Trump claims Iran president asked for ceasefire ahead of key US address

Iran on Wednesday denied US President Donald Trump's assertion that Tehran had asked for a ceasefire, state television reported, citing the foreign ministry.

"Trump's statements about Iran's request for a ceasefire are false and baseless," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei was quoted as saying.

Kuwaiti firefighters on Wednesday extinguished a fire that broke out earlier in the day in fuel tanks at Kuwait airport following an Iranian drone attack, the government said. There were no casualties, and only material damage was reported.

Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday that Israeli attacks have killed 1,318 people in the country since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, raising a previous toll of 1,268 a day earlier.

The ministry statement said the toll included 91 women, 125 children and 53 health workers, with 3,935 other people wounded.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in the Middle East during a visit to Japan on Wednesday.

Macron, who held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, said they both believe in international law, the international order and the democratic values, adding: “This is why ... we both advocate for a return to peace, a ceasefire, calm, and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Takaichi said the two leaders agreed on the importance of quickly de-escalating the conflict and to secure the safety of the vital waterway and the stable supply of goods.

“With the international environment increasingly severe, I believe it is especially meaningful for the Japanese and French leaders to deepen our friendship and cooperation," Takaichi said at a joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.

The leaders said they also agreed to deepen their cooperation in defense, rare earths development, nuclear energy, space and other areas.

Japan and France have in recent years bolstered their defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, where France, which has troops, citizens and resources across the region, seeks to protect its interests and show its presence alongside like-minded democracies concerned about China’s growing influence.

Earlier Tuesday, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin signed a road map of defense cooperation between the two countries through increased joint exercises and exchanges in the Indo-Pacific.

Separately, the Japanese and French trade ministers signed a deal in a joint rare earths project.

China controls most of the global production of rare earths, which are used for making powerful, heat-resistant magnets in industries such as defense and electric vehicles.

Macron and Takaichi said the two sides agreed to cooperate in the development of a fast reactor and nuclear fuel recycling program in which Japan has been struggling.

Macron was in Japan as U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that the responsibility for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open would be on countries that rely on it, saying “That’s not for us. That’ll be for France” and “whoever’s using the strait.”

Trump has been seen as increasingly annoyed about Europe's lack of support for the U.S.-Israeli war. He lashed out at France, saying it has been “very unhelpful.”

Macron did not mention Trump or his comment at the news conference, where reporters were not allowed to ask questions.

Israel's military on Wednesday said it killed senior Hezbollah commander Haj Youssef Ismail Hashem in the biggest blow to the group since a fresh bout of fighting with Israel erupted early last month.

Israel's navy killed Hashem, the commander of Hezbollah's southern front, the country's military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X. Hezbollah later confirmed his death in a statement Wednesday, calling him a "beacon of the Islamic Resistance."

His death is considered one of the biggest setbacks suffered by the group since the killing of chief of staff Haytham Ali Tabtabai in November 2025.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has lost most of its senior commanders following its last war with Israel that raged from October 2023 to November 2024.

Hashem had inherited his position from Ali Karaki, killed alongside the group's former leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack on September 2024.

"He is a tier-one commander and this is the harshest blow we have been subject to since the assassination of Tabtabai," a senior Hezbollah official told news agency Reuters.

Haytham Ali Tabtabai was appointed as chief of staff following the group's 2024 war with Israel. He was killed on the outskirts of the capital Beirut in an operation that had targeted the group after it struck a ceasefire deal with Israel that brought an end to the fighting. 

The United States will be "out of Iran pretty quickly" and could return for "spot hits" if needed, President Donald Trump told news agency Reuters on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to make a primetime address to the nation.

Trump also said he would express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance's lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran.

He said he is "absolutely" considering an attempt to withdraw the United States from NATO.

Asked when the United States would consider the Iran war over, Trump said: "I can't tell you exactly .... we're going to be out pretty quickly."

He said US action has ensured Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

"They won't have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I'll leave, and I'll take everybody with me, and if we have to we'll come back to do spot hits," Trump said. 

Iran's Revolutionary Guards insisted on Wednesday that the strategic strait of Hormuz will remain closed to the country's "enemies" as US President Donald Trump said he would only consider a ceasefire if it was reopened.

"The situation in the Strait of Hormuz is also firmly and dominantly under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' naval forces," the Guards said in a statement carried on state TV, adding that it "will not be opened to the enemies of this nation".

