Iran US war LIVE Updates: Iran claims attacks on Oracle, Amazon data centres in Gulf escalation

The UN Security Council is set to vote at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday on a Bahrain‑backed resolution that would allow the use of defensive measures — but not offensive force — to protect international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely blocked.

Strait of Hormuz waterway has been mostly blocked by Iran, disrupting global shipping.

The draft significantly waters down earlier proposals that would have allowed countries “to use all necessary means,” including military action.

Current authorization: Countries can use “all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances” in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters to ensure safe passage.

Duration: The authorization would last at least six months.

Russia and China had strongly opposed earlier drafts that included offensive action. (AP)

Iran says latest wave of attacks targeted UAE, Bahrain, and Israel

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy claims attacks on data centres of US firms

Named targets include Oracle in Dubai and Amazon in Bahrain

Strikes launched in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s major steel plants

Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya central command confirms operation via state TV

Military statement says targets included “American steel industries in Abu Dhabi” and “aluminium industries in Bahrain”

Also targeted: Rafael arms factories in Israel, according to Iranian claims (AFP)

Pakistan government calls fuel price hike “unavoidable” amid rising global oil costs linked to the Iran conflict

-Petrol prices increased by 137 rupees per litre, following a ~20% hike last month

-Diesel prices surged sharply by 54.9%, or 184.49 rupees per litre

Authorities cite energy market disruptions and geopolitical tensions as key drivers

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the Iran war is severely impacting Pakistan’s economy

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned attacks on civilian infrastructure, saying they “only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray.”

His remarks came after US President Donald Trump shared footage of a collapsing bridge in Iran and warned of further strikes.

Araghchi responded on X with an image appearing to show the same damaged bridge highlighted in Trump’s post.

He asserted: “Every bridge and building will be built back stronger.”

The Iranian minister warned of long-term reputational damage to the US, adding: “What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.”

“All necessary measures,” a term used by the United Nations, can include authorization of military action.

At a UN Security Council meeting, GCC Secretary General Jassim Albudaiwi said Iran’s retaliatory strikes had crossed “all red lines.”

He emphasized that the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council must be part of any future security talks involving Iran.

Bahrain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, is pushing for a vote on a resolution.

The draft resolution calls on countries to use “all necessary means” to ensure safe transit through key waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman.

An Iranian human rights activist described nights in eastern Tehran filled with drones, saying the sky was “constantly” lit for two to three nights.

Speaking anonymously to AP for safety, the dissident and former political prisoner said ongoing US-Israeli strikes are causing increasing harm.

She called Donald Trump’s “Stone Age” warning “offensive,” comparing it to the 13th-century Mongol invasion of Iran.

The activist argued the strikes target Iran broadly, not just the Islamic Republic, citing hits on steel plants, a pharmaceutical company and a major health institute.

She reported “completely destroyed” homes across Tehran, particularly in the low-income Resalat neighbourhood.

US President Donald Trump has posted a video on social media of what he says is the biggest bridge in Iran being taken down in a strike and declares it’s time for Iran to make a deal “before it is too late.”

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY,” Trump said.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani has said that his country looks forward to “a unified position” from 15 members of the UN Security Council in the vote.

The Bahrain-drafted Security Council resolution, which is still undergoing revisions, calls on countries “to use all necessary means” —U.N. language that includes military action — to ensure international transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Al-Zayani accused Iran of threatening the global economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz and restricting international navigation through the waterway.

These actions violate international law and “endanger energy security and food supplies and global trade,” he said.

Argentina has directed Iran’s top diplomat to leave the country within 48 hours after declaring him persona non grata. The decision to expel Iran’s chargé d’affaires, Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, followed a statement from Iran’s foreign affairs ministry accusing President Javier Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno of acting under “the influence of the occupying and genocidal Zionist regime and the United States,” and of being complicit in US attacks on Iran.

The Israeli Military has announced that it has struck “central military command centres” which it claims were used by the IRGC to funnel money to groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. According to the Israeli Military, the centres had also been used to fund and strengthen the armed forces in Iran.

China and Russia have objected to the latest draft proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz. China and Russia objected the Bahrainian proposal arguing that language authorizing “all necessary means” to protect commercial shipping still goes too far.

That is according to a UN diplomat, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

“Actions by the UN Security Council should help ease tensions and bring about a ceasefire and the resumption of talks, rather than endorse illegal acts of war, still less add fuel to the fire,” China’s mission to the UN posted on X.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the United States and Israel to stop the war and Iran to stop attacking its neighbors.

Guterres told reporters on Thursday that Iran’s strangling of the Strait of Hormuz is impacting the daily lives of people around the globe who are now facing rising food and energy costs.

The secretary-general said diplomatic efforts are underway, but conflicts only end “when leaders choose dialogue over destruction.”

“Many aspects of the conflict may be uncertain, but one thing is not: If the drums of war keep beating, escalation will only make all of this worse,” Guterres warned.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that Beijing is willing to work with the European Union to end the war in Iran as soon as possible.

