning in a treacherous aggression against the Al-Habbaniyah military clinic affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.”
According to Al Jazeera, the attack targeted positions of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces but includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups. The PMF blames the US for the strike, which killed one of its commanders and 14 other PMF fighters.
“We affirm that the government and the armed forces possess the right to respond by all available means in accordance with what the United Nations Charter stipulates,” says Iraq, “and that they will not remain silent in the face of the sanctity of the blood of our heroic martyrs,” adding that the strike “harms the relationship that binds the peoples of Iraq and the United States of America.”
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani says his foreign ministry will give the US chargé d’affaires “an official protest note with a strongly worded tone that includes our firm and steadfast position in preserving Iraqi sovereignty, and condemns the irresponsible actions that have amounted to this heinous crime.”
Iraq will also submit a complaint to the UN National Security Council.
MOSCOW — Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has evacuated a further 163 of its staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, the state-run RIA news agency reports.
It cites Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev as saying about 300 of the company’s staff remained at Bushehr, but more will be leaving.
Russia built the existing nuclear plant at Bushehr and Rosatom is constructing additional units there, although it has suspended building work since the United States and Israel launched a war with Iran last month.
IDF troops killed several Hezbollah operatives who had fired an anti-tank missile at them in southern Lebanon overnight, the military says.
According to the IDF, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade exchanged fire with the armed operatives who fired the missile, and killed them.
One officer was lightly hurt in the exchange, the military adds.
The IDF has detected a new ballistic missile attack from Iran, targeting Eilat in southern Israel, which triggers sirens in the area.
British Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters says the United Kingdom is discussing with global partners “a viable plan” to secure maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, following reports that London plans to lead a coalition for reopening the strait amid Iran’s efforts to block it.
The UK is “working closely with international partners to develop a viable plan to safeguard international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Walters tells Israeli reporters in Tel Aviv.
The UK’s Royal Navy plans to lead a “Hormuz Coalition” to reopen the key strait, The Times reported yesterday, citing British officials. London has also offered to host a summit for over 30 nations that signed a joint statement offering “appropriate efforts” to ensure shipping, Politico reported.
The ambassador does not address the reports or add further details about the UK’s plans.
London “will keep working towards a swift resolution that brings security and stability back to the region, stops the Iranian threat to its neighbors, and their efforts to hijack the global economy,” Walters says.
He highlights the British military’s defensive operations “over the Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean” during the ongoing campaign against Iran.
“The UK now has more fighter jets in the region than at any period in the past 15 years,” he says, adding that Royal Air Force pilots “have conducted nearly 1,000 flying hours since the start of the war, shooting down Iranian drones in defense of our allies and partners.”
“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” the ambassador says.
Leftist groups in New York City are planning a rally at City Hall tomorrow to protest against legislation meant to protect houses of worship and educational institutions.
The City Council proposed the legislation earlier this year in response to vitriolic protests outside synagogues.
The council’s Committee to Combat Hate, which is pushing for the buffer zone legislation, is meeting tomorrow.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, the far-left Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, and Pal-Awda, the group that led the synagogue protests, are holding a rally on the steps of City Hall to protest the meeting.
“These zones violate the First Amendment, enable biased policing, and add fuel to the Trump regime’s dangerous attacks on dissent,” the groups say in a joint statement.
New York City’s branch of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America instructs its supporters to tell city council members to vote against the legislation, as well as a bill that would provide private schools with funding for security.
“These bills expand the capacity of the NYPD to police and surveil Black, brown, and immigrant New Yorkers, jeopardizing the safety of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights,” the NYC DSA says.
The party is the home base of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The buffer zone legislation initially called for a protected area of up to 100 feet (30.5 meters) around houses of worship, but was later attenuated, removing mention of a specific distance, instead asking police to propose a plan for buffer zones to “contain the risk of injury, intimidation, and interference, while preserving and protecting protest rights, at places of religious worship.”
Police representatives have said the legislation would not have a significant impact on how officers operate on the ground, but would increase transparency around their handling of protests.
The Anti-Defamation League releases a ranking system that evaluates how leading video games control antisemitism.
The Online Gaming Leaderboard, the first evaluation of its kind for video games, assesses 10 of the most popular online games on their policies meant to rein in antisemitism, hate speech, extremism and terrorism and code of conduct.
The ranking also examines in-game abilities such as whether gamers can block or mute other players, report other players, and if the platforms allow participants to use antisemitic usernames.
The best-ranked games are Fortnite, Call of Duty, Minecraft and GTA Online.
The games to receive the worst rankings are Clash Royale, Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds.
The ranking system is meant to serve as a resource for parents, policymakers, gamers and the video game industry.
