Iran Israel War Updates: US says Iran talks continue, will 'unleash hell' if no deal

The United States and Iran are still engaged in peace talks, the White House said Wednesday, despite Iranian state media saying Tehran had rejected Washington’s plan to end the war.

“Talks continue. They are productive,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked about the Iranian report, adding that there were “elements of truth” to media reports on the details of a 15-point US plan setting out demands on Tehran.

Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warned on Wednesday of the possible invasion of an Iranian island with the support of an unnamed regional country.

“Based on some intelligence reports, Iran’s enemies are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands with support from one of the regional states,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote in an X post.

“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with relentless, unceasing attacks.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted the U.S. is in ongoing talks even as Iranian officials deny it.

“Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday, and they continue to be,” Leavitt said at a White House briefing on Wednesday.

The White House warned that US President Donald Trump is ready to “unleash hell” on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal to end the war in the West Asia.

Iranian state-linked media claimed that the country’s air defence systems struck a US F/A-18 Super Hornet near Chahabar, citing accounts attributed to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A video circulating online purports to show the aircraft being engaged in the sky, though the footage has not been independently verified.

US President Donald Trump is ready to “unleash hell” on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal to end the war in the Middle East, the White House warned on Wednesday.

“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.

“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again.”

Russia said Wednesday it was “deeply outraged” by a reported strike on the grounds of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which it partially constructed and helps operate.

“We are extremely outraged by this reckless, irresponsible manifestation of a disastrous course,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

A projectile landed within the plant’s compound on Tuesday night, Iran’s atomic energy organisation said, accusing the United States and Israel of being responsible.

The United Nations’ refugee chief urged donors on Wednesday to provide more funds to manage the humanitarian fallout from the widening war in the Middle East, saying his agency had so far received less than 10% of the money it needs.

Thousands have been killed across the region and millions displaced in Iran and Lebanon since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February  28, prompting Tehran to retaliate with attacks on Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday and briefed him on Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach and ongoing peace efforts, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

He emphasized that Pakistan has consistently called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and resolve differences through dialogue and diplomacy.

After Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars natural gas field last week, Iran hit Qatar’s massive natural gas export facility, which QatarGas said caused “extensive” damage that will take years to repair.

Iran has set out conditions for a ceasefire while rejecting recent US proposals, according to a post by its consulate in Mumbai. The mission said Tehran’s demands include a complete end to aggression, guaranteed war reparations, a region-wide ceasefire across all fronts and recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

In a strong statement Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres blasted the various factions of the ongoing Middle East conflict, saying the fighting “has broken past limits even leaders thought imaginable.”

He specifically called on the U.S. and Israel, whose joint strikes last month started the war against Iran, to end the fighting as “human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount, and the global economic impact is increasingly devastating.”

Guterres added, “My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbours.”

He also announced the appointment of a personal envoy to the lead the world body’s efforts on the conflict and the recent peace efforts that are underway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is racing to pass a state budget and stave off early elections he would likely lose, with the war in Iran so far doing little to improve his standing in the polls.

In the war’s first days, Netanyahu’s camp saw a chance for his right-wing coalition to capitalize on the opening salvo that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by holding elections ahead of an expected October date, a source familiar with Netanyahu’s political strategy said.

One way to force snap elections would be to let parliament fail to pass the budget by March 31, which under Israeli law would trigger a vote within 90 days. As U.S.-Israeli strikes killed a host of top Iranian figures, some of Netanyahu’s confidants publicly floated the idea of a June vote.

But nearly four weeks into a war that has so far failed to achieve a stated objective of toppling Iran’s clerical rulers, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is looking to stave off early elections, three members of his government told Reuters.

That effort to avoid an early contest has included allocating funds to political allies to secure a majority vote for the budget in parliament, and rushing it through the chamber’s Finance Committee to meet next week’s deadline.

Russia has evacuated more staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, the head of Russia’s atomic energy agency said Wednesday, after a reported strike on the compound overnight.

“Today, at approximately 7:20 Moscow time, 163 people left Bushehr for the Iranian-Armenian border,” Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency. “Right now, about 300 remain,” he added in comments to reporters, including AFP.

Russia partially constructed the plant on Iran’s Persian Gulf coastline and its technicians help operate it.

Britain and France will chair military talks this week involving about 30 nations to form a coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a UK defence official told AFP Wednesday.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands said last week they were ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”. A further 24 countries then endorsed this statement.

The “expectation is that there will be a further meeting, military-to-military, the chiefs of defence staff of the wider group that has now signed … later this week,” the official told AFP.

The chief of the defence staff of Britain’s armed forces, Richard Knighton, chaired a meeting of the initial six countries plus Canada on Sunday, The Times reported.

The British defence official told AFP other countries would also now be potentially invited.

“We recognise that we have a role to play in bringing together this coalition and helping to lead the rest of the world to develop a plan to ensure that we can reopen the Strait of Hormuz as quickly as possible,” the official said.

The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbours, calling for full and swift “reparation” to all victims of its strikes.

The 47-member council backed a resolution brought by the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Jordan condemning Tehran’s actions aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, and demanding Iran immediately “cease all unprovoked attacks”.

The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbours, calling for full and swift “reparation” to all victims of its strikes.

The 47-member council backed a resolution brought by the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Jordan condemning Tehran’s actions aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, and demanding Iran immediately “cease all unprovoked attacks”.

India has bought its first cargo of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas in years after the U.S. temporarily removed sanctions on Tehran’s oil and refined fuels, LSG trade flows and three industry sources said.

India had shunned energy purchases from Iran in 2019 under pressure from Western sanctions. The tanker was initially bound for ‌China, according ⁠to LSEG ⁠data. Sanctioned tanker Aurora carrying Iranian LPG is expected to shortly reach the west coast port of Mangalore, the sources said and LSEG data showed.