CAIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict entered its 35th day on Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the United States can "easily" open the Strait of Hormuz "with a little more time," while Iran said it shot down several U.S. aircraft in a single day and rejected a 48-hour U.S. ceasefire proposal.
The following is an overview of the latest developments in the crisis affecting much of the region and beyond.
The United States
-- Trump said that the United States can open the Strait of Hormuz with a little more time. "With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
-- Latest U.S. intelligence assessments show that roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal more than one month after the United States and Israel launched massive strikes on Iran, CNN reported on Thursday.
-- The White House said Trump has been briefed about the downing of a U.S. fighter jet in Iran that has triggered a major search and rescue operation for the crew.
-- Over 100 U.S. international law experts said in a letter released on Thursday that the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran may violate international law and amount to "war crimes," noting that there was no evidence Iran posed an imminent threat that could ground a self-defense claim.
Israel
-- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli air force has destroyed 70 percent of Iran's steel production capacity, calling it "a tremendous achievement that deprives the IRGC (Islamic Revolution Guard Corps) of both funding sources and the ability to produce large quantities of weapons."
-- Israel's Channel 12 News and other Israeli media outlets reported that the pilot of the U.S. fighter jet that was shot down in Iranian airspace was safely rescued, yet the fate of the navigator on the jet was unknown. The Israeli military has canceled strikes in the area in Iran, where searches are being conducted for the navigator.
Iran
-- Iran has rejected a U.S. proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire, which was delivered to Iran through a "friendly" country on Thursday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Friday, citing an informed source.
-- The Iranian army confirmed that its air defense systems shot down a U.S. A-10 "Warthog" attack plane over Iran's southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz, with the aircraft crashing into the Persian Gulf. The announcement came shortly after IRGC said that it had downed a U.S. F-35 fighter jet in central Iranian airspace earlier in the day. Later Friday, Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter was also hit by a projectile in Iranian airspace while searching for the pilot of the downed U.S. fighter jet.
-- Yadollah Rahmani, governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, called on residents in tribal and rural areas to assist authorities in locating "enemy pilots."
-- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the wreckage of a drone downed the previous day in southern Iran could be new evidence of some regional states' "direct participation and active complicity" in the U.S. and Israeli "aggression and crimes" against Iran.
-- The death toll from U.S.-Israeli attacks on the B1 bridge in Iran's northern Alborz province on Thursday has risen to 13, all civilians, including four women, the official news agency IRNA reported Friday. The bridge is one of the highest bridges in the Middle East and among the most complicated projects in Iran. It was targeted twice with missiles on Thursday, and the attacks also wounded 95 people, IRNA said.
Lebanon
-- An explosion inside a United Nations position near the Adaisseh area in southern Lebanon wounded three peacekeepers, two of them seriously, said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
-- The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon warned that the security situation in Lebanon is "volatile and unpredictable" and urged its citizens to leave the country while commercial flights remain available.
-- Five people were killed and 15 others wounded in separate Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region on Friday, bringing the death toll from March 2 to 1,368 and the number of wounded to 4,138.
-- The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc of Hezbollah warned Israel that any attempt to impose a buffer zone in southern Lebanon would fail and would be met with continued attacks by the resistance using rockets and drones.
The United Arab Emirates
-- The Abu Dhabi Media Office confirmed that two fires broke out at the Habshan gas facilities in Abu Dhabi after debris fell from a successful air defense interception, resulting in one Egyptian national being killed during the evacuation and four others sustaining minor injuries.
-- Emirates Global Aluminium said its Al Taweelah site, one of the world's largest aluminium production complexes, sustained significant damage from recent Iranian missile and drone attacks, forcing the facility to halt operations. Early assessments indicate that a full recovery of primary aluminium production could take up to 12 months.
Iraq
-- Iraq extended the closure of its airspace for one week, citing security concerns amid heightened regional tensions following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The closure, which covers all arriving, departing, and overflying aircraft, runs from noon local time (0900 GMT) Friday through noon April 10, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said.
Kuwait
-- Kuwait said a power generation and water desalination plant was struck in what it described as an "Iranian attack," causing material damage to parts of the facility.
-- Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said that a drone attack targeted the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery early in the morning, causing fires in several operational units.
Egypt
-- Egypt has brought four new natural gas wells online in the Mediterranean Sea and the Western Desert as part of efforts to boost domestic energy output and curb its growing reliance on imports. The additions come as Egypt grapples with soaring energy costs stemming from the regional conflict.
Jordan
-- The flow of natural gas from Israel's Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean to Jordan resumed amid heightened regional tensions that have driven up global oil prices and disrupted energy supply chains.
Türkiye
-- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that his country does not approve of attacks on Iran and also does not endorse Iran's retaliatory actions against regional countries.
Erdogan told Putin that Türkiye continues contacts with all parties with a focus on peace and stability to prevent the war from spiraling further out of control, according to the statement.■
