There is no sign of a ceasefire. If anything, the month-long US-Israel war on Iran escalated sharply on Friday, even as American diplomatic efforts attempt to carve out space for negotiations. US President Donald Trump announced he is delaying strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure by a further 10 days — pushing the new deadline to April 6 — while claiming that peace talks with Tehran are progressing “very well.” But Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz flatly rejected any suggestion of restraint, vowing that Israel would not only continue its attacks but intensify them, striking a broader range of targets inside Iran.
In one of the most alarming developments of the conflict so far, Israeli forces struck two facilities central to Iran’s nuclear programme on Friday. The uranium extraction plant in Yazd province and the Arak Heavy Water Plant were both hit, with the Israeli military confirming both strikes. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said the attack on the Yazd
facility did not result in any leakage of radioactive materials. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a stark warning that strikes on Iranian nuclear sites risk triggering a “major radiological accident” — a warning that sent fresh alarm through the
international community.
The human cost of the conflict continued to mount. US-Israeli strikes on residential areas in Iran’s Kermanshah province killed at least 13 people on Friday, including two children and four women, one of whom was pregnant, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency. In response, Iran warned workers at US and Israeli industrial facilities across the region to
evacuate their workplaces, signalling the possibility of retaliatory strikes on regional targets.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that closing the Strait of Hormuz to US and Israeli vessels is a “legitimate measure.” He accused Washington and Tel Aviv of deliberately targeting civilian
infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and historical sites. Iranian officials say that since the war began, at least 120 museums and historical sites across the country have been struck by US-Israeli attacks.
In Lebanon, Israeli bombardment continued unabated. Warplanes launched an airstrike on the town of Arzi in the Sidon district of southern Lebanon on Friday. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that Israeli attacks on the country since March 2 have now killed 1,142 people and wounded 3,315 others. Prime Minister Netanyahu has described the ongoing
operations as an expansion of what he calls a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon.
The war’s economic shockwaves are spreading far beyond the region. Portugal announced a proposal to subsidise diesel by 10 euro cents per litre for key sectors including agriculture, transport, and fishing, at a potential cost of up to 450 million euros over three months, in direct response to fuel price surges driven by the conflict. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a forum in Frankfurt that he does not believe the war can achieve “regime change” in Iran, pointing to the repeated failures of that objective in past conflicts. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier went further, calling the US-Israel war on Iran a “disastrous mistake” that breaches international law.
On the diplomatic margins of the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an unannounced visit to Gulf states, signing a defence procurement memorandum with Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry in Jeddah. Ukraine has also deployed more than 220 experts to several Middle Eastern countries to advise on intercepting drone attacks that have disrupted energy infrastructure across the region — a skill set Ukraine has developed under years of Russian bombardment.
As April approaches, with Trump’s self-imposed deadline looming and Israel showing no willingness to stand down, the path to any negotiated end to the conflict remains deeply unclear.
