Live Updates: Iran war rages, Strait of Hormuz still locked down as U.S. awaits response to peace proposal

The Iranian response to the U.S.' 15-point framework for a peace deal is expected on Friday, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

President Trump and top White House officials have been told that Iran's counter-proposal would likely arrive Friday via interlocutors, two of the sources said. At the time of publication the response had not yet been received by intermediaries.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday that the administration had presented Iran, through Pakistan as an intermediary, a 15-point plan for a potential peace deal. A regional source told CBS News that Pakistan had direct contact with Iran's security establishment that controls the country, not just the foreign ministry.

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The Israeli military warned people living around Iran's unfinished Arak heavy water nuclear reactor to evacuate on Friday, saying it planned "to operate in these areas in the coming hours."

In a statement shared on its Farsi language social media account, the Israel Defense Forces said all residents in areas designated on maps that it shared, in the northwest of Arak city and in the Khairabad Industrial Area, "are urged to take immediate action."

"The Israeli military, which has recently conducted attacks across Iran targeting military infrastructure, is expected to operate in these areas in the coming hours," it said. "For your safety and security, citizens are strongly advised to evacuate the designated areas on the map immediately."

The area highlighted in Arak includes the heavy water reactor, which was among the nuclear facilities struck in June 2025 during joint U.S.-Iranian strikes.

The Arak heavy water reactor, 155 miles southwest of Tehran, was never completed before those June strikes. The type of facility involved uses heavy water to cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that could potentially be used in nuclear weapons. In theory, if operational, the facility could have given Iran another path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its highly-enriched uranium.

The Iranian regime has always maintained that it never intended to build a nuclear weapon, but Israel and the Trump administration say it was working toward the capacity.

Nearly a month into the Middle East war, Lebanon faces a deepening humanitarian crisis that now risks teetering over into a "catastrophe," the United Nations refugee agency warned.

Since March 2, more than a million people — one in five residents — have been forced to flee their homes, said the UNHCR.

Israel has issued compounding evacuation orders, telling civilians in dozens of towns and villages across roughly the southern third of Lebanon to flee northward as it attacks alleged Hezbollah positions. 

The Iranian-backed terrorist group also has strongholds in the southern suburbs of capital Beirut that have been heavily bombed by Israel, and Israeli forces have moved across the border and are operating on the ground in southern Lebanon.

According to the independent National Institute for Security Studies in Israel, at least 1,116 people have been killed amid the Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the parallel Iran war began.

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Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Iran and threatened on Friday that its attacks "will escalate and expand" after President Trump claimed talks on ending the war were "going very well" and gave Tehran more time to open the Strait of Hormuz, though there have been no signs of Iran backing down.

The United States has offered Iran a 15-point proposal for a ceasefire that includes it relinquishing control of the strait, but at the same time has ordered thousands more troops to the region — possibly in preparation for a military attempt to wrest the waterway from Iran's tight grip.

Air raid sirens sounded in Israel, meanwhile, as the military said it was working to intercept Iranian missiles in what has been a daily occurrence. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran "will pay heavy, increasing prices for this war crime."

"Despite the warnings, the firing continues," Katz said. "And therefore attacks in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli citizens."

Israel's military said its attack on Friday targeted sites "in the heart of Tehran" used by Iran to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons. It also hit missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran. 

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The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense reported the interception of six Iranian ballistic missiles and nine drones on Friday, bringing the total number of such weapons engaged since the beginning of the Iran war to 393 missiles and more than 1,830 drones. 

The UAE has been targeted with more Iranian weapons than any other Gulf state, and has fended off nearly as many missiles as Israel during the war, according to data compiled by the independent Institute for National Security Studies in Israel.

At least 10 people have been killed by the strikes, often by falling debris, in the UAE, including two members of the country's armed forces. 

The U.S. appears to have dropped anti-tank mines over a village in southern Iran, the open source research group Bellingcat reported Thursday, as images posted on social media appear to show American BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines.

Iranian state media reported that "explosive packages" slightly larger than tuna cans had been dropped by aircraft over the southern suburbs of Shiraz, and that some had exploded after being handled. 

Several people were killed by the devices, Iranian state TV said, and it urged members of the public to report the items' locations to authorities and not touch them.

