Here's the latest
• State of possible talks: The White House said talks with Iran are proceeding apace, even after Tehran did not immediately accept a 15-point plan to end the war. The US is working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan to discuss an off-ramp, two administration officials tell CNN.
• Trump’s timeline: The White House said it’s still “too soon to say” whether it is satisfied with Iran’s new leadership. The administration reasserted that the overall timeline is still four to six weeks.
• Protecting key island: Iran has been laying traps and moving additional military personnel and air defenses to Kharg Island in recent weeks in preparation for a possible US operation to take control of the island, according to people familiar with US intelligence reporting.
• Strait of Hormuz: Multiple vessels have passed through the strait, tracking data appears to show, as Iran says it will charge countries a fee for safe passage.
White House says talks "productive" but also warns Iran. Here's the latest from briefing
With the Iran war into its fourth week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today the US timeline is still four to six weeks.
US President Donald Trump’s preference is “always peace,” Leavitt said during her daily briefing.
Here’s what else Leavitt said about the war today:
- “Productive” talks continue, she said, even after Iran did not immediately accept a 15-point plan offered by the US to bring the war to an end.
- Leavitt declined to promise Trump would seek congressional authorization before deploying troops in Iran, saying “at this moment, it’s unnecessary” and he “likes to maintain options at his disposal.”
- The press secretary denied any change that is making JD Vance more of an active participant in negotiations as the vice president appears to be taking a leading role in the Iran talks.
- Leavitt said it’s “too soon to say,” if the administration — which has been touting peace talks with Tehran — is satisfied with new Iranian leadership.
CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Maureen Chowdhury, Betsy Klein, Donald Judd and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
What Iranians are saying about possible US-Iran negotiations
Ordinary Iranians say they feel trapped between geopolitical posturing and the threat of war: frustrated, divided and unsure what comes next.
CNN’s Leila Gharagozlou reports on what else people had to say:
Ordinary Iranians say they feel trapped between geopolitical posturing and the threat of war: frustrated, divided and unsure what comes next. CNN's Leila Gharagozlou reports.
Iran warns of possible Bab el-Mandeb front if military action targets southern Iran
An Iranian military source has warned that Tehran could open additional strategic fronts, including around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, if the US and Israel undertake military actions against Iranian islands or attempt to pressure the country through naval operations.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, acting as a vital chokepoint for global trade, particularly oil and natural gas shipments.
“If the enemy attempts any ground action on Iranian islands or any part of our territory, or tries to impose costs on Iran through naval movements in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman, we will open other fronts as a ‘surprise,’” the source said, as cited by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.
The military source specifically referenced the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Tasnim, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and asserted that Iran has both the capability and determination to create a credible threat in that area if tensions escalate.
“If the Americans intend to take reckless actions regarding the Strait of Hormuz, they should be careful not to add another strait to their list of challenges,” the source added.
Approximately 12% of total global seaborne-traded oil and a significant portion of liquefied natural gas pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait annually.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also warned Wednesday that Tehran has intelligence indicating “enemies” are preparing to seize one of Iran’s islands with support from a regional country.
“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with continuous, relentless attacks,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X but without naming the state.
White House says Vance's role in Iran talks hasn't changed
The White House denied that there’d been any change that is making JD Vance more of an active participant in negotiations with Iran as the vice president now appears to be taking a leading role in those talks.
“I don’t think anything has changed. The vice president has always been a key member — the president’s right-hand man and a key member of the president’s national security team. He’s been part of these discussions throughout this entire course of the administration,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday when pressed by CNN’s Kristen Holmes.
Trump, Leavitt said, seeks Vance’s counsel “on all matters, both foreign and domestic.”
Pressed by CNN on whom in Iran the US is negotiating with, Leavitt declined to say.
“We’re not gonna get into the details of these negotiations and conversations that continue to take place. As, of course, you can imagine, they are very sensitive diplomatic discussions,” she said.