“Without strong safeguards, these platforms can become breeding grounds for harassment and hateful activity that harms players directly, normalizes hateful ideologies and damages trust,” ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt says in a statement.
The ranking system is based on a study by the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society and the gaming analytics group NewZoo, and based on a survey carried from 2019 to 2023.
The Israeli Air Force bombed several Iranian weapon production sites in Tehran overnight, the military says.
According to the IDF, the targeted facilities were used by Iran to manufacture various aerial and naval weapons, including those intended for Hamas, Hezbollah, and other proxy groups.
Also during the wave of strikes, IAF aircraft struck Iranian air defense systems, the military adds.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says negotiating with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender” for Lebanon, and urges the government to reverse its ban on the party’s military activities.
“When negotiations with the Israeli enemy are proposed under fire, this is an imposition of surrender,” Qassem says, rejecting the Lebanese president’s initiative to start direct negotiations “with an enemy that occupies our land and carries out daily attacks.”
Qassem calls on the Lebanese people to embrace “national unity,” saying this could be achieved by the government reversing its decision to ban Hezbollah’s military activities.
The March 2 decision came hours after Hezbollah started launching rocket attacks at Israel for the first time since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal, triggering massive Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s military says that the Iranian missile that exploded over Lebanon yesterday was not targeting the country.
Two Lebanese sources told Reuters that the missile was intercepted by a “foreign naval vessel,” apparently referring to the United States.
A military examination based on the analysis of the fragments that fell in Lebanon “revealed that the missile was a guided ballistic missile of the Qader-110 type,” says the Lebanese Armed Forces on X, “Iranian-made, approximately 16 meters in length with a range of about 2,000 km, and containing several small-sized missiles.”
“It exploded at a high altitude, which suggests that its target was outside Lebanese territory,” says the LAF, adding that it can’t determine whether it was intercepted or malfunctioned.
The UN Human Rights Council condemns Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbors, and calls for full and swift “reparation” to all victims of its strikes.
The 47-member council backs a resolution brought by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan denouncing Tehran’s actions aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, and demanding Iran immediately “cease all unprovoked attacks.”
The Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee votes to advance a bill to establish a special military tribunal to try perpetrators of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to the Knesset plenum for its second and third readings.
The bill would create a special court within the military justice system to prosecute those who took part in the attack.
Submitted jointly by committee chair Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman of the coalition and Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky of the opposition, the bill has drawn rare bipartisan backing.
“Today is a celebration for Israeli democracy, because when the Knesset joins forces it has the ability to fulfill its responsibility,” says Rothman in a statement.
“On issues like this, there is no coalition and opposition,” says Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar.
Rothman, Malinovsky, Elharrar, Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovich and Democrats MK Gilad Kariv supported the motion, while MK Ofer Cassif of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party abstained.
The bill passed its first reading in the parliament in January and has been under committee deliberation since. Rothman says he intends to bring it to a final vote in the plenum “no later than the first week of [Knesset] summer session,” which is set to begin on May 10.
The committee says in a statement that the Finance Ministry must still complete a budgetary assessment of the bill, and that military officials estimate that full implementation could take close to a year.
A senior Iranian official confirms to Reuters that Pakistan has delivered a proposal from the United States to end hostilities.
The source says Turkey also helped in contacts and that both Turkey and Pakistan were “under consideration as the venue” for negotiations.
The comments, on condition of anonymity, are among rare signs that Tehran might consider diplomatic proposals, despite insisting in public that no talks were under way and it would make no deal with the administration of President Donald Trump.
The Iranian source does not disclose details of the proposal passed on by Pakistan, or whether it was the same as a previously reported 15-point US framework.
The Knesset National Security Committee unanimously votes to advance a temporary measure regulating the celebration of the annual Lag B’Omer pilgrimage at Mount Meron to the Knesset for its second and third readings.
The legislation introduces new safety provisions for the mass holiday gathering amid the ongoing war with Iran and Hezbollah in the north.
Lag B’Omer, which this year takes place May 4, is traditionally marked by large bonfires, with the Mount Meron pilgrimage often drawing tens of thousands of participants.
The bill advanced in the Knesset today does not specify how many people will be allowed to participate this year, but says that the IDF Home Front Command will be authorized to close the site, limit the number of participants, or cancel the event altogether should it be deemed unsafe.
Amid the ongoing war, gatherings nationwide are restricted to 100 people indoors or 50 people outdoors, so long as adequate shelter can be reached in time, according to Home Front Command guidelines.
There will also be places reserved for representatives of the families of 45 Israelis who were trampled to death in 2021 during the Mount Meron festivities.
A state commission of inquiry later determined that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the officials personally responsible for the disaster.
