US, Israel hit Iran's heavy water reactor as White House awaits ceasefire response from Iran

A heavy water research reactor in central Iran's Khondab was struck by the United States and Israel on Friday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

No casualties or danger to residents in the area have been reported so far, Fars added, citing local authorities. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran later confirmed the attack.

Meanwhile, a yellowcake production facility in central Iran's Yazd province was also struck in joint US-Israeli attacks, with no radioactive leaks reported so far, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

The plant, commissioned in May 2023, produces yellowcake, a uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions and serving as an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ore.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed both attacks in two statements.

Also Friday, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported that two people were killed and two others injured in US-Israeli strikes on a cement plant in the southwestern Fars province.

Earlier in the day, Fars news agency reported that two steel plants in Iran's Isfahan and Khuzestan provinces came under US-Israeli fire in separate attacks on Friday. The strike on Isfahan's plant killed at least one person and injured two others, the IRNA reported.

"It could cause a major radiological incident if the reactor were to be damaged," the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Friday.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed deep concern over the recent military activity near a nuclear facility, reiterating his call for maximum military restraint to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.

The fresh attacks came amid a month-long US-Israeli conflict with Iran that began on February 28. Heavy fighting continues between the parties, with no breakthrough on a ceasefire.

On Friday, the IRNA reported that 71,356 residential units and 20,399 commercial ones have been damaged across Iran since the beginning of the conflict, which has also resulted in the deaths of 212 children and 240 women.

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The White House is expecting Iran's response later on Friday to its 15-point plan for a potential ceasefire, delivered via intermediaries, according to a CBS News report.

US President Donald Trump and top White House officials have been told that Iran's counter-proposal would likely arrive Friday through intermediaries, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said at the White House on Thursday that the Trump administration had presented Iran the plan through Pakistan.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the plan calls for Iran to dismantle its three main nuclear sites and end any enrichment on Iranian soil, suspend its ballistic-missile work, curb support for proxies, and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The White House was working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off-ramp to end the war with Iran, said a CNN report on Wednesday, citing two senior US officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the ongoing operation against Iran is expected to "conclude in weeks."

Speaking to reporters after attending a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in France, Rubio said the operation would end "at the appropriate time, in a matter of weeks, not months." He noted that the United States could still "achieve the objectives without any ground troops," including destroying Iran's missile and drone capabilities.

A reporter for the US news website Axios wrote on social media platform X that Rubio told his G7 counterparts the conflict with Iran could continue for "another two to four weeks."

Rubio also said Washington was open to diverting US weapons from Ukraine to the Middle East, although such a move has not been made so far.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that Israeli strikes on Iran "will intensify and expand to additional targets."

During a situation assessment with senior military officers, Katz noted that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Iran to halt its missile attacks on "Israeli civilians."

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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Friday that passage is prohibited for any vessel through any corridor in the Strait of Hormuz to and from the ports of countries allied with and supporting the United States and Israel.

Earlier in the day, the IRGC Navy turned back three container ships with different nationalities that were approaching the corridor open only to authorized vessels, according to a statement published on IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News.

It said the container ships decided to set sail following Trump's "lies" that the Strait of Hormuz is open.

The IRGC Navy declared the Strait of Hormuz is closed, warning that any transit would face severe consequences, the statement added.

Trump claimed on Thursday that Iran had agreed to let 10 oil tankers pass through the strait.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has established a task force to develop and propose technical mechanisms specifically designed to meet humanitarian needs in the Strait of Hormuz, his spokesperson said Friday.

"As the conflict in the Middle East unfolds and threatens to intensify, disruptions in maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz risk creating ripple effects impacting humanitarian needs and agricultural production in the coming months," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

He said that while Guterres is committed to making every effort to achieve a comprehensive and durable settlement of the conflict, the secretary-general determined that immediate action is essential to address maritime challenges and established a task force to find a way to protect shipping.

"This new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz aims to facilitate fertilizer trade, including the movement of related raw materials," Dujarric said. "The mechanism's operationalization will be done in close consultation with relevant (UN) Member States with full respect for national sovereignty and established international legal frameworks."

According to the spokesperson, the task force is led by UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services, and will include representatives from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the International Maritime Organization, and the International Chamber of Commerce. Additional entities may be invited to participate as needed.

As part of his broader peacemaking mandate, the secretary-general's personal envoy, Jean Arnault, will lead political engagement with relevant UN member states, supported by the task force, Dujarric added.

(With input from Xinhua)