Trump threatens 'high level of bombing' if Iran deal not agreed

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Major US passenger airlines spent just over $5 billion on jet fuel in March, up $1.8 billion or 56 percent from what they spent in February, the USTransportation Department said on Wednesday.

The cost per gallon of fuel in March was $3.13, up 74 cents, and 31 percent over February. Fuel use rose 20% in March, USDOT added.

Since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have roiled global oil markets. Surging jet fuel prices have created the air travel industry's biggest crisis since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Airlines spent $3.88 billion in March 2025 on jet fuel, far below the $5.06 billion they spent in March of this year.

Major US carriers have hiked air fares and baggage fees, cutting some routes and making other cost cuts. Fuel accounts for up to a quarter of airline operating expenses.

Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that Washington was seeking Tehran's surrender through various means, including a naval blockade.

"The enemy, in its new design, is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country's cohesion in order to force us to surrender," Ghalibaf said in a voice message published on his official Telegram channel.

An Israeli airstrike killed a senior officer in the Gaza Strip's Interior Ministry, health officials and Hamas sources said on Wednesday.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed Naseem al-Kalazani, a colonel in the Hamas-run police force, when it targeted his vehicle near the al-Mawasi area in western Khan Younis, south of the enclave. The attack wounded at least 17 other people, they added.

Kalazani led the anti-narcotics force in Khan Younis, Hamas sources said. Reuters has previously ⁠reported that Israel has intensified its attacks on Gaza's Hamas-run police force, which the militant​group has used to reinforce its hold in the areas it controls in the strip.

There was no ​immediate Israeli comment on the incident.

France's aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle was on Wednesday heading towards the southern Red Sea to pre?position for a possible mission to restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the presidency and defence ministry said.

President Emmanuel Macron's office said the move was intended to send "a signal that not only are we ready to secure the Strait of Hormuz but that we are also capable of doing so".

The flagship of the French Navy and its escorts was transiting the Suez Canal en route to the southern Red Sea, the defence ministry said.

The decision was intended "to reduce the time needed to implement this initiative as soon as circumstances allow", the ministry said.

Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, while emphasising the force would be entirely defensive and only deployed once lasting peace in the region was agreed.

More than 40 countries have begun military planning in London.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Tehran was looking forward to China's support for a "new post-war" regional framework following its conflict with the United States.

Reiterating Iran's trust in China, Araghchi said his country "looks forward to" Beijing "supporting the establishment of a new post-war regional framework that can balance development and security", in a post on X.

Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to dismantle Hezbollah and saying the military was prepared to launch a new offensive against Iran if needed.

"We will seize every opportunity to deepen the dismantling of Hezbollah and continue weakening it," Zamir told soldiers in the area of the Lebanese town of Khiam.

He added that the military was also "on high alert to return to a powerful and broad operation that will enable us to deepen our achievements and further weaken the Iranian regime".

Iran has not yet responded to the latest US proposal aimed at ending the more than two-month war, Iran's Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source who added that the draft contained some unacceptable provisions.

"Using the language of threat against Iran is ineffective, could worsen the situation for the United States," the source said. 

Israel was not aware that US President Donald Trump was potentially close to a deal with Iran that would end the war and pave the way to unblock shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said.

Rather, Israel was preparing for an escalation in fighting, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli appeals court rejected on Wednesday a petition filed by two foreign activists contesting their detention by authorities, their lawyer told journalists.

"Today, the district court of Beersheva denied our appeal and basically accepted all of the arguments that the state or the police have represented before the court and kept the previous decision," Hadeel Abu Salih said, referring to a lower court's ruling on Tuesday permitting the activists' detention until Sunday.

Iran is reviewing a US proposal to end the more than two-month-old war and will convey its views to the mediator, Pakistan, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday according to ISNA news agency.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that it was "too soon" to consider face-to-face talks with Tehran, according to an interview with the New York Post as the US waited for a response to its proposal to end the war.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that if Iran honours what has been agreed to, the US-Israeli war on Iran could end and the Strait of Hormuz reopen.

"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran.

"If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said in post on Truth Social. 

Safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz will be ensured with US threats coming to an end and new procedures in place, the Revolutionary Guards' Navy said on Wednesday, according to state media, in Iran's first reaction to the US. pausing operations to help stranded ships pass through the strait.

The Guards' statement did not specify what the new procedures entailed and thanked owners and captains of ships for respecting Iranian regulations when moving through the waterway.

Oil prices dived on Wednesday, with international benchmark Brent sliding under $100 a barrel, on fresh hopes for an end to the Middle East war.

Brent North Sea crude slumped 9.3 percent to $99.64 a barrel, while the main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, plunged 10.7 percent to $91.33.

Washington believes it is close to reaching an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, according to US news outlet Axios.