No injuries are reported following Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack — the sixth since midnight — and concurrent Hezbollah rocket attack.
The Iranian missile had triggered sirens in the southern city of Dimona and nearby towns, and the Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon set off alerts in Ma’alot-Tarshiha and nearby towns in the Galilee.
Two people are lightly injured after a rocket launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon struck the northern city of Karmiel a short while ago, medics say.
Magen David Adom says it treated two men in their 50s who were hurt by a blast and shrapnel.
Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets toward the city, and some of the projectiles were intercepted by air defenses.
The IDF has identified a new ballistic missile attack from Iran, targeting southern Israel.
Sirens are expected to sound in the coming minutes.
Wall Street points toward solid gains and oil prices fall 6% over the possibility of a de-escalation in Iran and negotiations with the United States.
S&P futures rise 1% before the opening bell, as do futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Nasdaq futures gain 1.1%.
Oil prices retreat on growing hopes for a de-escalation. Brent crude, the international standard, fell more $6.26 to $93.97 per barrel. Benchmark US crude gave back $5.63 early Wednesday to $86.72 a barrel.
Oil prices have soared as Iran’s threats have brought shipping traffic to a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil usually travels.
The drop in oil prices sends most of the energy sector lower, with ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Chevron all losing between 1% and 2%.
Airlines benefit from the retreat in energy prices. Delta Air Lines gains 1.8%, United rises 3.2% and American picks up 2.3%.
The Pentagon says it reached framework agreements with the companies BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell to boost production of defense systems and munitions as part of its shift to “wartime footing.”
Under the deals, Honeywell Aerospace will “surge production of critical components for America’s munitions stockpile,” as part of a $500 million multi-year investment, the Pentagon said.
BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin will also quadruple production of seekers for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor, which has been used to intercept ballistic missiles launched at Israel from Iran.
Meanwhile, a new framework agreement with Lockheed will accelerate production of its Precision Strike Missile, the Pentagon added.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The government has approved the call-up of up to 400,000 reservists, amid the ongoing conflicts with Iran and Hezbollah.
The military says that this does not constitute the actual number of reservists that the IDF will be calling up, but rather a “ceiling that allows flexibility… according to operational needs.”
“The framework is intended to address challenges across the various arenas, particularly within the framework of Operation Roaring Lion,” the IDF says, referring to the current war with Iran.
The previous cap was 280,000, approved in December.
Authorizing the IDF to draft reservists with emergency call-up orders has been brought for government approval every few months since the beginning of the war with Hamas in October 2023.
In non-emergency times, the IDF can only call up reservists a long time in advance rather than at short notice, and cannot call them up for an extended period.
Several members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force who were carrying out a military exercise in the central Gaza Strip were killed in an airstrike last night, the IDF says.
The IDF says the armed terror operatives “had recently carried out several military training sessions in the area and posed a threat to IDF troops and to the State of Israel.”
Amid the ongoing war in Iran, the IDF has said it has killed dozens of Hamas operatives in the Strip, mostly accusing them of violating the ceasefire.
Most Americans believe recent US military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
As the war launched by the US and Israel continues in its fourth week, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that while US President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be swiftly turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration.
While Trump is deploying more warships and troops to the Middle East, about 59% of Americans say US military action in Iran has been excessive.
Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.
There is significant support for at least one of the president’s objectives, which is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. About two-thirds of Americans say that should be an “extremely” or “very” important foreign policy goal for the US. However, they are just as likely to say it’s important to keep US oil and gas prices from rising — a juxtaposition that could be difficult for the White House to manage.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approves the government’s request to extend the nationwide state of emergency until April 14.
Defense Minister Israel Katz first declared a state of emergency on February 28 following the joint US-Israel strike on Iran.
The Israeli Air Force completed several waves of airstrikes in Tehran a short while ago, the IDF says.
The military says the strikes targeted Iranian regime infrastructure sites, adding that further details will be provided.
Iran’s sole facility for the development of submarines was bombed by the Israeli Air Force yesterday, the military announces.
The site was targeted as part of a wave of strikes against Iranian weapons manufacturing facilities in the Isfahan area.
According to the IDF, the center for underwater military R&D in Isfahan is the “only site in Iran responsible for the planning and development of submarines and auxiliary systems for the Iranian navy.”
“The regime produced various models of unmanned vessels at the site,” the military says.
The strike, which was carried out following intelligence provided by the Naval Intelligence Division, “significantly limits the regime’s ability to manufacture new and advanced submarines for the Iranian Navy, as well as upgrade its existing fleet,” the IDF adds.
The United Arab Emirates intercepted nine drones fired by Iran today, says the Emirati defense ministry.
