Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Friday, as Pakistan helps mediate indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Rubio and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Allison Hooker are meeting at 10 a.m. in Washington with Dar, who also serves as Pakistan's deputy prime minister, according to Rubio's public schedule.

The meeting comes as the U.S. and Iran discuss a memorandum of understanding that could extend their ceasefire for 60 days and begin talks over Iran's nuclear program. Vice President JD Vance said earlier Thursday that negotiators are still "going back and forth" and making progress, adding later, "we're not there yet, but we're very close."

U.S. Central Command said a claim by Iranian state media that an American plane was shot down near the port city of Bushehr false.

"No U.S. aircraft were shot down. All U.S. air assets are accounted for," Central Command said in a post on X.

The Treasury Department imposed new sanctions Thursday on firms that allegedly help Iran's military-owned petroleum company export its oil, as the Trump administration pushes to restrict Iran's ability to make money through oil sales to China and other markets.

The department said the military-owned petroleum company "depend[s] on access to shadow fleet vessels willing to transport the military's oil." 

The new sanctions target several Hong Kong-based companies that allegedly play a role in that network, including two vessel charterers, two front companies for the military-run firm and a company that supplies refined petroleum products like gasoline to Iran's state oil company.

Eight vessels were also sanctioned.

Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is still negotiating with Iran on the terms of a possible deal between the two countries, and it's still not clear when or if President Trump will sign an agreement, though he added that negotiators have "made a lot of progress."

Asked by reporters whether Mr. Trump could sign a memorandum of understanding that the two sides are discussing, Vance said: "It's hard to say exactly when, or if, the president's going to sign the MOU. We're going back and forth on a couple of language points."

Vance said the Iranian negotiators "want a deal," though they are still discussing some points, including possible restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"We're going back and forth with them. We do think they're negotiating at least so far in good faith, and we're making some progress," the vice president said while traveling back to Washington after delivering a commencement address at the Air Force Academy. "Hopefully, we'll continue to make progress [and] the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously, that's still TBD."

U.S. sources told the White House press pool earlier Thursday a tentative agreement had been reached for a memorandum of understanding to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire by 60 days and open negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, but it was pending Mr. Trump's approval. Tehran has not yet provided its response to the latest version.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked in the White House briefing if the U.S. is threatening a new war with Oman after President Trump's threats Wednesday to "blow them up" if they didn't "behave."

The president's comments came amid reports Oman and Iran were considering jointly tolling the Strait of Hormuz. 

"I think the president wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait," Bessent responded. 

Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, "Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up." 

Bessent said he had a call with the Omani ambassador — though he did not specify if it was the Omani ambassador to the U.S. — and the Omani representative said Oman has no plans to impose tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Hosting a White House briefing with reporters, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked if there is a deal on the table with Iran. He didn't answer directly. 

"The teams have been going back and forth," he responded. Bessent said President Trump isn't going to take a "bad deal," and reiterated the president has several "red lines" for Iran that it must follow. 

Iran must hand over enriched uranium and cannot have a nuclear program, he said. 

Bessent was pressed again if there is a deal on the table. 

"Again, everything depends on what the president wants to do and President Trump is not going to make a bad deal for the American people, for the U.S.," Bessent said. 

When asked asked a third time if there is a potential deal on the table, Bessent responded, "Again, it's always a mistake to get out ahead of the president."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reasserted his country does not want to pursue a nuclear weapon, but also told state-affiliated ISNA news agency, "We do not engage in diplomacy with humiliation." 

"If we have stood against the world's strongest power, we must accept the hardships; we can't fight and expect the process to proceed as per the normal routine before," Pezeshkian told ISNA news agency. 

Pezeshkian also blamed the regional conflict on Israel.

A tentative agreement has been reached for a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and continue negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, but it's pending President Trump's approval, U.S. sources told the White House press pool. 

Axios first reported the tentative agreement. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to brief reporters Thursday afternoon. 

In the past, Mr. Trump has been critical of potential agreements. On Wednesday, he insisted any deal has to be a good one. 