Administration officials are working to arrange a meeting with officials, including Vance, in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off ramp to the war, two senior administration officials told CNN. But they cautioned that the timing of the expected trip is fluid, as is the location and who may attend.
Iranian representatives have told the administration they do not want to re-enter talks with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, CNN has reported. Trump told reporters Tuesday that Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are also participating in talks.
White House: Iran talks not at dead end, despite initial resistance from Tehran to US plan
The White House said talks with Iran are proceeding apace, even after Iran did not immediately accept a 15-point plan offered by the United States to bring the war to an end.
“Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday, and they continue to be,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said today.
She said the discussions had not hit a dead end, despite Iranian resistance to the American plan.
She declined to provide details about the US proposal, which President Donald Trump first revealed on Monday.
White House said it’s “too soon to say” whether it is satisfied with Iran’s new leadership
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said today that it’s “too soon to say,” if the Trump administration — which has been touting peace talks with Tehran — is satisfied with new Iranian leadership.
Pressed on comments President Donald Trump made Tuesday that the administration has “achieved regime change” in Iran, Leavitt defended the president’s remarks during today’s press briefing.
“Their entire leadership has been killed, and nobody has really seen or legitimately heard from this alleged new leader,” she told reporters. “There has been a change in leadership — I mean, regime leadership, which is what the president said.”
But when asked if the administration was satisfied with Iran’s new leaders, she replied that it was “too soon to say.”
Death toll once again climbs in the Middle East as strikes continue
As attacks continue across the Middle East, the death toll across the region is mounting, with new fatalities reported today in Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.
CNN is keeping a tally of figures released by regional authorities, though it is not able to independently verify these numbers.
Here’s what authorities have said about the number of people reportedly killed in the Middle East since the war began on February 28:
- Iran: More than 1,750 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization said today, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said yesterday that at least 1,455 civilians, including 217 children, and 1,167 military personnel have been killed in the same time frame. It categorized 669 other fatalities as “unclassified” since it has not yet determined whether they were civilian or military.
- Lebanon: In an update today, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that at least 1,094 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the country since March 2. At least 121 children are among those killed, it said.
- Iraq: At least 96 people have been killed across Iraq since the conflict began, according to authorities, including seven Iraqi service members killed in an attack on a clinic associated with the country’s Defense Ministry this morning. In the Kurdistan Region, a semi-autonomous federal region of Iraq, at least 13 people have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government, including six Kurdish Peshmerga fighters killed yesterday.
- Israel: At least 17 people have been killed by strikes inside Israel since the war began, including a civilian who was killed by friendly fire along the country’s border with Lebanon this weekend, the Israeli military said. This figure does not include people who died indirectly because of strikes. A woman was also killed by Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel yesterday, according to Israeli emergency services. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon on March 8, according to the Israeli military.
- US: Thirteen US service members have been killed since the start of the conflict, including six who died when their refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq on March 12. An additional six US service members were killed in an Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center in Kuwait on March 1. Another US soldier died nearly a week after sustaining injuries during an attack on Saudi Arabia the same day, according to CENTCOM.
Dozens of people have also been killed in other countries in the region since the conflict began. Deaths because of the conflict have been reported in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, the occupied West Bank, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia since February 28, according to local authorities.
CNN’s Charbel Mallo, Aqeel Najim, Nechirvan Mando, Dana Karni, Eugenia Yosef, Oren Liebermann, Tal Shalev, Tamar Michaelis, Haley Britzky, Brad Lendon, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Isabelle D’Antonio and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
White House reiterates Iran war timeline is "approximately 4 to 6 weeks"
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that the timeline for the war with Iran is still four to six weeks when asked if the conflict will end before President Donald Trump’s planned trip to China in mid May.
“Again, as I’ve said, we’ve always estimated approximately four to six weeks. So, you could do the math on that,” Leavitt said during today’s White House press briefing.
Trump has suggested he wants to wrap up the war soon, although he has been noncommittal on a timeline.
Leavitt announced Wednesday that Trump’s trip to China, which was delayed after the start of the war, will now take place May 14 and 15.