This is the first day in the war that Iran has not fired any ballistic missiles at the Gulf state, though that could change.
Since the start of the US-Israel campaign against Iran on February 28, the UAE has been the most targeted country by Iran, facing 357 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,1815 drones. The daily attacks have been steadily dropping throughout the war.
Infographic from @criticalthreats showing sharp drop in Iranian attacks on UAE.
So far today, Iran hasn't launched any missiles at the UAE. pic.twitter.com/UhlWWDs3Yk
— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) March 25, 2026
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has instructed the foreign ministry to summon the US chargé d’affaires in Baghdad over attacks that targeted Iraqi “military units,” the prime minister’s office says.
Iraq’s defense ministry and security sources said a strike earlier today killed seven soldiers and wounded 13 at a site belonging to the Popular Mobilization Force, a coalition of pro-Iran militias that is part of the Iraqi military.
The PMF was formed of Shiite pro-Iran militias over a decade ago as Iraq waged war against the Islamic State terror group. Among PMF’s members is Kataeb Hezbollah, a powerful US-designated terror group.
The State Attorney’s Office indicts a 14-year-old boy on espionage charges after he allegedly carried out intelligence missions on Iran’s behalf, including filming the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The teenager made contact with an Iranian agent online last April and began carrying out tasks for him, earning over $1,170, prosecutors say.
While prosecutors don’t specify when the alleged offenses took place, they say the defendant told his Iranian contact that he couldn’t carry out the mission during the school year, and that it would have to wait until his vacation.
The minor is accused of putting up graffiti messages across Tel Aviv, including one that read, “We are committed to the covenant.”
The defendant also took videos near Ichilov Hospital and in neighborhoods in Ramat Gan, where an elderly couple was recently killed in an Iranian missile strike.
He also captured the location of the Kirya complex in a video depicting Tel Aviv’s skyline.
Prosecutors add that the Iranian agent even enlisted the 14-year-old to rent an apartment near the IDF headquarters. Though the teen allegedly spoke with several landlords about renting in the area, he never secured an apartment.
According to prosecutors, the teen was also asked to spy on Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar as he went about his day and to vandalize his home with the message, “We will take revenge in turn! Ruhollah’s children.”
The boy is indicted today in the Tel Aviv Juvenile Court on charges of maintaining contact with a foreign agent and passing intelligence to the enemy, among other offenses.
A barrage of some 10 rockets was fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the Krayot suburbs of Haifa a short while ago.
According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses while others were allowed to hit open areas, “according to protocol.”
No injuries are reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security meeting this evening with a small circle of advisers, then convene the security cabinet, his office tells The Times of Israel.
The cabinet meeting will deal with “all theaters,” says the PMO official.
The discussions come as US President Donald Trump pushes for talks with Iran about ending the war.
Sirens sound in the Krayot suburbs of Haifa amid a Hezbollah rocket attack from Lebanon.
The alerts are activated in several towns in the area.
Eleven Palestinian families are being evicted from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of East Jerusalem’s Silwan, following a Supreme Court ruling last year that the houses originally belonged to Jews.
The court found that the houses were owned by Jews before Jordan occupied East Jerusalem in 1948, the year of Israel’s War of Independence, and must therefore be returned to Ateret Cohanim, the right-wing organization that petitioned to receive the properties.
Palestinian families had petitioned against the eviction, but their appeals were rejected late last year in several rulings that ordered 157 residents of the neighborhood to leave their homes.
According to left-wing group B’Tselem, more than 30 families have been evicted from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in the last few years.
بحجة ملكية الأرض ليهود من أصول يمنية
.. قوات الاحتلال تُخلي 11 سكنة لعائلة الرجبي في حي بطن الهوى ببلدة سلوان لصالح الجمعيات الاستيطانية. pic.twitter.com/fLbnjvFbzQ— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) March 25, 2026
Gulf Arab states tell the United Nations Human Rights Council that they face an existential threat from Iran.
The Gulf nations also condemn Iranian attacks on their infrastructure and say Iran’s actions are designed to spread terror.
“We are seeing an existential threat to international and regional security. This aggressive approach is undermining international law and sovereignty,” Kuwait’s ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen tells the Geneva-based council.
Countries at the 47-member council will vote on a motion condemning Iran’s strikes, asking Iran for reparation and asking the UN rights chief to monitor the situation.
Iran defends its actions, saying more than 1,500 civilians had been killed in the US-Israeli strikes so far.
“We fight on behalf of all of you against an enemy that, if not restrained today, will be beyond containment tomorrow,” says Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, referring to Israel.