"I think they are starting to give us the things that they have to give us, and if they do, that's great, and if they won't, then the man on my left is going to finish them off," Mr. Trump said of Iran on Wednesday. "Attack them."

The U.S. Treasury Department has issued sanctions on Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the agency set up to collect tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Secretary Scott Bessent.

"Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) is a joke, and today Treasury has sanctioned it," Bessent said on X. "We have warned any corporate or state entities against paying tolls or hiding them as aid payments."

President Trump on Wednesday said no one should be in control of the strait during a Cabinet meeting.

"Nobody's going to control it," he said. "We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it."

Bessent also lauded the success of the U.S.'s Operation Economic Fury in general.

"Their troops are not getting paid, the police are not reporting for work, and Kharg Island is shut down," Bessent wrote on X. "The Iranian economy and currency are in free fall."

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Thursday said it was "deeply concerned" about Israel's expanding campaign.

There were about 670 projectiles fired in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the highest total since April 17, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL. It was unclear if that included both Israeli and Hezbollah projectiles.

Israel has expanded its campaign in recent days. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said Lebanese citizens should move above the Zahrani River, adding, "all areas south of the river are considered combat zones, and the Defense Army does not intend to harm civilians." The announcement moved the line of demarcation for Israeli army operations about 7 miles farther north than it had been before.

"Civilians continue to bear the heaviest impact," UNIFIL said in a statement Thursday. "Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes, often at very short notice. Damage to homes, roads, and essential infrastructure is severely affecting daily life and recovery efforts."

UNIFIL has been operating in southern Lebanon since 1978 and the mission was expanded after the 2006 Lebanon War.

"There is no problem between the Islamic Republic of Iran and its neighboring countries, and this region without the United States will be the most stable and best region in the world," a senior Iranian official declared Thursday during a visit to Russia.

Ali Bagheri, Deputy for Foreign Policy and International Security at Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told Russia's state-run RT network that regional stability was dependent on the U.S. abandoning what he called "excessive demands." 

Bagheri accused the U.S. of acting with belligerence, having twice launched attacks on Iran during active negotiations, adding that American foreign policy was based on a world view that "is obsolete and belongs to the era of barbarism."

Iran, "like other independent countries, believes in creating peace through dialogue, cooperation and diplomacy," he said.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will visit Washington on Friday and meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Pakistani foreign ministry said Thursday.

Pakistan has led efforts to broker a peace agreement between Iran and the U.S., and Dar has been among the senior figures leading that diplomacy.

Dar was to meet Rubio, "to review bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest," the ministry said in its statement. 

Pakistani officials have served as conduits for multiple iterations of a proposed framework for renewed negotiations between the U.S. and Iranian governments for many weeks. According to both U.S. and Iranian officials, that framework would, if agreed, see the Strait of Hormuz reopened and direct talks resumed on contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear program.

But major hurdles remain, and President Trump said during a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday that he was not satisfied with the most recent Iranian offers.

"They want very much to make a deal," he said. "So far, they haven't gotten there, we're not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be. Either that or we'll have to just finish the job. Their navy is gone, as I've said a thousand times, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, everything's gone. And they're negotiating on fumes. But we'll see what happens. Maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don't." 

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab States, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, strongly condemned continued "criminal Iranian attacks" on Kuwait in a statement shared by the bloc Thursday.

He called the continuation of Iranian "treacherous attacks" a blatant violation of the principles of international law, the United Nations charter, and "the principles of good neighborliness," and reaffirmed the GCC states' full support for Kuwait "in all measures it takes to maintain its security and stability, as well as the safety of its citizens and residents."

U.S. Central Command said Kuwaiti forces intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile Thursday.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard said it had launched retaliatory fire at a U.S. base used in overnight attacks that the American military described as "purely defensive." 

There are a couple U.S. air bases in Kuwait, along with other military installations, but there were no reports of any weapons impacting American facilities Thursday.

Iran's IRIB state television network claimed Thursday that U.S. strikes overnight, which the U.S. Central Command called "purely defensive" operations to take out Iranian drones and drone launchers, had hit "an empty area" and caused no damage. 

CENTCOM said the U.S. struck after Iranian forces "launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz." It said all the drones were intercepted by U.S. forces, "which also prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas." 