Bellingcat cited three independent weapons experts as saying the munitions shown by Iranian state media appeared to be BLU-91/B mines, delivered by American Gator anti-tank mine systems. It noted that the U.S. is the only party in the Iran war known to have Gator Scatterable Mines, the system that uses the BLU-91/B devices.

Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said Friday that it had intercepted two ballistic missiles, while four others fell into the sea off the country's coast or in uninhabited areas, amid Iran's continuing attacks on Persian Gulf states.

The ministry said at least six drones were also intercepted in or near the capital Riyadh, "with interception debris falling in the vicinity of one of the military sites with no injuries." 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk Friday that a direct meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials "is apparently due to take place fairly soon at short notice in Pakistan."

After Iranian officials confirmed indirect correspondence with the Trump administration earlier in the week, including a set of proposed terms for a peace deal handed to Tehran by an intermediary, which Iranian officials rejected, Wadephul called the prospects of a direct meeting the "first signs of hope and confidence."

"Apparently, initial positions have already been exchanged in writing via third parties," Wadephul said, adding that he did not know "who facilitated all of this," according to German news agency DPA.

He suggested U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Paris on Friday for a meeting with his fellow G7 foreign ministers, might "perhaps also set that out a little more precisely today."

Kuwait's government said the country's Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, still under construction as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, was damaged Friday as Iran continued its attacks on energy infrastructure belonging to America's Persian Gulf allies.

A statement issued by Kuwait's Ministry of Public Works said port infrastructure "was subjected to a double attack this Friday morning by hostile drones and cruise missiles," with material damage but no casualties reported.

Officials said the Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City also sustained damage in Iran's latest assault.

The extent of the damage done to the ports was not immediately clear.

Iran's foreign minister on Friday branded a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against his country a "calculated" assault by the U.S.

Addressing an urgent debate in the United Nations Human Rights Council focused on the Feb. 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab, Abbas Araghchi said "more than 175 students and teachers were slaughtered in cold blood" in a "calculated, phased assault."

The strike, he said in a video address, "was a war crime and a crime against humanity, one that demands unequivocal condemnation by all, and unambiguous accountability for the culprits."

U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said the bombing evoked "visceral horror." He called for "justice" for "those who carried out the attack to investigate it promptly, impartially, transparently and thoroughly."

"Senior U.S. officials have said the strike is under investigation," he said, calling for the findings to be made public.

A preliminary U.S. assessment suggests the U.S. is "likely" responsible for the strike, but did not intentionally target the school and may have hit it in error, possibly due to the use of dated intelligence which wrongly identified it as part of an Iranian military installation, a person briefed on the U.S. intelligence told CBS News on March 9.

President Trump initially suggested Iran itself could have been responsible, despite the strike being carried out with Tomahawk missiles, which Iran does not have.

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Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused President Trump of making "false statements" about diplomacy between the countries yielding an agreement for some ships to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, insisting it still had full control of the vital shipping lane.

Mr. Trump said Iran had given him the "present" this week of allowing "eight big boats of oil" to transit the strait, suggesting it was a good will gesture to demonstrate willingness to negotiate an end to the war.

"This morning, following the false statements of the corrupt U.S. president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz is open, three container ships of different nationalities moved toward the designated corridor for authorized vessel traffic, but were turned back after warnings from the IRGC Navy," the Guard Corps said in a social media post.

It said the IRGC Navy reiterated that "the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that any traffic through it will face a severe response," and that the "passage of any ship 'to and from' ports belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies, to any destination and via any corridor, is prohibited."

The CBS News Confirmed team found online maritime tracking data to corroborate the Iranian claims about interdicting ships. Data show two large cargo ships owned by Chinese company COSCO Shipping Lines Ltd turned around as they entered the Strait of Hormuz early on Friday and were back in the Persian Gulf. A third ship, also Chinese owned, turned around the previous day.

Iran is charging some commercial ships to sail safely through the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian lawmaker said some vessels have been charged $2 million to transit the key shipping lane, to cover the country's cost of war. 

Passage has long been free and required no special permission, as formally guaranteed by the United Nations' 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea, which means Iran is breaching international maritime law. 