White House declines to commit to seek congressional authorization before deploying troops
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to promise that President Donald Trump would seek congressional authorization before deploying troops in Iran, saying Monday only that “at this moment, it’s unnecessary.”
“The formal authorization from Congress is not necessary because we’re currently in major combat operations in Iran,” she said during a press briefing.
Leavitt added that the administration “will always abide by the law,” but did not address how the White House would handle any decision to put US soldiers on the ground.
“The president likes to maintain options at his disposal,” she later said when asked about the approximately 1,000 US soldiers with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division preparing to deploy in coming days to the Middle East.
More than 1,750 people killed in Iran, state media reports, citing official
More than 1,750 people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli war began on February 28, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported today, citing an Iranian official.
The update is the first full death toll released by any Iranian official in weeks and came in a speech delivered to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by Iran’s deputy permanent representative, Pouria Kolivand.
In addition to the more than 1,750 people killed in the war, 22,800 people have been injured and hundreds of hospitals and schools have been destroyed, Kolivand said, according to IRNA.
Some 3 million people inside the country have been displaced, and 500,000 have been made homeless, he continued.
Earlier today, the country’s Health Ministry said that 208 children have been killed in the conflict, IRNA reported.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said yesterday that at least 1,455 civilians, including 217 children, and 1,167 military personnel have been killed since February 28. It described an additional 669 fatalities as “unclassified” because it has not yet determined whether they were civilian or military.
How the Iran war is renewing demand for China's electric vehicles
The Iran war has left energy-starved nations in Asia resorting to increasingly extreme measures to keep their economies afloat. Many consumers on the continent are turning to electric vehicles from China as an alternative.
CNN’s Stephanie Yang reports on the renewed demand in Asia for cheap electric vehicles:
The United States and Israel’s war with Iran has sent fuel prices skyrocketing. Stephanie Yang reports this is also sparking interest in clean energy and could give China’s EV makers a much-needed boost.
Remember: Asian countries are heavily reliant on imports from the Middle East, which accounts for about 60% of the region’s oil supply.
Amid US diplomacy, Netanyahu says war on Iran "is still ongoing"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that “the broader campaign against Iran is still ongoing, despite what is reported in the media,” amid the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts to engage with Iran.
Speaking to mayors and local officials from Israel’s northern border communities, Netanyahu addressed Israel’s continuing military campaign against Hezbollah and said “the dismantling of Hezbollah remains a top priority,” which he linked to Israel’s wider conflict with Iran. “We are fully resolved to do everything necessary to fundamentally change the situation in Lebanon,” he said.
Netanyahu told the mayors that Israel is expanding its military presence in what he described as a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon. He said it was established to push Hezbollah forces farther from the border and to protect Israeli communities.
“We have created a genuine security buffer that prevents any ground incursion into the Galilee and our northern border,” he said. “In essence, we are creating a broader safety belt.”
The Israeli prime minister said Israel has neutralized “most of Hezbollah’s missile threat,” though he acknowledged that “there is still work to do.” He added that Israeli forces have “eliminated” the threat of a Hezbollah ground invasion, which he described as “an incursion by thousands of Radwan fighters, above and below ground.” He referred to an elite Hezbollah special operations unit whose mission is to infiltrate Israeli territory.
“We have eliminated that threat,” Netanyahu said. “It no longer exists.”
US sent Iran a 15-point proposal as White House seeks talks with Tehran. Read more here
President Donald Trump’s view of the war with Iran shifted this week after he initially issued an ultimatum over the Strait of Hormuz, only to pull back after a few conversations with a mystery official in Tehran.
Now, sources say the White House is working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off-ramp to the war. This comes as the US shared a 15-point list of expectations with Iran via Pakistan, sources said.
Meanwhile, the war continues to wreak havoc in the region. If you’re just joining us, catch up on the latest developments:
On potential US-Iran negotiations:
- An Iranian official has outlined five conditions for ending the war in response to a 15-point proposal from the US, state media outlet Press TV reported on Wednesday.