The Iranian state media's portrayal of the clash said it began when four vessels "attempted to enter the Persian Gulf by turning off their navigation systems," and were then "confronted with a firm warning from the IRGC Navy."

As the vessels ignored the IRGC's warning, IRIB claimed the Iranian forces "detained two of the vessels, while the remaining two were forced to turn back."

The report said U.S. forces "fired several projectiles toward the coast of Bandar Abbas" in response, but it claimed they "landed in an empty area, and residents only heard the sound of explosions, with no resulting smoke or fire."

Iran has demanded for weeks — since the U.S. imposed a blockade of its ports on April 13 — that all commercial vessels wishing to transit the Strait of Hormuz seek permission to do so from Iranian authorities.

Iranian Ambassador to Germany Majid Nili Ahmadabadi said Thursday that a threat issued the previous day by President Trump to Oman showed that "silence in the face of aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran would only make warmongers more brazen."

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said "nobody's going to control" the Strait of Hormuz. 

Asked if he would allow a short-term deal for Iran and Oman to control it jointly — a system Tehran says it has been working to implement in coordination with Oman as the two nations with coastlines in the strait, Mr. Trump reiterated that it is "international waters," and "nobody's going to control it."

"We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have," Mr. Trump said. "And Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that. They'll be fine."

In his Thursday post on social media, Ahmadabadi said "the same logic of threats" wielded by the Trump administration against Iran "is also being directed at Oman."

"Experience has shown that any form of passive silence in the face of aggression does not help contain the crisis; rather, it leads to the normalization of violations of international law and the endangerment of international security through hostage-taking of global stability," he said. "The world must stand up to this dangerous course before it is too late."

The U.S. military's Central Command confirmed Thursday that Iran fired a missile at Kuwait, but that it was "successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard said earlier that it had launched retaliatory fire at a U.S. base used in overnight attacks that the American military described as "self-defense strikes" on Iranian drone launching facilities. There are a couple U.S. air bases in Kuwait, along with other military installations, but there were never reports of American facilities being hit Thursday.

Kuwait's military said earlier that the country's air defenses were working to intercept incoming projectiles, but it did not say where they were launched from. 

"At 10:17 p.m. ET on May 27, Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait that was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces," CENTCOM said in a social media post. "This egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz. All drones were successfully intercepted by U.S. forces which also prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas. U.S. Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression."

Ships with connections to Iran have made up 50% of known traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf recently, despite the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and associated vessels, according to a new assessment from Lloyd's List Intelligence. 

Transits through the Strait of Hormuz in both directions fell 46% last week after a spike the week before, the company said Thursday in a weekly briefing. The numbers remained significantly lower than the pre-war average of 138 vessels per week, but traffic was evenly split between ships with links to Iran — vessels coming to or from Iranian ports or carrying Iranian cargo — and all other traffic.

Iran-linked ships have regularly made up half of shipping traffic since the U.S. naval blockade was announced on April 13, but so-called "dark transits," during which ships turn off their location broadcast systems, spiked toward the end of last week as the security situation deteriorated, the firm said.

The traffic volatility is a reflection of the ongoing crisis and mixed signals about whether a deal between the U.S. and Iran to reopen the strait is actually near. 

Some governments have chosen to coordinate with Iran, including China. Tehran has allowed some Chinese ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the strait, along with at least one South Korean vessel. It remains unclear whether those vessels' operators or the associated governments paid for passage.

State executions have become a near-daily feature in Iran amid the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, and most of the people killed have been political prisoners or people accused of spying for Iran's foes, according to human rights groups.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said Tuesday that at least 43 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience had been executed in Iran since the beginning of 2026, while another 42 individuals had received death sentences. The organization said that represents a 139% increase compared to last year.

"Concurrent with the onset of military conflict and the intensification of the security measures, the process of issuing and carrying out execution sentences in political and security-related cases in Iran has undergone notable changes," the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in a report at the beginning of this month. "In some cases, the handling of these cases has proceeded at a pace beyond usual procedures, and the interval between arrest, sentencing, and execution has decreased." 