Only a handful of ships from a few countries, China, India and Pakistan, are known to have gotten through the strait.

The Lloyds List intelligence firm, which tends to take a neutral, diplomatic stance, says the fees charged by Tehran have effectively created a "toll booth" system, but others are more direct, calling it a shakedown in the strait with the Iranian regime acting like a mob boss. 

The head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who has become one of the most vocal critics of Iran's actions, bluntly calls it economic terrorism. 

He met Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Thursday and spent hours blasting Iran. 

"When Iran holds Hormuz hostage, every nation pays the ransom. At the gas pump, at the grocery store, at the pharmacy, every household. No country can be allowed to destabilize the global economy in this way. Not now, not ever," Al Jaber said the previous day during a speech in Washington.

Iran's parliament is currently drafting a bill to make the fees on ships "official," according to state media, with the plan for it to be finalized in early April.

World shares mostly fell and oil gained again on Friday after Wall Street had its worst day since the start of the Iran war over growing doubts about a de-escalation.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 9,939.96. France's CAC 40 dropped 0.7% to 7,718.97, and Germany's DAX lost 1.3% to 22,314.28.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed 0.4% lower at 53,373.07. South Korea's Kospi also lost 0.4% to 5,438.87, narrowing the sharp drop earlier in the day at trading close.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.4% to 24,951.88 after dipping earlier in the day, while the Shanghai Composite index traded 0.6% higher at 3,913.72.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,516.30.

Taiwan's Taiex was 0.7% lower, while India's Sensex lost 2.1%.

On Thursday, Wall Street fell to its worst drop since the Iran war began, with the S&P 500 sinking 1.7% for its worst day since January to 6,477.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% to 45,960.11. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.4% to 21,408.08, and is off 10% below its recent all-time high in what is considered a "correction."

Expectations this week of de-escalation negotiations between Washington and Tehran have sent markets into disarray.

Shortly after Wall Street trading closed Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was postponing a threatened attack on Iran's energy facilities as he further delayed until April 6 a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas transport.

U.S. futures were mostly unchanged on Friday.

Israel's military said its forces carried out "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran" early Friday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out missile and drone strikes the previous day targeting sites in Israel and military facilities in the Gulf used by U.S. forces.

A maintenance facility for a U.S. Patriot air defense system was targeted in Bahrain, the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian news agencies.

Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday. Journalists heard several explosions from the direction of the Hezbollah stronghold, which Israel has repeatedly struck since war began.

The Saudi defense ministry said, meanwhile, that it had "intercepted and destroyed" four drones over the kingdom's east early Friday.

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Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid is warning that the war is taking too high a toll.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield," Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

"The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers," Lapid said.

In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: "On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces. ... For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF." 

One day after walking out of a House Armed Services Committee briefing on Iran, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told CBS News she has "grave concerns about the Washington war machine getting us into another 20-year-plus endless war."

Mace said in an interview with CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion on "The Takeout" that she would oppose sending ground forces into Iran, and argued the military needs to explain how the war could end. She said Wednesday's briefing with military officials "left most of our questions unanswered."

"I haven't seen an exit strategy yet," said Mace, who is currently running for South Carolina governor. "And I think that's where a lot of us share the heartburn."

Mace added that she remains a strong supporter of President Trump and believes the U.S. operation against Iran has been successful at degrading the country's missile capabilities. But she wants Mr. Trump to "declare victory" rather than allowing it to turn into a "never-ending war."

President Trump said Thursday on Truth Social that he would postpone his threat to order strikes on Iranian energy plants until April 6, extending his deadline for a second time.  

Mr. Trump told Fox News he extended the timeframe for potential strikes against Iran's oil and energy infrastructure because talks with Iran were "going fairly well" and Iran had asked for "more time."

"I gave them a 10-day period," he said on Fox News' "The Five."

The president had previously announced a five-day extension to his ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its energy infrastructure on Monday, which was set to expire Saturday.

"As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," Mr. Trump wrote. "Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well."

"They asked for seven, and I said, 'I'm going to give you 10,' because they gave me ships," Mr. Trump added, referring to several oil tankers he says Iran allowed through the Strait of Hormuz as a show of good faith. It remains unclear where they were sailing from or where they are going.

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