Iran war news Highlights: Iran regime ‘fighting for survival’, says Netanyahu as US resumes strikes

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US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that the US will not hold talks with Iran under current conditions.

Iran must stop attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz before negotiations can take place.

Vance issued a blunt warning, saying: “They’ve got to stop. It’s that simple.”

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington is investigating an airstrike that Iran claims hit a wedding gathering in Iran.

Vance said the US wants to determine what happened and whether American forces were responsible for the strike.

Iranian officials say four people were killed and nearly 70 wounded when a strike hit a home during a wedding.

Iranian state TV reported that a 22-year-old woman later died in hospital, taking the reported death toll to five.

Vance said that if the US military makes mistakes, it investigates them and seeks to improve its operations.

The US military has denied targeting civilians, saying it “never targets civilians.”

The alleged wedding strike has become another flashpoint in the escalating US-Iran conflict, with Tehran accusing Washington of causing civilian casualties.

The Iranian Red Crescent said a missile attack on a wedding in the coastal town of Kuhestak killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50 on Tuesday night.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi vowed retaliation for the deaths.

“The pure blood of these oppressed martyrs... will not go unanswered,” Vahidi said.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was investigating the alleged wedding strike but expressed skepticism over Iranian accounts.

“I know that we're investigating,” Vance said at a White House briefing, while adding that Iranian state media had not been a reliable source of information during the conflict.

US Central Command spokesman Tim Hawkins said the US military “never targets civilians”, accusing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of doing so.

"This regime is currently teetering. It is weaker than ever. It is fighting for its survival," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an event with Israeli military leaders.

"I am convinced that we can remove this threat once and for all -- that is, to overthrow this regime. That is the central task that still lies ahead of us, but it is close. It is not impossible. It is within reach," he said.

Iran mourned victims of a US airstrike that Iranian officials said hit a wedding gathering.

Mourners gathered in the village of Kuhestak in Sirik County, along Iran’s Strait of Hormuz coastline, to bury victims of heavy US airstrikes carried out late Tuesday.

Iranian officials said four people were killed and nearly 70 wounded when a strike hit a home during a wedding. The US military said it was aware of the Iranian reports but maintained that it “never targets civilians.”

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Russia-Ukraine war cannot be resolved through oil trade decisions.

He stressed that the conflict can only be settled through dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations.

Jaishankar was responding to questions about whether India would cut Russian oil purchases if the US imposes sanctions on countries buying Russian energy.

He highlighted the challenge of ensuring energy security for 1.4 billion Indians amid difficult global energy conditions.

India and Ukraine have different perspectives on the issue, Jaishankar said, adding that both should be respected.

Jaishankar made the remarks after meeting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Kyiv.

Oil prices rose for a fourth straight day as fresh US strikes on Iran and renewed Israeli threats raised fears of Middle East supply disruptions.

Brent crude rose 0.62% to $96.22 a barrel, while WTI gained 0.86% to $91.79 by 1327 GMT.

Both benchmarks hit six-week highs earlier in Thursday’s session.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick apologised on Thursday after incorrectly stating that no Americans had been killed in the war with Iran.

Lutnick acknowledged that 18 US service members have been killed and said his earlier statement was a mistake. He attributed the error to thinking about a separate US military operation in Venezuela, where he said no American service members had died.

"I misspoke. Eighteen members of our military have died, and to those families my heart breaks and I am so very sorry for their loss. I was thinking about the Venezuelan military operation where no service members died," Lutnick said in a post on X.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel would target Iran’s energy and civilian infrastructure if Tehran launched an attack against Israel.

Katz said an “Iranian attack on ⁠Israel would free Israel from any existing limitations on attacking Iran”.

He warned that Israel would target Iran’s military and civilian infrastructure, including its energy facilities, saying, “We will cripple all ‌of Iran’s national military and civilian infrastructure – including energy infrastructure – and return Iran ‌deep ‌into the Stone Age and darkness”.

Israel, which joined the US in launching an air war against Iran in February, has not taken part in the latest fighting.

Three Iranian pilots were killed in US strikes carried out this week, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran attacked US military bases in Kuwait on Thursday, despite President Donald Trump threatening further strikes in a fresh flare-up six months into the war.

The new clashes, which began with US raids on Sunday, deepen the ongoing impasse in the war, as Iran maintains a stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the US presses its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump said his military was prepared to attack Iran "any time we want" after extensive US bombardment of sites across the country left at least 19 Iranians dead between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tehran has once again retaliated with strikes across the Middle East this week, saying it targeted US bases and forces in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq's Kurdistan region.

— AFP

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Donald Trump discussed developments in the Middle East and related diplomatic efforts during a phone call on Thursday, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported.

They also discussed US-UAE cooperation and ways to strengthen ties in support of their mutual interests.

The US military escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, marking a wartime high, CNN reported Wednesday, citing two US officials familiar with the operation.

US forces simultaneously struck nearly 60 Iranian military targets around the strait, including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites, according to the report.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has extended US military deployments in the Middle East into 2027, a sign the conflict with Iran could drag well into next year, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The move would keep roughly 50,000 US troops in the region as Washington maintains 19 warships, air defense units, fighter squadrons and paratroopers amid the continuing conflict with Iran, according to the report.

US Central Command said Wednesday it was looking into Iranian state media reports that a US strike hit a wedding in southern Iran, while rejecting allegations that American forces target civilians.

“We’re aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and we are looking into them. The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told Iran International.

Iran’s health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, has provided an update on the number of people injured in the latest US strikes on Iran.

He said that 142 people were injured in the attack, including 61 women and 44 people under the age of 18.

In total, 18 people were killed in the strikes, including two women and a child, Kermanpour said in a post on X.