Iran has called for its own emergency session on a fatal strike on a primary school. The session is scheduled for Friday.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir have approved a new series of targets for strikes in Iran and Lebanon, during an assessment this morning.
Katz says he was also updated that the Israeli Air Force has dropped over 15,000 bombs in Iran since the start of the war, which is four times the number used during the 12-day war in June 2025.
Security forces carrying out arrests of terror suspects in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber overnight shot and killed a detainee who tried to snatch a law enforcement officer’s gun, police say.
Palestinian media identifies the slain detainee as Qassem Shukairat, 21.
Three other detainees were taken for interrogation, police say.
A construction worker is hospitalized in serious condition after falling off a three-meter (10-foot) ladder at a construction site in Haifa this morning, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.
The man, who is about 40 years old, suffered bruises to the chest and face, according to MDA.
Turkey “is playing a role passing messages” between Iran and the US to encourage de-escalation and direct negotiations, says Harun Armagan, vice chair of foreign affairs for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party.
He does not elaborate on the messages but says they were also being conveyed to Gulf nations, which have been caught up in the widening regional war sparked by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
During a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon overnight, the Israeli Air Force struck a Hezbollah command center in Beirut and gas stations owned by the terror group, the military says.
The Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs was targeted following fresh evacuation warnings for the area.
Elsewhere in Lebanon, the IDF says it hit several Al-Amana gas stations, a fuel distribution company that is owned by Hezbollah and has been under US sanctions since February 2020.
The IDF says the company “serves as a significant economic infrastructure for [Hezbollah’s] terror activity” and is used by the terror group to “refuel trucks transporting weapons and terrorists.”
מפקדה בדאחייה, תחנות דלק המממנות את פעילות חיזבאללה ותשתיות טרור: צה״ל תקף שורת מטרות טרור הלילה בלבנון
צה"ל תקף שורת מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ברחבי לבנון במהלך הלילה, בהן מפקדת טרור בדאחייה ותשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
הותקפו מספר תחנות דלק של חברת "אלאמאנה"… pic.twitter.com/hxQNWmOCPf
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 25, 2026
Iran received a 15-point proposal from the US to reach a ceasefire in the war, two Pakistani officials say.
The Pakistani officials describe the proposal broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The officials speak with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they aren’t authorized to release the details.
Pakistan is helping relay messages between the US and Iran and could host ceasefire talks in Islamabad as soon as this week, officials have said.
Iran has insisted it isn’t engaged in negotiations with the US. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported today that Iran has made a ceasefire proposal that included demands for reparations for the US-Israeli bombing campaign, the closure of US military bases in the Persian Gulf and a halt to Israel’s attacks on Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The latest Iranian ballistic missile fired at central Israel was likely intercepted, according to initial military assessments.
No injuries are reported.
Sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and the surrounding area, in the fifth attack since midnight.
The Israel Electric Corporation says no damage was caused to its infrastructure following Iran’s ballistic missile attack.
The clarification comes after an Iranian ballistic missile struck an open area near Hadera, where the IEC operates a major power station.
The IDF has detected another ballistic missile attack from Iran, targeting central Israel.
Sirens are expected to sound in the coming minutes.
Magen David Adom says no injuries are reported following Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack on Israel, the fourth since midnight.
A small number of missiles were launched from Iran in the attack, triggering sirens across central Israel and parts of the north.
Some of the missiles were likely intercepted by air defenses, according to initial military assessments, and one struck an open area near Hadera.
Rescue forces are also responding to reports of missile fragments that fell in several areas, following the interceptions.
Strikes around Iran and Israel’s nuclear sites risk unleashing an “unmitigated catastrophe,” the UN rights chief says as the UN Human Rights Council discusses Tehran’s attacks across the Gulf.
“Recent missile strikes near nuclear sites in both Israel and Iran underscore the immense danger of further escalation. States are flirting with unmitigated catastrophe,” Volker Turk says in a video statement.
A recent Iranian missile strike hit the city of Dimona, some 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) away from Israel’s nuclear research center.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tells lawmakers that his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu “seeks to inflict the same level of damage and destruction” on Lebanon as Israeli forces wrought in Gaza following the murderous Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.
Appearing before the lower house to explain his government’s stance against the US-Israeli war on Iran, Sanchez adds that Iran’s new supreme leader was more hardline than his predecessor and father Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war on February 28.
“Mojtaba Khamenei is an equally dictatorial and even more bloodthirsty tyrant than his father,” Sanchez says.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The IDF has detected a new ballistic missile attack from Iran, targeting central and northern Israel and Jerusalem.
Sirens are expected to sound in the coming minutes.