He made the comments in a phone call with Kaja Kallas, EU’s foreign policy chief. Wang said similar in a separate call with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Wang also told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that the most urgent matter is halting the fighting.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called for intensified diplomatic efforts to stop the US-Israeli war on Iran. “We will spare no effort to mobilize Arab and international support,” he said on Thursday.

Israel renewed its attacks on Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah last month after the militants started firing missiles into Israel in response to the attacks on Iran.

Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic ‌in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s IRNA news agency has reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Kezem Gharibabadi.

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said Thursday that his group took part in joint operations against the US and Israel by launching missile and drone strikes this week.

“We will not stand idly by while the enemy achieves its goals, nor will we leave all the burdens on others as if we are not concerned,” he said during a televised speech.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that 1,345 people have been killed and 4,040 wounded in Israeli attacks on the country since March 2. This includes 125 children and 91 women.

Among those killed are 53 health workers, while Israeli strikes have targeted 82 emergency medical service facilities, the health ministry said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, saying he will “pay a very heavy price” for the rocket fire on Israel.

“I have a clear message for Naim Qassem, Secretary-General of the Hezbollah terror organization: You and your associates will pay a very heavy price for the intensified fire toward Israeli civilians as they sit to celebrate the Passover Seder,” the minister said after Hezbollah launched its latest salvo of missiles at Israel.

“You will not live to see this because you will be deep in the depths of hell together with Nasrallah, Khamenei, Sinwar and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil,” Katz added.

The deputy governor of Alborz province has told Iran’s ISNA news agency the US-Iranian strike on a highway bridge from Tehran to the western city of Karaj has killed two people.

A number of others were taken to medical centres for treatment, the official said, adding that no electricity, water or environmental problems have been reported related to the attack.

The Austrian Defence Ministry has denied the US permission to use its airspace for military operations against Iran, citing the country’s neutrality law.

According to the Austrian public broadcaster ORF, there had been “several” requests from Washington.

A Defence Ministry spokesperson also said that each case would be assessed individually in coordination with the Austrian Foreign Ministry. Several other European nations, including Spain, Italy, France, and Switzerland, have also restricted or denied US military access to airspace and airbases for operations related to the conflict with Iran.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said she has spoken with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi about the global economy and energy security.

“Iranian attacks on civilian ships, and the threat of more, have brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz to a near halt,” Kallas wrote in a post on X.

“This is why restoring safe, toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait, consistent with the Law of the Sea, is an urgent priority,” Kallas added.

The IDF on Thursday said soldiers were injured during a clash with a Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, the troops exchanged fire with the Hezbollah gunman at close range, killing him.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had claimed that seven million Iranians stood ready to fight any US ground invasion.

“Right now, in less than a week, a powerful national campaign sweeping the country has brought forward around 7 million Iranians who have already stepped up and declared they’re ready to pick up arms and stand in defense of our nation,” he said in a post on X.

Earlier, the IRGC had said that Iran’s security forces are recruiting children as young as 12 to man checkpoints in Tehran and perform other duties during the war.

The Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, led Holy Thursday prayers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem without public attendance.

On Sunday, the Israeli Police had caused international uproar after they refused Pizzaballa entry to the church for Palm Sunday prayers, citing safety concerns amid Iranian missile fire.

Iran’s Fars News Agency has reported that a highway bridge linking the capital Tehran to the western city of Karaj was hit by airstrikes. According to Fars, the B1 Bridge in Karaj, northern Iran, is considered the Middle East’s highest bridge and was inaugurated earlier this year.

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Defence has said its air defence systems dealt with 19 ballistic missiles and 26 drones on Thursday.

Since the start of the war, the ministry has tallied 2,038 drones, 19 cruise missiles and 457 ballistic missiles, the ministry said in a post on X.

Iran-linked Handala hacker group has claimed that they have carried out a cyber attack against PSK WIND Technologies, a company involved in the operation of command and control systems of Israel's air defense network.

According to Press TV, following the cyber attack, all top-secret information about the Israeli regime's critical command and control centers, their communication systems as well as classified documents were exposed.

Handala hacker group is the same hackers who recently breached the private emails of FBI director Kash Patel.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that its attacks on US-linked entities in the Gulf region are a warning.

According to the IRGC, it struck steel sites in the UAE’s Abu Dhabi and aluminum facilities in Bahrain, following previous attacks over the weekend.

“These attacks are a warning, and if the attack on Iranian industries is repeated, the next response will be much more painful by attacking the main infrastructure of the occupation regime and the American economic industries in the region,” the IRGC said in a statement.

Britain will host talks on Thursday aimed at forming a coalition of countries to explore ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. British foreign minister Yvette Cooper will chair the virtual meeting of about 35 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the United Arab Emirates around midday in London to explore ways to restore freedom of navigation in the area.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said it would be unrealistic to launch a military operation to force open the Strait of Hormuz.

“Some people defend the idea of freeing the Strait of Hormuz by force via a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the United States, although it has varied,” Macron told reporters during a trip to South Korea.

“This was never the option we have supported because it is unrealistic,” he adds. “It would take forever, and would expose all those who go through the Strait to risks from the guardians of the revolution but also ballistic missiles,” he said.

