Iran is demanding a guaranteed ceasefire to permanently end the war, a senior Iranian source told Reuters.
The source said that mediators contacted Iran on Tuesday, and the talks focused on continuing diplomacy.
The same source added that there were no talks about a temporary ceasefire through the mediator.
Iranian President Masoud Pazakhstani stated in a letter to the American people that his country harbors no hostility towards ordinary Americans, Press TV reported.
He stated in the letter that presenting Iran as a threat "is not consistent with either historical reality or the facts that can be observed today."
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that US President Donald Trump's claim that Iran had requested a ceasefire was false and baseless, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.
Iran's new leader has just asked the United States for a ceasefire, US President Donald Trump said in a post on the Truth Social network.
"We will consider it when the Strait of Hormuz is open, free and safe. Until then, we will raze Iran to the ground," he said.
Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus and its surroundings, state-run al-Ekhbariyah television reported on Wednesday, the Guardian reports.
The network said the explosions were likely caused by Israeli air defenses intercepting Iranian missiles.
Iran's supreme leader praised the pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah in an alleged message to its leader, CNN reports.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in a message to Naim Qassem, published on his Telegram channel, stressed that Iran will continue to support the group in its resistance against Israel and the United States.
Khamenei also reportedly expressed gratitude for the "emotions, love and loyalty" shown by Hezbollah fighters.
More than three weeks after being appointed Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei has yet to appear or speak in public.
A source familiar with the situation told CNN earlier this month that Khamenei was injured in the attack that killed his father and Iran's top military commanders. According to the source, he suffered a broken foot, an injury to his left eye and minor cuts to his face.
The Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah commander who was responsible for the group's military activities in southern Lebanon.
In a social media post, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Yusuf Ismail Hashem was killed in yesterday's attack in Beirut. He was described as a "senior commander with over 40 years of experience" and a "central figure in Hezbollah."
Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, ridiculed Donald Trump for his statement about "regime change" in Iran, stating that the only change the US achieved in the war was the loss of access to the Strait of Hormuz.
"Trump has finally achieved his dream of 'regime change' - but of the region's maritime regime! The Strait of Hormuz will surely reopen, but not for you; it will be open to those who respect Iran's new laws," he said in a post on X.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended NATO as "the most effective military alliance the world has ever seen," after US President Donald Trump suggested the US was considering leaving it.
Asked whether the UK's long-term security relationship with the US would be changed, in relation to Trump's interview with the Telegraph newspaper published this morning, Starmer said that NATO had "kept our security for decades".
"Regardless of the pressure on me and others, regardless of the noise, I will act in the British national interest in all the decisions I make, and that is why I have been absolutely clear - this is not our war and we will not be drawn into it. But I am equally clear that when it comes to defence and security, and our economic future, we must have closer ties with Europe," he told a press conference.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is preparing to help the US forcibly clear the passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal reports today.
Oil prices have fallen and are now below $100 per barrel, and global stock markets are rising after US President Donald Trump said the Iran war could end "very soon."
After Trump's statements that instilled optimism about an imminent end to the war, international Brent crude fell 4,7 percent to $99,05 a barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude fell four percent to $97,33 a barrel.
Asian stocks rose, with South Korea's Kospi recovering losses from earlier in the week and rising 8,4 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkei rose 5,2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2,5 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1,5 percent.
European stock markets opened higher today. London's FTSE 100 rose 1,7 percent, Germany's DAX rose 2,5 percent, and France's CAC rose 2,1 percent, the BBC reports.
Oil prices were extremely volatile during the five weeks of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Trump last night estimated that the US would complete its attack on Iran in two to three weeks and stated that securing the Strait of Hormuz was not an American issue. Trump told reporters that the US would have nothing to do with what happens in the strait, and that the responsibility for maintaining this vital waterway would lie with the countries that rely on it.
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US President Donald Trump said he was seriously considering the possibility of withdrawing the country from NATO, again comparing the Alliance to a "paper tiger".
"NATO is unrecognizable. I've never been impressed with NATO. I've always known it was a paper tiger, and Putin knows that, by the way," Trump told The Telegraph.
He has in recent weeks lashed out at allies for failing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by Iran as the war in the Middle East rages.
"Besides them not being there, it was actually hard to believe. I didn't make a big deal out of it. I just said, 'Hey,' you know, I didn't push it too much. I just think it should be automatic," Trump said.
