Israel says rockets struck Haifa oil hub

Iranian President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that threats by United States President Donald Trump to send his country back to the “Stone Age” amounted to a war crime.

In a post on X, he said: “Does threatening to send an entire nation back to the Stone Age mean anything other than a massive war crime? This was the question I asked my Finnish counterpart, who is a jurist. History is full of those who paid a heavy price for their silence in the face of criminals.”

Meanwhile, the US president said in a post on Truth Social that the country could easily take the Strait of Hormuz “with a little more time”.

Iranian missiles hit Israel’s oil hub Haifa, injuring six

Six people were injured, and several houses were damaged in northern Israel in an Iranian missile attack on Friday, Israeli media reported.

A 79-year-old individual was wounded as the missile hit Haifa and Kiryat Ata, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Al Jazeera reports that Israeli medical sources say six people were injured, and another was hit by stones from the shockwave of an explosion.

The attack came after the Lebanese group Hezbollah launched 15 rocket attacks, triggering sirens in northern Israel.

Haifa is a strategically important city in Israel with a large number of residents. It is also home to Israel’s most important oil refinery, processing 70% of the country’s refining capacity.

It has already been hit twice during the war.

Strikes in Gulf countries

Kuwait said an Iranian attack damaged a desalination plant, and the attack came after an oil refinery was hit by drones on Friday morning. About 90% of drinking water in Kuwait comes from desalination.

The attack comes some days after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb the remaining desalination plants in Iran. Last month, the US attacked an Iranian desalination plant.

Falling debris from an intercepted projectile has caused a fire at the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Habshan gas facility, a gas processing complex, the Abu Dhabi Media Office says.

“Operations have been suspended while authorities respond to a fire. No injuries have been reported,” it added in a post on X.

Anadolu Agency reports that the UAE and Saudi Arabia came under a new wave of drone attacks Friday, with both countries reporting interceptions.

The UAE Defence Ministry said air defence systems were “actively engaging” incoming missiles and drones.

“The sounds heard across the country are the result of ongoing engaging operations of missiles and UAVs,” it said in a post on the US social media platform X.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said in separate X posts that its forces intercepted and destroyed 14 drones during the latest attacks.

Iran said Friday it carried out a ballistic missile strike targeting a gathering of US aviation personnel in the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Guard said it conducted a “precise strike” on what it described as a secret meeting site for American aviation engineers and military pilots outside a base in the UAE, without providing further details.

The statement said field reports and heavy ambulance activity indicated the attack caused “a large number of deaths and injuries,” but did not specify figures.

Sirens in northern Israel after rockets were fired from Lebanon

Air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel on Friday after rockets were fired from Lebanon, Israeli media reported.

About 15 rockets were launched, triggering alerts in the border towns of Kiryat Shmona and Metula, Channel 12 said.

The report said some rockets were intercepted while others landed in open areas. There were no independent reports of casualties or damage.

Hezbollah said it carried out 15 attacks on Friday targeting Israeli positions in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

Additionally, Israeli media outlet Haaretz reports that Israeli drone manufacturers say significant damage has been done to central Israeli facility after a missile strike.

Iran claims it shot down a second US F-35 fighter jet

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Friday that it shot down a US F-35 fighter jet in central parts of the country, Iranian media reported.

Due to the destruction of the aircraft, the fate of the pilot remains unknown, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported, citing a statement by the IRGC.

This marks the second time Iran claimed it shot down a US F-35 amid the ongoing escalation since February 28.

Iran had previously announced on March 19 that it had shot down a US F-35, a claim rejected by Washington.

Tehran also claimed on Thursday to have downed an Israeli F-16 jet.

The US has not responded to the report as yet.

Last month, the US military said in a statement that a US F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. The military said the pilot was in stable condition.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones, setting off fires at operating units, but no injuries were reported, according to the state news agency, and Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said on Friday its air defences intercepted seven drones in recent hours, according to its state news agency.

Additionally, Al Jazeera reports that a drone strike has hit a Red Crescent warehouse in Iran’s Bushehr province, according to the Iranian relief organisation. The early morning attack hit a facility in the Choghadak area at around 5am, destroying two relief containers, two buses and emergency vehicles, Fars news agency reported.

No casualties were reported.

US vows to target Iranian infrastructure as nations seek to open Hormuz

US President Donald Trump threatened that the US “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”, reiterating vows to increase the ferocity of attacks on its infrastructure, as dozens of countries sought ways to restart vital energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

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

Trump has stepped up his rhetoric in recent days as negotiations conducted via intermediaries with new leaders in Iran show limited signs of progress.

The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media late on Thursday, adding that Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”

He earlier posted a video of the US bombing a newly constructed bridge between Tehran and the major northwest suburb of Karaj. The B1 bridge was scheduled to open to traffic this year. According to Iran’s state media, eight people were killed, and 95 others were wounded in the US attack.

“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a statement.

Satellite images also showed smoke rising from the port in Qeshm, an Iranian island strategically located in the Strait of Hormuz, earlier this week.

Iranian media reported a drone attack on Friday morning on a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of southern Bushehr province, saying two containers were destroyed. Bushehr, a major port city and key maritime hub, also hosts Iran’s first nuclear power facility.

Concerns about US war crimes raised

Over 100 American international law experts said on Thursday the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes.”

Read: Trump’s anger over Iran thrusts NATO into fresh crisis

A letter signed by the experts particularly noted a mid-March comment from Trump where he said the US may conduct strikes on Iran “just for fun.” It also cited comments from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth from early March in which he said the US does not fight with “stupid rules of engagement.”

In a speech on Wednesday night, Trump repeated his threats against Iran’s civilian power plants and gave no clear timeline for ending hostilities. That drew vows of retaliation from Iran, weighed on global share prices and sent oil prices surging on concerns the Strait of Hormuz would remain largely closed.

Britain chaired a virtual meeting on Thursday of some 40 countries to explore ways to restore freedom of navigation that did not produce any specific agreement, although participants agreed that all nations should be able to use the waterway freely, one official said.

UNSC to vote on Bahraini plan to protect shipping

The UN Security Council is set to vote on Saturday on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, diplomats said, but veto-wielding China made clear its opposition to authorising any use of force.

Any military action would be “legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences,” China’s UN envoy Fu Cong told the Security Council on Thursday.

Iran has effectively shut down the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s total oil trade, in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28.

Tehran offered a competing vision for future control of the strait, and said it was drafting a protocol with neighbouring Oman that would require ships to obtain permits and licences.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas pushed back against Tehran’s plan, saying Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a toll to let ships pass. “International law doesn’t recognise pay-to-pass schemes,” wrote Kallas on social media.

Fears of Iranian stranglehold on Middle East energy

There are fears the conflict may leave Iran with a stranglehold over Middle East energy supplies now that it has shown that it can block the Strait of Hormuz by targeting oil tankers and attacking Gulf countries hosting US troops.

Gulf states say they reserve the right to self-defence but have refrained from responding militarily to repeated Iranian retaliatory attacks over the past month, seeking to avoid escalation into a far more devastating all-out Middle East war.

Kuwait reported that its air defences were working to intercept missiles and drones twice on Friday.

Thousands of people have been killed and tens of thousands injured across the Middle East — many of whom are civilians in Iran and Lebanon — since the war began, with the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and ​Red Crescent ​Societies delegation saying on Thursday that medical needs were rising exponentially and supplies could run low.

Fuel shortages have already caused economic strains across Asia and are expected to bite in Europe soon, while a report by two UN agencies warned a sharp economic slowdown could spark a cost-of-living crisis in Africa.