UK police say they have arrested two men on suspicion of carrying out an antisemitic arson attack that set fire to four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in north London this week.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police say the two men, aged 47 and 45, were arrested at separate addresses in northwest London and central London, without identifying the suspects.
“They were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a London police station where they currently remain in police custody,” the statement says. “Officers are carrying out searches at the two addresses.”
Police say they are still searching for further suspects, noting that three people were seen in CCTV footage setting fire to the ambulances that belonged to Hatzola, a Jewish not-for-profit volunteer organization that responds to medical emergencies.
“We fully recognise the local community will still be concerned and our investigation very much remains active and we will continue to work to identify and seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved,” says Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is leading the investigation.
A Hezbollah rocket-launching squad was targeted in an overnight airstrike after they fired projectiles at troops in southern Lebanon, the military says.
According to the IDF, an Israeli Air Force drone identified the Hezbollah operatives after they launched rockets at troops, and a short while later struck and killed them.
No soldiers were hurt by the rocket fire, the army adds.
מאמץ ציד המשגרים והמחבלים בדרום לבנון נמשך: צה"ל חיסל מחבלי חיזבאללה בסגירת מעגל מהירה לאחר ששיגרו רקטות לעבר כוחות צה"ל
כלי טיס של חיל האוויר זיהו וחיסלו במהלך הלילה חוליית מחבלי חיזבאללה לאחר ששיגרה רקטות לעבר כוחות צה"ל אשר פועלים בדרום לבנון להרחבת מרחב האבטחה, אין נפגעים.… pic.twitter.com/wHsnugSBLB
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 25, 2026
Iraq’s defense ministry and security sources say seven soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded in an airstrike on a site belonging to the Popular Mobilization Force, a coalition of pro-Iran militias that is part of the Iraqi military.
The ministry says the strike, which took place at around 9 a.m. local time, hit a military clinic and a nearby engineering unit at the site in Anbar province.
The ministry condemns the strike as a “blatant and serious violation” of international laws and norms prohibiting attacks on medical facilities and personnel, describing it as a dangerous escalation and calling for those responsible to be held accountable.
It reserves the right to respond in accordance with legal frameworks, the ministry said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Ahead of the Passover holiday next week, the National Security Council renews its call for Israelis traveling abroad to exercise caution due to the increased threat of Iran-backed terror attacks.
Israelis abroad are advised to stay away from “Passover events that are not secured or that take place in an open area.”
Israelis in “Iran envelope” countries — Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Gulf states — are advised not to take part in any events, including holiday meals, taking place in Jewish- or Israeli-linked sites.
The National Security Council recommends that Israelis leave and enter Israel via the Ben Gurion Airport, where flights have been severely restricted amid the war with Iran.
Israelis who opt to fly via airports in Jordan or Egypt are advised to do so at the Aqaba or Taba airports, respectively, without staying in those countries beyond what is necessary for the flights.
Nor should Israelis travel to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — normally a popular tourist destination — if they are not flying via Taba, the NSC says.
Israelis should refrain from posting real-time details of their travel plans online and entering neighborhoods considered hostile to Israel, according to the NSC.
The NSC posts updates on Facebook and Instagram and can be reached by phone at 02-666-7444 for questions about terror-related travel warnings.
Sirens warning of a drone attack from Lebanon sound in the Galilee Panhandle.
The alerts are activated in Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding communities.
Earlier, drone infiltration sirens sounded in the Western Galilee, with no reports of injuries.
A new strike in western Iraq targeted the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), a coalition of pro-Iranian militias that is part of the Iraqi military, a security official says.
“Two missiles were fired from a fighter jet” at a base in Anbar province, the official says.
The same base was the target of a similar attack that killed 15 Iraqi fighters on Tuesday.
The Tuesday attack was the deadliest strike in Iraq since the US and Israel launched war on Iran and its proxies on February 28. It prompted the Iraqi government to grant the the PMF a “right to respond” to any attack against it.
The PMF was formed of Shiite pro-Iran militias over a decade ago as Iraq waged war against the Islamic State terror group. Among PMF’s members is Kataeb Hezbollah, a powerful US-designated terror group.
The Israeli Air Force recently bombed two facilities in Tehran where Iran manufactured naval cruise missiles, the military says.
The IDF says the sites “operated under the direction of the Iranian defense ministry and were used by the regime to develop and manufacture long-range naval cruise missiles enabling the rapid destruction of targets at sea and on land.”
The strikes were carried out following intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Naval Intelligence Division, the IDF adds.
Iran is demanding reparations for attacks on it, the lifting of all sanctions, and the closure of all US military bases in the Persian Gulf as conditions to end the war with the US and Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
In addition, Iran wants guarantees that the war won’t start up again, as well as a halt to Israel’s strikes on Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, the Journal says.
