Iran war: Trump says Tehran asking for ceasefire from US, bombings continue in Iran

More than 1,150 Indian nationals have exited Iran through land border crossings into Armenia and Azerbaijan since the start of the West Asia conflict, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that the Indian embassy in Tehran has so far facilitated the movement of 1,171 citizens, including 818 students, out of Iran via these routes. He also confirmed that 3 Indians were injured in attacks in the UAE on Tuesday.

US Vice President JD Vance has been engaging with intermediaries over the ongoing Middle East conflict, with contacts continuing as recently as Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

According to the source, Donald Trump has instructed Vance to privately convey that Washington is open to a ceasefire, provided certain conditions are met. These include the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy route disrupted amid the conflict.

The backchannel outreach points to possible diplomatic movement, even as tensions in the region remain high.

Iran’s Culture and Tourism Minister Reza Salehi Amiri described the US and Israeli attacks on cultural sites as a “permanent scar”, calling them a deliberate and conscious assault on Iran’s identity, according to Al Jazeera.

“We are not talking about stone and mortar,” Amiri said, pointing to a damaged chandelier. “We are talking about the memory and history of a people. This stone represents who we are.”

Explosions were reported in the cities of Ahvaz and Mahshahr in southwestern Iran, according to local authorities.

A provincial security official said a series of blasts hit eastern and northwestern parts of Ahvaz, along with Mahshahr in Khuzestan province, amid ongoing tensions in the region. (aa.com.tr)

Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that Iran has asked the US for a ceasefire to the ongoing conflict, adding that the request will only be considered when the Strait of Hormuz is "open, free and clear".

"Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!," The US President wrote in a post on Truth Social.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that on the diplomatic front, India continues to remain engaged with the international community. The Prime Minister spoke with Netherlands Prime Minister Rob Jetten, and both leaders discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral ties. They also exchanged views on the situation in West Asia, emphasising the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region.

He added that the External Affairs Minister also held a conversation with Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, during which both sides exchanged views on the ongoing West Asia conflict.

Jaiswal further stated that India’s embassy in Tehran has so far facilitated the movement of 1,171 Indian nationals. This includes 818 Indian students who exited Iran via land borders into Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Iran on Wednesday said its Security Council has approved safe passage to Bangladesh's six fuel-carrying ships waiting to cross the Strait of Hormuz amid continued war in West Asia.

Israel said Hezbollah’s southern front commander, Hajj Yusuf Ismail Hashem, was killed in a strike in Beirut. 

"Hajj Yusuf Ismail Hashem, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front Hashem, eliminated by the Israeli Navy in a strike in Beirut, was a senior commander with 40+ years of experience, and was a central figure in Hezbollah that led its rehabilitation & commanded attacks toward Israel, the IDF said in a post on X.

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei praised Hezbollah and pledged ongoing support in a message to the group’s chief.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said its latest wave of attacks, carried out alongside allied “resistance fronts”, involved more than 100 heavy missiles and attack drones, as well as at least 200 rockets, according to Al Jazeera.

The IRGC said the strikes targeted multiple locations in Israel, along with US military positions in the Gulf, including a site hosting US forces in Bahrain and a US helicopter unit at the al Adiri base in Kuwait, where it claimed one helicopter was destroyed.

Multiple drones attacked a northern Iraq fuel warehouse linked to British oil and natural gas giant BP, a firm operating the facility said. No casualties were reported.

The southern Iranian cities of Kerman and the nearby Sirjan have been targeted by US-Israeli attacks, Iranian media is reporting.

Police in southern Iran's province of Lorestan say they shot down a US-made "Lucas" drone in the city of Khorramabad, Iranian media report.

A Qatari oil tanker was struck by an Iranian cruise missile on Wednesday while two others were intercepted, authorities said. The missile slammed into the tanker which is contracted by state-owned QatarEnergy. The ministry said the tanker’s 21-member crew was evacuated, and no casualties were reported.