- Earlier, Iran said it will not accept a ceasefire and believes it would not be “logical” for it to enter talks with the US, Iran’s semi-official news agency Fars reported, citing a source with knowledge of the diplomatic activity.
- Separately, Israel is concerned that the US may declare a one-month ceasefire in order to facilitate negotiations with Iran, two Israeli sources said.
Strait of Hormuz:
- Many container ships delivering cargo from China to the Middle East are taking three times as long to reach the region than usual, a shipping analyst said.
- Multiple vessels have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since Tuesday morning, tracking data appears to show, as Iran says it will charge countries a fee for safe passage through the critical waterway.
- An oil company CEO and Germany’s economic minister have warned that energy shortages could hit Europe starting next month, if the war with Iran does not end.
Impact of war on the region:
- Israeli authorities rejected an Iranian claim that missiles struck Israel’s largest power plant. Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency posted a video, geolocated by CNN, showing a large plume of smoke rising into the sky close to the plant, which it said had been hit in a wave of strikes.
- Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy after multiple Iraqi service members were killed in an attack on a health care clinic associated with the country’s Defense Ministry, a military spokesperson said.
- Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem rejected talks with Israel while Lebanon remains under fire, deeming any negotiation in current conflict conditions “forced surrender.”
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, Jennifer Hansler, Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes, Adam Pourahmadi, Lauren Kent, Nadeen Ebrahim, Eugenia Yosef, Anna Cooban, Billy Stockwell, Aqeel Najim, Catherine Nicholls, Ibrahim Dahman, Charlotte Reck, Olesya Dmitracova and Tal Shalev contributed to this report.
IDF says it struck Iran's only submarine research center
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck an underwater-research center in Iran, an attack that it claimed has significantly stunted Iran’s ability to make submarines.
The strike on Tuesday targeted the facility in Iran’s central Isfahan province and has “significantly” limited Iran’s ability to “manufacture new and advanced submarines for the Iranian Navy, as well as upgrade its existing fleet,” the IDF said Wednesday.
According to the IDF, this center was the only one in Iran responsible for the design and development of submarines, as well as support systems for Iran’s navy.
EasyJet urges customers to book early and warns of potential summer price hike
EasyJet is advising globetrotters to book air travel tickets early to avoid a potential price hike toward the end of the summer if the Middle East conflict continues, a spokesperson for the company told CNN.
“We simply don’t know what pricing will be as it is dependent on a number of different factors,” including capacity, costs and demand, the spokesperson said. “Passengers will be more likely to get the best fares if they book early.”
On Monday, CEO Kenton Jarvis told Reuters passengers are protected in the short term as EasyJet is highly hedged regarding its fuel requirements in the coming months. But he warned higher prices will start “feeding through to the consumer towards the back end of the summer” if the war continues.
Jarvis’ comments to Reuters came just days after he told CNN’s Richard Quest the airline will not introduce a fuel surcharge as it contradicts their budget-friendly policies.
The aviation industry is working to keep customers’ costs stable amid surging oil prices caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that allows the flow of 20% of the global oil supply.
Iran responds to US proposal with its own conditions for ending the war, state media reports
An Iranian official has outlined five conditions for ending the war in response to a 15-point proposal from the United States, state media outlet Press TV reported Wednesday.
It is unclear if the person, whom Press TV described as a senior political-security official with knowledge of the details of the proposal, is authorized to speak on behalf of the Iranian government. But it’s notable that the information was reported by Press TV — an English-language state-run media outlet — suggesting that its intended audience was the American side and other English speakers.
According to Press TV, the conditions include:
- A complete halt to “aggression and assassinations.”
- Establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure the war on Iran does not resume.
- Guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations.
- The condition that the war is concluded across all fronts and for all Iranian proxies throughout the region (which would require an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon that are targeting Hezbollah).
- Guarantee that Iran can exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and that its legal right to the strait is recognized.
Press TV also reported that the Iranian official said Tehran will not allow US President Donald Trump to dictate the timing of the end of the war, noting: “Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met.”