Iran’s demands also reportedly include a new arrangement in the Gulf that will let the Islamic Republic collect tolls from ships that traverse the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil usually travels.
Meanwhile, Iran refuses to negotiate limits to its ballistic missile program, according to the Journal.
The Iranian conditions mentioned in the report do not address the country’s nuclear program.
The newspaper cites a US official as saying Iran’s demands were ridiculous and unrealistic, and Arab and US officials as saying Iran’s stance makes the possibility of a deal even more remote than before the war.
The sources cited by the Journal say the messages between Iran and the US were relayed indirectly via Middle Eastern intermediaries late last week.
Channel 12 reported last night that the US had submitted a 15-point plan for ending the war that included an end to Iran’s support for regional terror proxies, restrictions on its ballistic missile program, and dismantling of its nuclear program.
Gaza media outlets affiliated with Hamas report that four people, three of them children, were wounded near the coast in the southern Strip by gunfire from Israeli naval vessels.
The IDF has not yet issued a response.
The head of the International Energy Agency says he is “ready to move forward” with an additional release of oil reserves “if and when necessary.”
Fatih Birol’s comments in Tokyo come after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi asked the agency “to prepare to implement an additional release in case the situation drags on” with the war in the Middle East, which effected a spike in energy prices worldwide.
The IEA said earlier this month that member countries would unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves to ease the impact of the Middle East war, the biggest such release ever.
But Birol says there is “still a significant amount of oil in our stocks.”
“Eighty percent of our stocks are still with us. This 400 million barrels were only 20 percent of our stocks,” he says. “If and when necessary we are ready to move forward, but I very much hope that it will not be necessary.”
“The world is facing a serious energy security threat, but the International Energy Agency is ready to play its core role of being a guardian of global energy security,” adds Birol.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Australia’s home affairs ministry says it will temporarily restrict travel to the country for some Iranians who hold Australian visitors’ visas and are abroad.
The move seeks to protect the integrity of Australia’s immigration system, the ministry says.
The Health Ministry reports that in the past 24 hours, 204 injured people have been taken to hospitals as a result of the conflict with Iran, bringing the number of hospitalizations due to the fighting to over 5,000.
Among those treated in hospitals over the past day, one is in serious condition, nine are in moderate condition, and 184 are in good condition.
Nine people have been treated for anxiety, and one is undergoing medical evaluation.
The ministry says that since the beginning of the war with Iran on February 28, 5,045 people have been admitted to hospitals, 120 of whom are currently hospitalized.
The ministry does not give a breakdown of the causes of injuries, and some might be sustained by people trying to reach shelter rather than as a direct result of missile fire from Iran or rocket fire from Lebanon.
Experts and security officials cited by The Guardian point to Iran as the likely culprit behind the arson attack against four Jewish community ambulances outside a synagogue in north London on Monday.
A video of the attack was published on Iran-linked social media channels by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or “The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right,” which Israel’s Diaspora Ministry said last week was responsible for a series of attack on Jewish institutions in Europe.
حركة تطلق على نفسها اصحاب اليمين تتبنى عملية استهداف منظمة صهيونية في لندن pic.twitter.com/uleRENFR5R
— ميرزا ام جهاد (@merza500) March 23, 2026
However, security officials close to the ambulance arson investigation say the “working assumption” at the moment is that “the group doesn’t exist and it is a front and a brand invented by Iranian intelligence or the Quds Force,” the Guardian says.
The Quds Force is the expeditionary unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for coordination with Iran’s terrorist proxies overseas.
Analysts say Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia name and visual branding draw inspiration from other Shiite groups supported by Iran, the Guardian notes.
The United States is negotiating with itself, an Iranian military spokesman says, according to state media.
The taunt comes a day after US President Donald Trump said Tehran wants to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East, with a person familiar with the matter telling Reuters that a 15-point plan aimed at putting an end to the conflict was drafted by Washington and sent to Tehran.
“Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?” says Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperon for the unified command of Iran’s armed forces, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. “People like us can never get along with people like you.”
Zolfaqari also says US investments and pre-war energy prices will not return as long as Washington does not accept that regional stability is guaranteed by Iranian armed forces.
The latest Iranian ballistic missile fired at southern Israel was likely intercepted, according to initial military assessments.
No injuries are reported.
Sirens had sounded across southern Israel, including in parts of Beersheba where no early warning was issued.
Several Hezbollah operatives, including one wielding an RPG, were killed amid ongoing ground operations in southern Lebanon, the military says.
In one incident, a Hezbollah weapons depot was destroyed by troops of the 7th Armored Brigade. A short while later the military says several Hezbollah operatives fled the site and were targeted and killed in airstrikes.
