Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Friday that Israel would ramp up its strikes on Iran in the coming days, citing continued Iranian ballistic missile fire at civilian targets in Israel, despite US President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to bring the hostilities to a halt.

His announcement came after the Israel Defense Forces announced earlier in the day that the Israeli Air Force had bombed a key Iranian naval missile and mine production site, as well as ballistic missile factories and air defense systems.

Iran, in turn, kept up its attacks on Israel and the Gulf states, after issuing a less-than-warm response on Thursday to Trump’s proposed deal to end the war. Despite this, diplomats from several interested countries suggested that indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran were still on the table.

“The prime minister and I warned the Iranian terror regime to stop the missile fire toward the civilian population in Israel,” Katz said during an assessment with military officials. “Despite the warnings, the fire continues, and therefore IDF strikes in Iran will intensify and expand to additional targets and domains that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli civilians.”

He warned that Tehran would “pay heavy and increasing prices for this war crime,” according to remarks provided by his office.

The majority of ballistic missiles launched at Israel by Iran have had cluster bomb warheads, which indiscriminately spread dozens of small munitions over a wide area.

The munitions do not have their own propulsion or guidance and simply fall to the ground, where they are designed to explode on impact. Some of the submunitions do not explode upon hitting the ground, and can then still pose a danger to anyone who happens upon them.

The use of cluster bombs is prohibited under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, although neither Iran nor Israel is a party to the agreement.

Key naval weapons site targeted

Earlier on Friday, the IDF said the Air Force had bombed Iran’s “most central” facility for producing naval weapons, located in Yazd, central Iran.

The facility, the military said, was used by Iran to plan, develop, assemble and store “advanced missiles intended for launch from cruise vessels, submarines and helicopters toward mobile and stationary maritime targets.”

“This is a site where most of the missiles and naval mines are developed by the Iranian navy forces,” the military said.

It said the strike, carried out following intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Naval Intelligence Division, “constitutes a significant blow to the production capabilities of the naval forces.”

The strike marked yet another setback for Iran’s naval operations, after Israel killed the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy on Thursday, as well as other top officers.

Also on Friday, the IDF said the Air Force had bombed dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including ballistic missile launch sites and Iranian soldiers whom it said had been preparing to carry out fire on Israel.

According to the military, strikes in the Tehran area hit dozens of weapon manufacturing sites and other targets, including a military base where anti-aircraft systems were stored, a production site for “key components for ballistic missiles,” a production site for batteries for various weaponry, and a weapons production site of the IRGC.

Also overnight, the IAF struck several ballistic missile launch sites — including one belonging to the IRGC — air defense systems, and surveillance posts of the IRGC and Iranian army, the military said.

The IDF said it also identified Iranian soldiers from Iran’s ballistic missile array at a building in Tehran. “Minutes after the identification, the Air Force struck and eliminated the soldiers who were planning to advance fire toward the State of Israel,” the military said.

Israel, Gulf face renewed fire

Meanwhile, after a nearly eight-hour lull, Iran renewed its ballistic missile fire on Israel on Friday morning, setting off sirens across southern Israel shortly before 11 a.m.

Another round of rocket fire, several hours later, set off alerts across central Israel, the Jerusalem area and the West Bank.

No injuries were reported in either attack, and in both instances, initial IDF assessments suggested that the missiles had been intercepted by air defenses.

Nor were the Gulf states spared from Iranian attacks on Friday, as both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were hit with drones and missile fire.

Sirens also warned of attacks in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as Iran warned civilians across the region to distance themselves from US forces in the area.

Kuwait’s port authority said in a statement on X that the country’s main commercial port, the Shuwaikh Port, was targeted at dawn “by enemy drones, preliminary reports revealed material damage but no human casualties.”

Hours later, the country’s Mubarak Al Kabeer Port also came under attack by drones and cruise missiles, causing “material damage” but no injuries, authorities said.

The target of the attack was a facility currently under construction as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the oil-rich nation.

It appeared to be the first time a Chinese-affiliated project in the region had come under assault since fighting began on February 28. There was no immediate comment on the attack from Beijing, which has continued to purchase Iranian crude oil during the war.

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, authorities reported that four drones and six missiles were launched at the kingdom by Iran. The defense ministry said it “intercepted and destroyed” four drones over the east of the country, and authorities said two missiles were intercepted as well. The remaining four missiles fell in the Persian Gulf and on uninhabited areas, they said.