The Israeli Military has reportedly carried out airstrikes targeting the pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. According to Al Jazeera Arabic, the airstrike targeted one of the headquarters of the 58th Brigade in the Qayyarah district, located south of Mosul in northern Iraq.

A senior Iranian official has said that Tehran will gradually increase its missile strikes against US and Israeli targets.

“The process of firing missiles from Iran will gradually increase, coupled with further expansion and doubling of operations by the Resistance Axis against enemy interests across the region,” the official told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network, adding that Iran was pursuing a “phased strategy.”

Ma Theresa Lazaro, the Foreign Minister of Philippine has said that she held a “productive call” with her ‌Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi on securing the safety of Filipino seafarers.

“Building on recent talks, we reached a positive understanding on the safety of our seafarers and the security of our energy supply,” Lazaro wrote in a post on X.

Iran has executed a man convicted of participating in an attack on a classified military facility during the mass uprising in January. According to Mizan, a news outlet linked to Iran’s judiciary, Amirhossein Hatami was found guilty of entering a restricted military site in Tehran, damaging and setting fire to the facility, and trying to seize weapons and ammunition, charges he admitted during interrogation.

According to Mizan, Hatami was executed after his appeal was rejected and the Supreme Court upheld his sentence.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, has said that the ongoing war will end according to Iran’s strategy and determination, not based on the miscalculations of aggressors.

In a post on X, Velayati also said that while the Strait of Hormuz remains open to the world, it will always be closed to Iran’s enemies and their regional bases.

He also emphasized that the war will end through Iran’s careful planning and power, asserting that it will not be resolved through the overconfidence or fanciful expectations of those who launched aggression.

Malaysian civil servants to work from home starting April 15 to conserve energy while the Middle East war rages, says Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

As Israelis celebrate the first day of the Passover festival, Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah has fired more than 50 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel this morning.

According to the IDF, one rocket struck the border city of Kiryat Shmona, resulting in minor injuries to two people.

Amir Hatami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, has said that the operational headquarters must monitor "enemy movements with utmost ​pessimism and accuracy" and be ‌ready to counter any method of attack.

According to a statement carried by Iran’s government IRNA news service, Hatami said: "No enemy troops should survive if adversaries attempt a ground operation." The Iranian Army Chief’s comments come in response to reports of US troop ​buildup in the Gulf for a possible ground invasion.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari, the spokesman for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, on Thursday said the information that the US and Israel have about Iran’s arsenal was wrong.

“We tell the American-Zionist enemies that your information about our military power and equipment is incomplete. You know nothing about our vast and strategic capabilities,” Zolfaqari was quoted as saying by Press TV.

The US has repeatedly claimed that it has managed to destroy several of Iran’s most critical strategic missile production and assembly centers and other weapons. But according to Zolfaqari, the facilities destroyed by the US and Israel were not significant.

“Our strategic military production takes place in palces that you have no knowledge of at all and will never be able to reach,” he said.

Iranian Embassy in India said in a post on X, “Our Indian friends are in safe hands, no worries 😉”

Oil rose more than 4% and Asian stocks fell after U.S. President Donald Trump said in his first national address since the Iran war began that the U.S. will keep hitting Iran very hard.

Trump also said the United States will “finish the job” in Iran and that military operations could wrap up soon.

Democrats are criticizing Trump’s primetimeprime-timeto the American people on the war in Iran as “incoherent” and as doing little to answer “the most basic questions the American people,” according to statements from two Democratic lawmakers released on Wednesday.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., noted that Trump owed Americans more answers about a conflict that has driven up prices on gas “alongside rising prices for diesel, fertilizer, aluminum, and other essentials, with consequences that will continue to ripple through the economy for a long time to come” in his statement.

Fuel prices in Thailand soared again on Thursday after the government further cut subsidies, sending diesel price to over 44 baht ($1.35) per liter, about 12% increase.

The surge was the second time in a week, after a majority of fuel prices rose by 6 baht ($0.18) per liter last Thursday.

A New York-based think tank said Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech suggests he “is willing to leave the Strait of Hormuz off the table, leaving other nations to deal with the consequences.”

“Trump’s message was that the United States can sustain its own economic and energy ecosystem, while countries dependent on regional exports will either have to buy from the United States or manage the Strait themselves,” the Soufan Center wrote.

An airstrike has severely wounded a former Iranian foreign minister who once suggested Tehran could seek a nuclear weapon, Iranian media outlets reported.

The attack Wednesday wounded Kamal Kharazi, 81, and killed his wife, the reports said.

Oil rose more than 6% and stocks fell after U.S. President Donald Trump said in his national address Wednesday night that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 6.9% to $108.15 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 6.4% to $106.55 a barrel.

South Korea's economy is on a "wartime footing" over the Iran war, President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday, after the government proposed a $17.2 billion supplementary budget to tackle the crisis. (AFP)

The US Embassy in Baghdad warned citizens on Thursday that Iran-linked militias in Iraq "may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours".

The embassy said the attacks could target "US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets". (PTI)

Pakistan says "don't have confirmation so far of any US delegation arriving for talks".

China Foreign Ministry said on Trump's address on Iran, "Military means cannot solve any problem, we urge parties to stop military operations."