Troops of the Golani Brigade, meanwhile, killed an operative armed with an RPG and an assault rifle, who approached their area of operations, the army says.
כוחות אוגדה 36 ממשיכים להעמיק את הפגיעה בתשתיות הטרור של חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון: חוסלו מחבלים והושמדו מפקדות בהן נמצאו אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה
לכל הפרטים >>https://t.co/Ym7IykMDl2 pic.twitter.com/aEbm0zj6XX
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 25, 2026
The IDF has detected a new ballistic missile attack from Iran, targeting southern Israel.
Sirens sound in the Beersheba area and surrounding towns in southern Israel.
Sirens blare in the northern city of Safed and a number of surrounding communities due to a suspected drone infiltration from Lebanon.
Rocket warning and suspected drone alert sirens are activated in a number of towns along the Lebanon border amid suspected attacks by Hezbollah.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it has received no reports of direct injuries following the latest Iranian ballistic missile attack on central Israel, with medics treating several people lightly hurt while heading to shelters or suffering from acute anxiety.
The IDF Home Front Command says those instructed to enter bomb shelters can now exit them, after the missile was apparently intercepted.
The IDF detects another Iranian ballistic missile launch, with sirens expected to sound shortly in central Israel as well as some parts of the West Bank and the north.
California Governor Gavin Newsom says he regrets his recent remarks in which he used the word “apartheid” to describe Israel, telling Politico that he doesn’t believe it’s currently an appropriate to describe the Jewish state but would be if it annexed the West Bank.
“And that is a legitimate concern I have… that direction, if that vision and that direction of the far right that Bibi is indulging, that if they see the full annexation of the West Bank, then that’s not something — that’s a word you may hear others use,” Newsom says, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.
Newsom is also asked if he considers himself a Zionist.
“Do I consider myself Zionist? I revere the state of Israel. I’m proud to support the State of Israel. I deeply, deeply oppose Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership, his opposition to the two-state solution and deeply oppose how he is indulging the far-right as it relates to what’s going on in the West Bank,” says the California governor, who is considered an early frontrunner to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 2028.
Drones targeted a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties, Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority says.
Emergency procedures were activated immediately, with firefighting teams responding to the blaze, it says, adding that initial reports indicate only material damage.
An early warning issued in the southernmost city of Eilat a short while ago by the Home Front Command was an error, and no additional missile fire from Iran was detected, according to the military.
The Home Front Command now gives the all-clear in the area.
The Israeli Air Force has launched a new wave of strikes in Tehran, the military says.
The IDF says the airstrikes are targeting Iranian regime infrastructure sites.
An early warning is issued by the IDF Home Front Command in the Eilat area of southern Israel amid another apparent Iranian missile attack.
The latest Iranian ballistic missile fired at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat was likely intercepted, according to initial military assessments.
No injuries are reported.
The US Trump administration informed Israel about its 15-point plan for ending the war with Iran before submitting it to the Iranians, an Israeli official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel, after Channel 12 reported on the plan this evening.
The official confirms the details of the plan presented in the report while expressing skepticism that Iran will agree to such a framework, despite reported US optimism about the plan’s chance of success.
The official also confirms that Washington informed Israel ahead of its negotiations with Iran on ending hostilities, which began on Sunday, without specifying how far ahead of time.
The IDF has detected another ballistic missile launch from Iran, again targeting the Eilat area in southern Israel.
Sirens are expected to sound in the coming minutes.
After reports emerge about him belittling Mizrahi Jews and top Likud party officials —including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman says that “a real injustice” was done to him.
“I do not intend to respond to all the slanderous remarks attributed to me this evening,” says Ziv Agmon in a statement, “but there is one thing I could not let pass in silence. Anyone who knows me and my work with the prime minister knows very well that the words allegedly attributed to me regarding Mizrahi communities are completely foreign to me—not least because a large part of my own family comes from Mizrahi and Moroccan backgrounds.”
“A real injustice has been done to me here,” he says.
Iran has said “non-hostile vessels” can transit the Strait of Hormuz if they meet safety and security regulations in coordination with the relevant authorities, according to a statement released to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
“Non-hostile vessels… may — provided that they neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran — and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations — benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the competent authorities,” the statement says.
The IMO says the communique, dated Sunday, was issued by Iran’s foreign ministry with the request that it be circulated by the IMO. The IMO had shared it with member states and NGOs, it adds.
No injuries or direct impacts are reported following Iran’s latest ballistic missile fire.
The missile triggered sirens across the Jerusalem area, shortly after another missile was fired at the southernmost city of Eilat.
It marked the 13th Iranian attack on Israel in the past day.
