Iran's military has warned that hotels housing US soldiers across the region would be targets in its war with the United States and Israel as Washington mulls sending up to 10,000 extra troops to the Middle East.
"When all the Americans (forces) go into a hotel, then from our perspective that hotel becomes American," armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi told state television.
"Should we just stand by and let the Americans strike us? When we respond, naturally we have to strike wherever they are."
On February 28, Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran, killing its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering a war that spread across the Middle East.
The war has since spread across the Middle East, with Iran responding with drone and missile attacks on Israel and US interests in the region.
On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had accused US soldiers of using people in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as "human shields".
"From the outset of this war, US soldiers fled military bases in the GCC to hide in hotels and offices," he said in a post on X, calling on hotels in the region to deny them bookings.
The Fars news agency, quoting unnamed sources, said Iran had sent "firm warnings" to hotels in the region, particularly in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
It added that Iran's military had identified US forces using similar locations in Syria, Lebanon and Djibouti.
Iran accuses its neighbours of allowing US forces to carry out attacks from their territory, but Gulf states have repeatedly denied the accusations, saying even before the war that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used to attack Iran.
US weighs sending up to 10,000 troops to ME
The United States is weighing sending up to 10,000 extra troops to the Middle East, US media reported Friday, as speculation grows that Washington may be preparing a ground operation in Iran.
The deployment would mark a significant boost to Washington's military presence in the region, despite US President Donald Trump insisting that Tehran was taking part in peace talks with Washington to end the war.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the move would aim to provide Trump with "more military options" in the Middle East, engulfed by war since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
The troops would join thousands of paratroopers and Marines who have already been ordered to the region.
An Iranian official said Wednesday that Tehran would retaliate to a ground invasion of its territory by Washington by activating its Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack shipping in the Red Sea.
That would open up a new front in a war of spiralling economic, political and military repercussions.
Trump has repeatedly said he does not plan to send ground troops into combat with Iran.
"It is unclear where precisely forces will go in the Middle East, but they will likely be within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub off Iran’s coast," the Journal said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran's energy assets, assuring that talks on ending the war were "going very well."
Israel's military, meanwhile, said early Friday that it carried out "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran".
'Wide-scale' strikes on Tehran
Israel's military said it carried out strikes on targets in Tehran early Friday, nearly a month into the Middle East war.
A brief military statement said Israeli forces "completed a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran".
The military said in a separate statement that it had also struck "ballistic missiles and aerial defense systems production sites across Iran".
It reported hitting missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran, as well as missile production sites in the capital.
Iran has been under heavy bombardment since February 28, when the US and Israel launched their campaign.
Israel said on Thursday that it had "blown up and eliminated" the Revolutionary Guards' naval commander, Alireza Tangsiri, and several senior officers.
- Kuwait's main port hit -
Kuwait's main commercial port was damaged in a drone attack at dawn.
The Shuwaikh port was targeted "by enemy drones, preliminary reports revealed material damage but no human casualties", the Kuwait port authority said in a statement on X.
120 Iran museums, historic buildings damaged
US and Israeli strikes on Iran have damaged at least 120 museums and cultural and historic sites across the country since the start of the war, the head of Tehran city council's cultural heritage committee said.
"At least 120 museums, historical buildings and cultural sites across various provinces were directly targeted and sustained serious structural damage," said Ahmad Alavi.
He was quoted by state TV as naming UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace along with other sites damaged in the war, including Saadabad Palace, the Marble Palace and Teymourtash house, also known as the War Museum.
Iran says ‘turned back’ three ships in Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its “enemies”.
“This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities… were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy,” the Guards said on their Sepah News website.
“The movement of any vessel ‘to and from’ ports of origin belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies, to any destination and through any corridor, is prohibited,” it added.
The energy market intelligence firm Kpler said it had identified two container ships belonging to Chinese firm COSCO that had attempted to cross the narrow waterway off the coast of Iran, but had turned around.
- UN Security Council meeting -
The UN Security Council will hold closed-door consultations on Friday to discuss strikes on Iran at Moscow's request, Russian state media reported.
"The Russian Federation has requested closed-door consultations with the UN Security Council due to the ongoing strikes on civilian infrastructure in Iran, including educational and healthcare facilities," said Evgeny Uspensky, spokesman for Russia's envoy to the United Nations, according to state news agency TASS.
- Israeli strikes on Beirut -
Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, as AFP correspondents heard several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has repeatedly struck since war erupted this month.
Israel has previously issued sweeping evacuation warnings for the area, but provided no specific warning in advance of the strike on Tahouitet al-Ghadir.
- Saudi Arabia intercepts drones -
The Saudi defence ministry said it had "intercepted and destroyed" four drones over the kingdom's east.
- Rubio to join G7 meeting -
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in France to join a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Friday, an AFP correspondent said.
Rubio, who skipped the first day of the talks outside Paris, said before departing that it was in the "interest" of all G7 nations to push for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Guards claim missile, drone attacks -
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on Thursday targeting sites in Israel and military facilities in the Gulf used by US forces.
A maintenance facility for US air defence system Patriot was targeted in Bahrain, the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian news agencies.
- Trump pushes back deadline -
US President Donald Trump said he would not yet strike Iranian power plants as previously threatened after a request from Tehran, adding that talks with the Islamic republic were "going very well."
"I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
"Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well."
- Japan to boost coal-fired power -
Japan's government plans to temporarily lift restrictions on coal-fired power plants as it seeks to ease an energy crunch caused by the Middle East war, officials said.
Power suppliers have previously been required to keep the operating rate of coal-fired thermal power stations that emit large amounts of carbon dioxide at or below 50 percent.
But the government now intends to allow the full operation of older, less efficient coal-fired plants, for a year from the new fiscal year starting April.