US–Israel war on Iran, day 35: Tehran vows 'crushing' attacks as strikes hit regional infrastructure

The UAE Ministry of Interior (MOI) has issued a nationwide public safety update confirming that the situation in the country is now secure. In an official alert, authorities reassured residents and citizens that it is safe to resume routines and normal activities. While the immediate threat has passed, the Ministry emphasised the importance of remaining vigilant, taking standard precautions, and continuing to monitor official government channels for further updates.

A team searching a Thai ship that was struck near the Strait of Hormuz on March 11 has found human remains onboard, the Thai Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The Mayuree Naree was hit by a projectile just north of Oman. Three of its crew members were declared missing.

The search team was hired by the ship’s owner, Precious Shipping Co. The company and the ministry did not say when the ship was searched or its current location. A previous search of the vessel was disclosed March 30.

The ministry said the team has not been able to immediately verify the identity of the remains, which were found in a damaged area of the ship.

Former CIA director Bill Burns has described the US-Israeli war launched against Iran as “a war of choice” that may have only further empowered the most hard-line elements within its theocracy.

Burns, a former State Department diplomat, made the observation in a podcast by Foreign Affairs magazine.

“This is a regime that is inept at many things like managing its economy, but it is designed to preserve itself and designed to repress its own people and designed to withstand even the decapitation of its senior leadership,” said Burns, who secretly negotiated with the Iranians ahead of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers during the Obama administration.

Burns also disagreed with US President Donald Trump’s assessment that there had been a “regime change” in the airstrike campaign killing top leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“In some ways, it’s certainly a much weaker regime, but it’s also one that’s even nastier and more radical and, you know, less open,” he said.

He added that Iran’s theocracy thought “victory is survival.”

“I’ve believed for a long time that this is a regime that’s on a kind of one-way street to its eventual collapse, but I worry that, you know, in this war, what we’ve done rather than accelerate that moment of collapse is slow it down a little bit,” Burns said.

The Ministry of Interior said air defence systems are currently responding to a missile threat, urging residents to remain in safe locations and follow official channels for updates and instructions.

The Saudi Ministry of Defence said it intercepted and destroyed seven drones over the past few hours. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA), citing Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki, the ministry’s official spokesperson, reported that the operation was carried out as part of ongoing efforts to safeguard the Kingdom’s security.

French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.

In a televised briefing after their meeting in Seoul, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and de-escalate Middle East animosities.

Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The two leaders did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait and took no questions.

Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017.

A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait's national oil company on Friday sparked fires at several of its units, state media said.

"Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) told KUNA that the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was targeted in a drone attack early this morning, resulting in fires in several operational units," official news agency KUNA reported, adding that emergency teams were working to contain the blazes.

Israel's military said Friday that its air defences were operating to down missiles fired from Iran, as Tehran keeps up its retaliatory fire on the country.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

The military said in a statement it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel".

It said "defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat".

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency services said an unintercepted missile hit central Israel, injuring no one but causing damage to homes, roads and some cars.

According to Israeli military radio, a train station in Tel Aviv was damaged by shrapnel, without saying from where it had been fired.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement published by broadcaster IRIB early Friday that it had targeted areas of Tel Aviv and the port city of Eilat with long-range missiles.

The UN Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorizing the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, according to the official program.

The 15-member body was set to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain, but the schedule shifted.

The reason given was that the United Nations observes Good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic sources - despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced.

No new date has been given for voting on the draft.

US forces have yet to begin "destroying what's left in Iran," President Donald Trump warned late Thursday, as he said more of the country's bridges and energy infrastructure were in his sights.

The US military "hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, several hours after he said Iran's tallest bridge had been destroyed.

Trump has repeatedly stated that the vast majority of major military targets in Iran have already been damaged or destroyed over the past month of war.

Iran's "New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!" Trump said, seemingly referring to his call for Tehran to strike a deal with Washington that will bring about a ceasefire.

Despite US President Donald Trump claiming that Iran's missile programme had been destroyed following the US-Israeli military action against the Islamic Republic for the past month, intelligence assessments indicate Tehran continues to retain a significant portion of its missile-launching capability despite weeks of sustained military strikes, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to CNN, citing recent intelligence findings, nearly half of Iran's missile launchers remain intact, while thousands of one-way attack drones are still part of its arsenal even after continuous strikes targeting military infrastructure over the past five weeks.

"They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region," one of the sources said as quoted by CNN.

The assessment reportedly includes launchers that may currently be inaccessible, such as those buried underground due to bombardment but not fully destroyed.

The UN Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain to authorize the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.