HRANA said that during a roughly 65-day period from the beginning of the war, 31 executions were carried out, including 22 political or security-related cases, meaning approximately 71% of executions in that period involved political or security charges.

The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions Wednesday on Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the new Tehran agency that collects fees for traveling through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"The Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The statement extended the threat of sanctions to anyone paying the fees, because they "may be providing support to and receiving services from" Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and therefore may "be exposed to sanctions risk."

"Treasury has deprived the Iranian regime of revenue for their weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions," Bessent said.

The statement said the U.S. has succeeded in disrupting "tens of billions of dollars' worth of revenue from being accessible" to Tehran.

In a social media post on May 20, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority issued a map to define its "regulatory jurisdiction," demarcating red lines on both sides of the Strait of Hormuz that require Iran's authorization for passage.

U.S. and Iranian forces have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while diplomats push for a negotiated settlement, but Iran's controls have tightened on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. has launched strikes on Iranian targets in recent days.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Monday that Tehran will continue to manage traffic through the strategic strait and insisted Iran is collecting fees for "navigational services," rather than imposing tolls. 

The Israeli military said on Thursday that a soldier was killed the day before by a Hezbollah drone near the Lebanon border, taking to 23 the number of its troops killed in the war with the Iran-backed group.

A military statement named her as 20-year-old Sgt. Rotem Yanai who, it said, "fell during operational activity in northern Israel."

It added that one reservist soldier was severely injured and another moderately hurt in the same incident.

The military told AFP that Yanai was killed by a Hezbollah explosive drone.

A total of 24 Israelis have been killed since hostilities began on March 2, including the 23 soldiers and one civilian contractor.

The Israeli military on Wednesday declared all areas south of Lebanon's Zahrani River — an area roughly 25 miles from the border — as "combat zones" and told residents to evacuate ahead of attacks against Hezbollah.

The sweeping warning was the first of its kind since an April 17 ceasefire.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to its residents.

Israel the previous day had declared all areas south of Lebanon's Zahrani River — an area roughly 25 miles from the border and including Tyre — as "combat zones" and told residents to evacuate ahead of attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The sweeping warning — the first of its kind since an April 17 ceasefire — came as many Lebanese tried to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

In a fresh evacuation order to residents of parts of Tyre early on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was "compelled to take forceful action" against Hezbollah and announced in a later statement on Telegram that it had begun strikes it said on the group's infrastructure.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported two sets of Israeli strikes had taken place on the city and an area to its east on Thursday morning, hitting a building and sparking a fire in Tyre.

Israel this week vowed to ramp up operations in Lebanon and said it was expanding ground operations there, while Hezbollah said its fighters had clashed with Israel's forces beyond an Israeli-declared "yellow line" in the south.

Iran has been insisting any deal with the U.S. to extend the current ceasefire must include Lebanon.

CBS/AFP

Iran's Revolutionary Guard targeted an American base on Thursday morning local time in retaliation for U.S. strikes on the country's south, Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported.

"Following this morning's aggression by the invading U.S. military against a location on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport using aerial projectiles, the American air base that served as the source of the attack was targeted," the Guard said, according to IRIB.

It did not provide details of the location of the base, though Kuwait, a U.S. ally, said it was responding to missile and drone attacks on Thursday morning.

A U.S. official described Wednesday's U.S. strikes as defensive. The official said the U.S. shot down four Iranian drones and hit a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth.

CBS/AFP

The U.S. military carried out another round of strikes on Iran, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday, another challenge to a shaky ceasefire between the two countries.

The official described the strikes as defensive, targeting a military site that posed a threat to American forces and commercial traffic. The official said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is still considered to be holding.

Reuters was first to report on the new strikes.

This comes after the Pentagon said that it carried out defensive strikes in southern Iran Monday on missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to place mines.

Read more here.

President Trump said "nobody's going to control" the Strait of Hormuz, when asked if he would allow a short-term deal for Iran and Oman to control it. 

"The strait's going to be open to everybody," he told reporters during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting. "It's international waters."

"Nobody's going to control it," he continued. "We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it. It's international waters. And Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that. They'll be fine."