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran has asked for a ceasefire but that the United States would only consider this once the Strait of Hormuz is clear for shipping.

Iran's president "has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!"

There was no independent confirmation of Trump's claim to the ceasefire request.

Iran and countries across the Middle East are using the war as an excuse to clamp down on rights, the UN warned Wednesday as it denounced attempts to limit media freedom in Israel and the United States.

"We are witnessing a sharp securitisation of civic space across the region, with severe restrictions imposed by governments on people exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

He also decried "attempts to limit media freedom, such as restrictions imposed by Israeli military censorship authorities, and a threat by the US Federal Communications Commission to revoke broadcast licences for coverage deemed critical of the war."

Germany has made clear to the Israeli government that blocking access to holy sites in Jerusalem threatened to make tensions there worse, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"I think we made our position very clear to the Israeli government on this matter, even in internal discussions," said the spokesperson.

"Denying access to the holy sites is something that, in our view, threatens to further inflame the already tense situation on the ground," added the spokesperson.

Israel blocked Jerusalem's Catholic cardinal from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sparking an international outcry that led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse the ban for the remainder of Holy Week.

Iranian authorities warned NATO member Bulgaria last month not to let the US use its airports for planes participating in military operations in Iran, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Stanislav Balabanov, a deputy with the "There is Such People" party, showed a note from March 18 in which the Iranian government protested against US military refuelling planes parked at Bulgaria's Vasil Levski airport.

In the note, Iran said it "reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, security and national interests in accordance with international law."

Later on Wednesday, in a statement to reporters, Deputy Foreign Minister Marin Raikov confirmed the note and said: "Bulgaria is not at war."

"No combat aircraft are being loaded over Bulgaria to participate in military operations," he told reporters. "We maintain intact diplomatic relations with the Iranian side."

In late February, Bulgarian media reported that several US military planes landed at the Sofia Vasil Levski civilian airport, and authorities have said they were part of the NATO forward deployment which Raikov confirmed on Wednesday.

"Our parliament has not approved decisions to support relevant military actions in the Strait of Hormuz region," he said. Some European countries, concerned over the war with Iran, have pushed back on U.S. military operations.

Spain closed its airspace and denied base access, Italy rejected a stopover at Sigonella base, and France blocked overflight of US–Israel weapons flights.

Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus and its surrounding areas, state TV al Ekhbariyah reported on Wednesday, adding that the blasts were likely caused by Israeli air defences intercepting Iranian missiles.

Euro zone bond yields dropped on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the end of the war on Iran could be near, a development that would ease traders' fears about high energy prices driving inflation and interest rate hikes.

Germany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the euro zone,dropped to a two-week low of 2.93% in early trading and was last at 2.96%, still down 5 basis points.

Germany's rate-sensitive two-year yield also fell 5 bps to 2.57%, and traders also reduced the amount of European Central Bank rate hikes they expect this year - they are pricing in two 25-bp rate hikes, and see a third as a toss-up, compared with earlier in the week when they thought three hikes were near certain.

"We'll be leaving very soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, saying the exit could take place "within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three."

The remarks underscored the shifting and at times contradictory timelines and statements from Washington about how and when the war, now in its fifth week, might end, and attacks took place on multiple fronts early on Wednesday.

But the comments, alongside a planned address by Trump to the nation scheduled for 9 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (0100 GMT on Thursday) were enough to drive some optimism across stock and bond markets. European shares rose 2% and were set for their biggest daily gain in nearly a year.

Italian debt, which has underperformed in recent weeks on the view the country is more exposed to higher energy prices, outperformed on Wednesday.

Italy's 10-year yield was down nearly 9 bps at 3.82%.

An Indian national was injured following a drone interception in an industrial zone of the northern emirate of Umm Al Quwain in the UAE on Wednesday, authorities said.

The Umm Al Quwain media office reported an incident "near a facility in the Umm Al Thuoob Industrial Area, resulting from falling shrapnel following the successful interception of a drone by air defence systems".

"The incident led to the injury of one Indian national," the statement shared on the official news agency WAM said.

A Bangladeshi national was killed by falling shrapnel after a drone interception in the United Arab Emirates, the official WAM news agency said on Wednesday.

"Shrapnel falling from the interception of a drone... resulted in the killing of a person of Bangladeshi nationality," WAM posted on X, adding that the incident happened in Fujairah, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz.

US-Israeli strikes have hit steel complexes in central and southwest Iran, causing damage to production units, Iranian media said Wednesday.