Across the border in Qatar, emergency services sent a heightened security alert to residents’ phones, urging them to stay indoors ahead of an expected Iranian missile attack.

It was the first such alert sent in a week, issued after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned civilians across the region to stay away from areas near US forces.

“The cowardly American-Zionist forces… are attempting to use civilian locations and innocent people as human shields,” said the IRGC in a statement on its Sepah News website.

“We recommend that you urgently leave locations where American forces are stationed so that no harm comes to you.”

The accusation echoed rhetoric from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who the previous day had accused US soldiers of using people in Gulf countries as “human shields.”

“From the outset of this war, US soldiers fled military bases in the GCC  [Gulf Cooperation Council] to hide in hotels and offices,” he said in a post on X, calling on hotels in the region to deny them bookings.

Tehran subsequently declared that it had the right to attack hotels across the Gulf if they were found to be housing US soldiers.

“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,” he said.

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.

Indirect talks ‘very soon’

Even amid the fierce-as-ever hostilities, diplomats maintained on Friday that preparations were moving forward for indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States, after Trump presented Tehran with his 15-point plan to end the war earlier this week.

Iran, in its first public comments on the proposal on Thursday, called the offer “one-sided and unfair.” The proposal includes demands to dismantle the country’s nuclear program and facilities, end support for regional proxies and impose strict limits on its missile program.

Still, on Friday, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said there were plans for representatives from the US and Iran to meet in Pakistan in the near future.

“Based on my information, there have been indirect contacts, and preparations have been made to meet directly. That would be very soon in Pakistan, apparently,” he told Deutschlandfunk radio.

And Egypt’s foreign ministry said phone calls between Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts dealt with their “intensive efforts” for direct talks between the United States and Iran. It offered no other details.

On March 23, Trump announced a halt to all threatened strikes against power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, before announcing on Thursday that he would postpone his ultimatum by another 10 days, until April 6.

Iran has said it will respond with its own strikes on energy facilities in the Gulf region if Trump follows through with his threat.

Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas, driving up energy prices and roiling financial markets.

On Friday, the IRGC reiterated that it would prevent any vessels heading “to and from ports of allies and supporters of the Israeli-American enemies” from transiting through the strait.

Three container ships of various nationalities were turned back from the Strait of Hormuz after warnings from the IRGC’s navy, Iranian state media also reported.

But even after Trump pushed off the threatened escalation, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was weighing the deployment of an additional 10,000 US ground troops to the region to give the president more military options, even as he weighs peace talks.

These troops would be in addition to the 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and 5,000 Marines already deployed to the Gulf.

The report, citing Defense Department officials with knowledge of the planning, said the forces would likely be stationed within striking distance of Iran’s Kharg Island, which handles around 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports. The US has already struck targets on the island during the current war, and Trump has not publicly ruled out the option of taking Kharg, a move he advocated for during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the US, to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.

The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, nuclear facilities and various headquarters.

The IDF has estimated that some 5,000 Iranian soldiers have been killed in Israeli strikes, along with tens of thousands more wounded, many of them members of the internal security forces and Basij paramilitary force.

Since the war began on February 28, 15 Israeli civilians and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel in Iranian ballistic missile attacks, along with four Palestinians in the West Bank.

More than 400 ballistic missiles have been launched from Iran at Israel since the start of the war, with the military reporting an interception rate of 92 percent of attacks heading for populated areas and key infrastructure.

In all, at least eight missiles carrying conventional warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives have struck populated areas in Israel, causing extensive damage in six cases. There have also been more than 30 incidents of missiles carrying cluster bomb warheads hitting populated areas, with over 150 separate impact sites.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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1 US said mulling ‘final blow’ options if Iran talks fail, including sending troops to seize key assets

2 9 injured as Iran fires 7 missile salvos at Israel within hours, many with cluster warheads

3 Israel says IRGC Navy’s commander, other chiefs killed; Qalibaf said removed from hit list

4 IDF soldier killed in Hezbollah gunfight; terror group fires rockets, drones at north

5 Anger mounts in northern communities as Netanyahu urges residents stay put

6 Trump delays strikes on Iran’s power plants by 10 days, says talks ‘going very well’

7 AnalysisTrump’s turn to Iran talks could mean he wants out — or he might have a surprise in store

8 Zamir said to warn cabinet that IDF will ‘collapse in on itself’ amid manpower shortage

2026 US-Israel war with Iran

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC

IDF Israel Defense Forces

IAF Israeli Air Force

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