Remember: It is unclear who is calling the shots in Iran, and if officials speaking to Iranian state media and semi-official media outlets are authorized to do so. Earlier this week, Trump said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were involved in discussions that he said Iran initiated, but he did not share whom the US officials were talking with.
As focus remains on Iran, framework to build on Gaza ceasefire takes step forward
While attention remains focused on the Israel-US war with Iran, efforts to build on the shaky ceasefire agreement for Gaza — which was brokered by the Trump administration almost six months ago — took a tentative step forward at the United Nations on Tuesday.
Among the sticking points since the agreement was reached between Isreal and Hamas has been the issue of weapons decommissioning by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the man charged with making it happen, High Representative Nickolay Mladenov, shared first details of the process by which it is supposed to take place.
Speaking to a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Mladenov said the most dangerous weapons — rockets, heavy munitions, explosive devices and assault rifles — would be addressed first, with arms being placed under the control of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a transitional Palestinian authority set up under the auspices of the ceasefire agreement.
Decommissioning, Mladenov underlined, would proceed “in parallel with staged withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
He said this framework had been approved by all four of the agreement’s guarantor states — the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar — and he appealed to the international community to pressure militant groups to hand over their arms.
In addition, Mladenov said the framework includes “pathways for individuals currently affiliated with armed groups to re-enter civilian life with dignity, through structured amnesty arrangements and reintegration programs.”
When any of this might happen, however, he did not reveal.
“I will not go into the operational details of the timelines or the status of our discussions with the parties. Agreement on the implementation of the framework requires space, and I ask all to respect that space,” Mladenov said.
Israel concerned US may declare ceasefire to allow for talks with Iran
Israel is concerned that the US may declare a one-month ceasefire in order to facilitate negotiations with Iran, two Israeli sources told CNN, as Washington appears to be stepping up diplomacy efforts to end the ongoing war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to discuss the latest developments with his security cabinet Wednesday evening, one of the sources said. Ahead of that meeting, Netanyahu will hold a smaller consultation with his top security officials.
According to the second Israeli source, Netanyahu was briefed and updated on a 15-point proposal recently passed by the US to Iran aimed at ending the conflict. Israel remains sceptical about the prospect of a breakthrough agreement at the moment, the source added.
Meanwhile, Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and the IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir have approved additional targets in Iran, according to a statement from Katz’s office. An Israeli military source told CNN that operational planning continues as scheduled and there has been no change in the US-Israeli military campaign, despite the US diplomatic statements.
Energy shortages could come to Europe next month
Both an oil company CEO and Germany’s economic minister have warned that energy shortages could hit Europe starting next month, if the war with Iran does not end.
The conflict in the oil-rich Middle East that started on February 28 has already dented supplies of jet fuel — with diesel and then gasoline set to be next, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said at the CERAWeek energy conference in Texas, according to Reuters.
The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, ordinarily a conduit for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas output, and attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East have severely disrupted global fuel supplies.
At the same conference, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche was asked how the global energy crunch was affecting her country.
“We don’t see any scarcities in terms of volume but, if the conflict doesn’t end, we see this probably later, April or May,” she said, according to a video recording of her comments posted on the event’s website.
Two paramedics killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Health Ministry says
Two paramedics were killed in an Israeli strike on their motorcycle while they were traveling to carry out a rescue mission in the Lebanese city of Nabatieh yesterday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a statement today.
Ali Jaber and Joud Suleiman were wearing their paramedic uniforms, and their motorcycle was clearly labeled and equipped with emergency lights, the Health Ministry said.
Pictures from funeral ceremonies for the pair today show dozens of mourners paying their respects.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have continued today, with the IDF claiming to have struck Hezbollah facilities across the country. It said it also attacked locations in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut and a number of places in southern Lebanon.
In an update a short while ago, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 1,094 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the country since March 2. At least 121 children have been killed, it said yesterday.
CNN’s Dana Karni and Charbel Mallo contributed to this report.