"We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world, the whole world is being affected by the developments," Bahrain's United Nations ambassador Jamal Alrowaiei said this week.

He said the text, which has gone through several amendments and is supported by the United States, "comes at a critical juncture."

A sixth and final draft, seen by AFP, greenlights member states - either unilaterally or as "voluntary multinational naval partnerships" - to use "all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances."

It applies to the strait and adjacent waters to "secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz."

At least eight civilians have been reported killed, and 95 others sustained injuries following US-Israeli strikes, Iranian state media Press TV reported. The military action specifically targeted the "B1 bridge in Karaj," resulting in a high number of casualties in the surrounding area.

The victims of the strike reportedly include "Iranian travellers" and "residents of the local village" who were near the infrastructure at the time of the attack. According to Press TV, the toll also included "families who were in the area for Nature Day," a time when many people were outdoors.

China's permanent representative to the United Nations has voiced Beijing's firm resistance to any measures that would allow member states to engage in military action within the Middle East, Al Jazeera reported.

Addressing the international body, Fu Cong stated that such an authorisation "would amount to legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force."

Beijing's formal opposition at the UN aligns with its broader diplomatic response to recent rhetoric from Washington. China on Thursday responded to the recent "bring them back to the stone ages" remarks made by US President Donald Trump against Iran, stressing that escalation will not resolve the conflict, China Daily reported.

Elaborating on this position, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning emphasised that "military means cannot fundamentally solve any issue, and escalation of the conflict does not serve any party's interest," according to China Daily.

Kuwait announced that its air defences intercepted hostile missile and drone attacks. The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Staff Saud Al-Atwan, stating that the sounds of explosions were the result of air defence systems intercepting the hostile strikes.

Iran and its allies traded fire with Israel and the United States, as Washington-linked assets across the Middle East were targeted alongside energy and civilian infrastructure -- with the month-long war on Friday showing little sign of easing.

Strikes have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict's impact beyond the battlefield.

Iran fired missiles at Tel Aviv overnight, triggering Israeli air defences and leaving four people lightly wounded, while fresh blasts were heard in Jerusalem after the military warned of incoming fire.

As the US-Iran war with Iran continues to disrupt global shipping, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has convened around 40 countries to demand the "immediate and unconditional reopening" of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Now that we are facing these reckless Iranian attacks on international shipping, affecting countries from across the globe who played no part in this conflict, and more than 40 countries coming together for these discussions today, we're clear we need the diplomatic pressure, the economic pressure and also the work being done by military planners on how to keep shipping safe for the long term," she said in comments posted by ITV Politics.

With flows from Gulf oil significantly curtailed by the tanker squeeze on Hormuz by Iran, Russian crude has surged in demand, rapidly repositioning itself as one of the most sought-after supplies on the global market.

Urals, the Russian crude oil benchmark, surged to $123.45 as of 10.17PM GMT on Thursday (7.17am Tokyo on Friday, April 3, 2026), a 6.44% increase, while Brent crude rose at $109.03, up more than 7.78%, since Trump's speech on the Iran war which drew more questions than answers.

NEW YORK: Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), has called on the Security Council to take all necessary measures to ensure an immediate end to Iran's unprovoked attacks on GCC states.

He further urged the Council to protect waterways, guarantee the continuity of international navigation in all maritime straits, and include GCC countries in any talks or agreements with Iran to enhance regional security and prevent future recurrences.

Dubai: The Dubai Government has denied reports circulating online that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a data centre belonging to US technology company Oracle in Dubai.

In a statement posted on X, the Dubai Government Media Office said the reports alleging that the IRGC had launched or attempted an attack in Dubai were “fake news” and had no basis in fact.

US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George has stepped down and is retiring, per Pentagon spokesman. This follows a CBS report that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had asked for his "removal".

He is the highest-ranking US military official to leave during an active war since the conflict began 33 days ago.

Calling for resumption of talks to resolve the ongoing conflict in West Asia, French President Emmanuel Macron said that it would be "unrealistic" to conduct military operation to liberate the Strait of Hormuz.

"There are those who advocate for the liberation of the Strait of Hormuz by force through a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the US. "It is unrealistic because it would take an inordinate amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, (and) a host of other risks," Euro News quoted Macron as saying during his State Visit to South Korea.

Day 34: UN chief warns world on 'edge of a wider war'

Day 33: Trump says US to hit Iran 'extremely hard'

Day 32: Debris hits several homes in Dubai, 4 injured

Day 31: Trump threatens to obliterate Iran's Kharg island

Day 30: Tehran warns Washington against ground invasion