Israel strikes uranium processing facility in Iran

The Israeli military confirmed it struck a uranium processing site in Yazd, central Iran, on Friday, after the Islamic republic’s atomic energy organisation said US-Israeli strikes hit the facility.

“A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force... struck a uranium extraction plant located in Yazd, central Iran,” the military said in a statement, describing the site as a “unique facility in Iran used for the production of raw materials required for the uranium enrichment process”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday he had made progress with allies in opposing Iranian threats to start “tolling” vessels that pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable, it’s dangerous to the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it,” Rubio told reporters in Paris after a G7 meeting, where he said he found “a lot of buy-in” to opposing the Iranian plan.

The US-Israeli war against Iran is unlikely to lead to “regime change”, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, as the month-long conflict showed no signs of abating.

“Is regime change really the goal?” he said at a forum in Frankfurt organised by the FAZ newspaper. “If that’s the goal, I don’t think you’ll achieve it. It’s mostly gone wrong” in past conflicts, he said, pointing to the Afghanistan war.

Israel warned Friday it will expand its attacks on Iran as Tehran kept firing missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab nations. The US military also continued striking Iran, while President Donald Trump delayed his threat to obliterate Iran’s energy plants over its effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel has moved thousands of troops across the border into Lebanon, where Israeli officials said they want to take control of the entire area south of the Litani River - some 20 miles (about 30 kilometers) north of the border.

Facing a convulsing stock market, Trump extended a deadline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz until April 6, saying Iran asked for the grace period and that talks were going “very well,” despite the fact Iran continues to publicly insist it is not negotiating with the White House on a 15-point proposal to end the conflict.

The war has killed more than 1,900 people in Iran and nearly 1,100 in Lebanon. Eighteen people have died in Israel, while four Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. Thirteen US military members have died, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

The United Nations on Friday announced the creation of a new task force focused on addressing the rippling effects the Iran war has had on humanitarian aid and agriculture production getting through the critical waterway.

“While the Secretary-General is committed to making every effort to achieve a comprehensive and durable settlement of the conflict, immediate action is essential to mitigate these consequences,” Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson, said during a daily briefing.

The task force will include representatives from the world body’s trade, maritime and commerce agencies, who will focus on developing and proposing technical mechanism to get critical aid through the strait. It will be modeled after similar UN initiatives, including the humanitarian operation in Gaza and the inspection and monitoring mechanism for Yemen. Iran’s judiciary has threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said.

The celebrity athlete’s assets were on a list of 16 individuals judicial authorities in the northern province of Golestan planned on confiscating, according to the Fars news agency.

The list included Iranian musician Mohsen Yeghaneh, both agencies added.

The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.

Azmoun was dropped from Iran’s national team after a posting on his Instagram account showed a photo of him with political leaders of a Gulf State.

After security forces shot thousands of anti-government protesters in early January, Yeghaneh posted a message on his Instagram saying “every compatriot whose blood is spilled on the ground waters the tree of hatred for the oppressor.”

Agencies