"Initial assessments indicate massive attacks, with significant damage and destruction to production units" at the complex of the Mobarakeh Steel Company, one of Iran's biggest, in the central province of Isfahan, Fars news agency reported, quoting a statement by the company.

It added that one of the company's subsidiaries, Sefid Dasht Steel, in the southwestern Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, had also "sustained damage and losses".

Britain will this week host a meeting of about 35 countries to discuss how to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz which has been crippled by the Middle East war, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday.

The meeting will "assess all viable diplomatic and political measures that we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and resume the movement of vital commodities", Starmer told reporters.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were no negotiations with the United States and that Tehran had not responded to a reported 15-point proposal from Washington to end the war.

"We receive messages from the American side, some direct and some through our friends in the region, and whenever necessary we respond to these messages," Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday and dubbed into Arabic from Persian.

"There are no grounds for negotiations," he said, adding however that some messages had been exchanged directly with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Iranian media had reported that Tehran offered a five-point counterproposal calling for an end to what it described as "aggression" and for guarantees that neither the United States nor Israel would resume hostilities.

Araghchi, however, said Tehran "has not offered anything in response" to the US plan and that reported Iranian responses were "merely guesses" from a media outlet.

Iran's foreign minister said there was "zero" trust in the United States and that Iran would not accept a ceasefire, instead calling for a "complete end to the war" and reparations.

Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday that Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and a nearby town killed at least seven people, as Israel's military said it had targeted senior Hezbollah members.

The health ministry said an Israeli raid early Wednesday in the Jnah area, which borders Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, killed at least five people and wounded 21 others.

The sound of several large explosions had been heard across the city, and a column of smoke was seen rising from the Jnah area, which is home to apartment buildings, cafes and shops.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the strike originated from a warship.

A separate strike that hit a vehicle in Khaldeh, just south of the capital, late Tuesday killed two people and wounded three, the health ministry said.

Israel's military said it had struck a "senior Hezbollah commander" and another member of the group in two separate strikes "in the Beirut area", without naming the targets or exact locations.

The NNA also reported a strike early Wednesday on the Hadath district in Beirut's southern suburbs, which has largely emptied of residents following repeated Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.

US President Donald Trump is set to make his planned address to the American public on the month-long war in the Middle East he said could end within weeks.

Trump, whose statements on the war have swung from combative to conciliatory, had earlier said the war could be over in "two weeks, maybe three".

"But we're finishing the job," he insisted.

The White House said he would give "an important update on Iran" to the nation at 9:00 pm Wednesday (0100 GMT Thursday).

His Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian meanwhile assured that the Islamic republic had the "necessary will" to end the war, provided its enemies guaranteed it would not flare up again.

The comments came as Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened major US tech firms from Wednesday if more Iranian leaders were killed in "targeted assassinations".

The Guards said that 18 companies, including Intel, Tesla and Palantir, were complicit in previous killings and warned they should expect "destruction" if there were any further deaths.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign would go on, even after insisting the conflict had "changed the face of the Middle East" and eradicated Iran's ballistic and nuclear threats.

"We had to act, and we acted," he said in a televised statement on the eve of the Passover holidays. "We will continue to crush the terror regime."

Israel's emergency medical service said an 11-year-old girl was in serious condition after a missile attack that the military blamed on Iran and police said caused damage at several sites.

The military said it had "identified missiles launched from Iran towards the territory of the State of Israel" for the first time in about 20 hours, with air raid sirens activated across central Israel.

Another warning of incoming missile fire came less than an hour later, prompting alerts across large parts of northern and central Israel, according to the military's Home Front Command.

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said an 11-year-old girl was seriously wounded by shrapnel in central Israel as a result of the first launch.

Spokesman Zaki Heller told Israeli TV that at least 12 others were also wounded, including a 13-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman in moderate condition, all from the same impact site.

Police reported damage at several sites in central Israel, sharing an image of what appears to be missile debris on a road.

Israeli media said cluster munitions, which explode mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area, were used in the attack.

Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using cluster bombs.

In Iran, Israel said it had hit a plant producing fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly be used in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used for medical purposes.

The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.

Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.

Both Israel and the United States have alleged in recent years that Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions.

Early Wednesday a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit with a projectile, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew was reportedly unharmed.

A fully-loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.

Bahrain sounded two alerts for incoming missiles, and said an Iranian attack had caused a fire at a business facility.

In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone had hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “large fire” that crews were working to control.

Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, which has come under repeated Iranian attack, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.