A drone attack has killed a citizen of Bangladesh in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, authorities said. He was killed Wednesday when Emirati air defense systems intercepted a drone, and shrapnel landed in a farm, the Fujairah media office said. The fatality has brought the death toll in the UAE to nine civilians and two soldiers. A Moroccan contractor with the UAE army was also killed in Bahrain.

Emergency personnel said an 11-year-old girl was severely wounded in central Israel in the latest missile attack from Iran. Two more people suffered moderate injuries including a 13-year-old boy and a 36-year-old woman, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said in a preliminary count early Wednesday 21 people were also wounded in the strike in Jnah. The strike came without warning, and Israel did not declare the target. When it does, it often says it is targeting operatives from the Hezbollah militant group. Emergency workers rushed to the scene to search for victims.

The ISNA news agency is reporting that the nurses were killed at the scene of their service and that, despite the killings, medical services continue without disruption. The agency cited the director general of the Nursing System Organisation.

Israel’s military warned the public Wednesday that a missile was incoming from Yemen, yet another attack from the country’s Houthi rebels who have just entered the war on Iran’s side.

A drone attack by Iran and its allies hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, authorities said. The state-run KUNA news agency said the attack early Wednesday sparked a “large fire” at the airport. It said there were no immediate injuries from the attack and firefighters were working to control the blaze. Kuwait International Airport has been attacked before by Iran during the war. The KUNA report suggested the attack may have been launched by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq with Tehran’s support.

In another strike, Bahrain said early on Wednesday morning that it was working to extinguish a fire at a business facility that resulted from an Iranian attack.

The Central Command has responded to an investigation by the New York Times, which found that a short-range US ballistic missile called the PrSM was used in a deadly attack on a sports hall and residential area in the city of Lamerd on February 28.

The Ministry of Interior says civil defence crews are extinguishing a fire in a facility of a company as a result of the Iranian aggression. "Relevant authorities are taking their measures at the site," it added, without naming the company.

Israel said early Wednesday it struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied hospital drugs used in medical operations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the "finish line" in the war on Iran is coming soon as the conflict enters its fifth week. "We can see the finish line. It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming," Rubio told Fox News's "Hannity" show. He added that a direct meeting with Iranian officials could be possible at some point. The comments came after Trump said that the US could wrap up its military operation against Iran within two to three weeks.

Argentina designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, according to media reports. 

The formal injury count, provided by Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, says six service members were wounded seriously. Central Command said last Friday in a previous update that 303 troops were wounded, 10 of them seriously. It was not clear why the tally of serious injuries has since been decreased. Hawkins said of the total wounded to date, 315 service members have returned to duty.

It’s not clear whether the official US military count includes the injured from multiple attacks on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan air base last week. Since the Iran war began, 13 US service members have been killed in combat.

US President Donald Trump predicted the US will be done with the conflict "within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. But we want to knock out every single thing they have." Despite repeatedly listing four or five objectives for the war, Trump said he "had one goal: They will have no nuclear weapon and that goal has been attained." He did not explain how he felt that goal had been reached. He said the US may strike a deal with Iran before the next few weeks are up but said, if not, "We'll hit some bridges, got a couple of nice bridges in mind. But if they come to the table, that’ll be good."

Israel's military said very early on Wednesday morning that it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander and another senior leader in two separate strikes in the Beirut area.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that Trump will "give an Address to the Nation to provide an important update on Iran" at 9 pm EDT on Wednesday. Her post came shortly after Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening that US forces could leave Iran in "two or three weeks."

Early on Wednesday morning, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed two drones in the previous hours. A Gulf ally of the United States, the country has been targeted by Iran repeatedly. This week, more than two dozen American service members were injured from missile and drone attacks on a Saudi air base.

A tanker came under attack off the coast of Qatar early Wednesday, authorities said. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center announced the attack happened, saying a projectile slammed into the side of the ship. It said no environmental damage was done and the tanker's crew was safe.