An Israeli strike in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley on Wednesday killed four people, Lebanon's health ministry said, with local media reporting the attack took place before the Israeli army issued a warning to evacuate the area along with 11 other towns.

"An Israeli enemy raid on the town of Zellaya in West Bekaa resulted in four martyrs, including two women and an elderly man," the ministry said.

Lebanese state media said the attack struck the house of the town's mayor, killing him and three members of his family.

Israel's army said Wednesday it had begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas of Lebanon, despite a truce with the neighbouring country intended to halt fighting with the Iran-backed militant group.

"The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites in several areas in Lebanon," a military statement said.

It came shortly after the army reported "several incidents" during which drones exploded near Israeli soldiers operating in Lebanon's south. The strikes also follow a new Israeli evacuation warning for a dozen villages in south Lebanon issued earlier on Wednesday.

Israel will transfer jet fuel to Germany after Berlin requested assistance in recent days following the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement posted online by Israel's energy ministry on Wednesday.

The coordination of the cargoes will be carried out with the refineries, said the ministry, which did not give details about the amount of jet fuel or a timeline.

The ministry added that it would examine ways to assist Germany with the issue of natural gas as well.

The ministry said the move was agreed by Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who announced the move to his German counterpart during a visit to Berlin.

Concerns about a jet fuel supply crunch due to the war in Iran disrupting Middle East supplies have been growing in Europe, particularly as the peak summer travel season nears.

Fuel prices have surged since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran upended traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz, leading to the air travel industry's worst crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The attack on one of the vessels of French shipping group CMA CGM in the Strait of Hormuz shows that the situation remains dangerous but France was not specifically targeted by the attack, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said on Wednesday.

"France was in no way the target," Bregeon told reporters.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif - a key mediator in the war between the Iran and the United States and Israel - said Wednesday he was "hopeful" the current momentum on negotiations would lead to peace in the Middle East.

"We are very hopeful that the current momentum will lead to a lasting agreement that secures durable peace and stability for the region and beyond," he said in a post on X.

The White House believes it is getting close to an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing two US officials.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The United Nations on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately release two activists taken from a Gaza-bound flotilla, and demanded an investigation into "disturbing accounts" they had been severely mistreated.

"Israel must immediately and unconditionally release Global Sumud Flotilla members Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago de Avila, who were detained in international waters and brought to Israel where they continue to be held without charge," UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that China was "deeply distressed" over the war that has lasted more than two months and said a “comprehensive ceasefire" was needed.

China’s top diplomat met with Araghchi in Beijing, the first time the Iranian foreign minister traveled to China since the war with the US and Israel started 28 February,

"We believe that a comprehensive ceasefire is urgently needed, that a resumption of hostilities is not acceptable, and that it is particularly important to remain committed to dialogue and negotiations," Wang said, according to a video of the meeting.

A container ship owned by French shipping company CMA CGM was the "target of an attack" in the Strait of Hormuz, the major shipping firm said on Wednesday.

"The CMA CGM San Antonio was the target of an attack yesterday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in injuries among crew members and damage to the vessel," the shipping firm told AFP, adding those injured had been evacuated for treatment.

Israeli forces launched a large-scale operation in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, arresting dozens of people, Palestinian media reported,

Around 17 people have been arrested, including three women, across various parts of the Palestinian territory.

Arrests and raids took place in different neighbourhoods of Nablus, Qusra, Ramllah, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jerusalem.

A number of home demolitions were also reported,

The United States is looking for "concrete actions" by Iraq's next prime minister to distance the state from pro-Iran armed groups before resuming financial shipments and security aid, a senior official said Tuesday.

Iraq's ruling coalition has put forward Ali al-Zaidi as the next leader and he quickly received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump, who had threatened to end all US support if former frontrunner Nouri al-Maliki took office.

But a senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Zaidi must address the "blurry line" between pro-Iran armed groups in the Shia-majority country and the state.

Resuming full support "would start with expelling terrorist militias from any state institution, cutting off their support from the Iraqi budget (and) denying salary payments to these militia fighters," the official said.

"Those are the type of concrete actions that would give us confidence and say that there's a new mindset."

A fire ripped through a commercial complex near Iran's capital Tehran, killing at least eight people and leaving dozens more wounded, state media reported on Wednesday.

The blaze erupted on Tuesday in Arghavan commercial complex in the city of Andisheh, west of Tehran.

Footage broadcast by state television showed a multi-storey building on fire with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

According to state television, the fire injured 41 people.

The complex had more than 250 commercial units and 50 office units, according to local officials.

The Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Shahriar called for an investigation into the incident, to identify possible culprits.

It also issued an arrest warrant for the building's constructor.

Israel's military on Wednesday issued a new evacuation warning for a dozen villages in southern Lebanon ahead of expected strikes, despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt the fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 metres into open areas," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, listing 12 villages.