He added that the US was there for countries that needed support, including Ukraine, even though "it was not our problem."
He also had criticisms of the United Kingdom.
"You don't even have a navy. You're too old and you had aircraft carriers that didn't work," Trump said.
The Israeli military said an attack in central Iran killed a person they described as a senior engineering officer of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Quds Force.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Mahdi Vafaei, the chief of engineering in the IRGC's Quds Corps in Lebanon, was killed in an attack yesterday in Mahalat, the Guardian reports.
The IDF claimed that Vafaei “developed underground projects across Lebanon and Syria for two decades,” including “dozens of underground projects in Lebanon that were used to store advanced weaponry.”
An 11-year-old girl is in critical condition and a 13-year-old boy was seriously injured after a rocket attack in Bnei Brak, central Israel, this morning, Israeli media reported.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said 14 people were injured in the attack.
Houthi forces in Yemen have claimed responsibility for this morning's rocket attack on central Israel, saying it was a joint operation with Iran and Hezbollah, reports the Guardian.
At least 14 people were injured, including an 11-year-old girl, in an attack in Bnei Brak, authorities in Israel said.
In a statement, the Houthi movement said it had carried out the third missile attack in the conflict "in coordination with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon."
The Houthis “carried out a third military operation… targeting sensitive targets of the Israeli enemy… with a barrage of ballistic missiles,” the Tehran-backed group said.
They threatened "further escalation" if Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Qatar Energy, the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), confirmed that one of its tankers was hit in a missile attack this morning.
"No crew members were injured and there is no environmental impact as a result of this incident," the state-owned company said in a statement, according to the Guardian.
As previously reported, the British Maritime Trade Operations Organization (UKMTO) announced that a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit by two missiles - one caused a fire that has since been extinguished, while the other remained unexploded in the ship's engine room.
The vessel was hit about 17 nautical miles (31 kilometers) north of the Ras Laffan industrial center in Qatar.
Qatar's Ministry of Defense also confirmed the missile attack on the tanker, saying that 21 crew members were evacuated without injury.
In a statement this morning, the ministry said that Qatar was the target of three cruise missiles fired from Iran. Qatari armed forces intercepted two of the missiles, while the third hit a tanker leased to Qatar Energy.
"Procedures and coordination with the relevant authorities have been undertaken to evacuate the tanker, which has a crew of 21, without human casualties," the ministry said in a post on the X network.
At least 16 people, including a child, were wounded after Iranian airstrikes hit the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak, Israeli authorities said.
The child, a 10-year-old girl, is in serious condition with injuries to her limbs from shrapnel and is being transported to hospital, Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said. The other injured have moderate or minor injuries, according to the MDA.
The Israeli military announced early this morning that it had carried out a “large-scale wave of attacks” on Tehran.
Separately, it was reported that an Israeli military drone was shot down by a surface-to-air missile during operational activities in southern Lebanon during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, one person was killed after the remains of an intercepted drone fell on a farm, state media reported.
The Israeli military announced that it was working to intercept a rocket launched from Yemen towards its territory this morning.
There are no reports of injuries so far.
Iran is ready for at least six months of war, the country's foreign minister said in an interview, while Trump claims the war could be over in two to three weeks.
"We are not setting deadlines for defense. We will defend our country and people for as long as necessary and by all means," Abbas Aragchi told Al Jazeera.
"It doesn't matter what deadlines our enemies set for themselves. However, we recommend that they bring this war to a complete and permanent end before they suffer further damage," he said, adding that the end of the war must mean peace in the entire region.
Araghchi said Tehran is not in direct negotiations with Washington, despite Trump's claims of "serious talks" with a "new and more reasonable regime" in Iran.
"Negotiations imply direct talks between two countries to reach an agreement, and there is no such thing between us and the United States," Aragchi said.
However, he stated that he had received messages from Steve Witkoff, the US envoy for the Middle East, and that the US and Iran were communicating through intermediaries.
Fuel storage facilities at Kuwait International Airport were targeted by an Iranian drone attack, causing a large fire, the country's Civil Aviation Authority said, KUNA news agency reported.
The attack caused significant damage to fuel tanks, but there were no injuries.
Meanwhile, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said it was working to put out a fire at a company facility following an Iranian drone attack.
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