Live Updates: Iran threatens to take war "beyond the region" if Trump orders new U.S. attacks

Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) claimed Wednesday that 26 commercial vessels had passed through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with Iranian authorities over the past 24 hours, amid an ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

The vessels included oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels, the IRGC Navy said in a statement, which added that transit through the waterway was "ongoing with permits obtained and in coordination with the IRGC Navy."

Iran has effectively blocked shipping in the strait since early April, accusing the U.S. of violating an ongoing ceasefire agreement. The strait is a crucial transit route for around a fifth of the world's crude oil supplies.

Iran insists it is in control over traffic in the strait, and it has announced a new mechanism for international shippers to coordinate with its authorities to ensure safe passage - often for hefty fees. 

It imposed the restrictions in response to the U.S. military blockading Iranian ports and associated vessels in the area.

On Wednesday, South Korea's government confirmed the passage of one of its vessels, a tanker it said was carrying around 2 million barrels of oil. Tracking data show the ship left a Kuwaiti port before transiting the strait.

An Iranian news website aligned with the regime on Wednesday disputed a report by The New York Times claiming the U.S. and Israel had hoped to install former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a new post-war leader of the country.

The Times article said an Israeli strike on Feb. 28, the first day of the war, had been aimed at freeing the hardliner from house arrest, with a view to having him take over the country following an anticipated toppling of the Islamic Republic regime - despite his history of fiery anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric.

The Times, citing anonymous officials, said Ahmadinejad was wounded in the strike but that he "became disillusioned with the regime change plan," which he had been aware of.

Disputing the U.S. newspaper's reporting Wednesday, state-aligned news website Khabar Online said the strike in question hit a house several buildings away from Ahmedinejad's home, and that he was never under house arrest, noting at least a couple trips he had made abroad in recent years.

Ahmadinejad served as Iran's president from 2005 until 2013, but like all other Iranian presidents since 1979, he answered directly to the country's real authority, then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A statement attributed to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, piled praise on the Iranian peoples' "heroic action" in the face of two "terrorist global armies."

Iranian state media outlets delivered the message said to be from Khamenei to mark two years since the death of the nation's former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a May 2024 helicopter crash.

"Today, we are facing the heroic actions of the Iranian nation in a unique historical resistance against two 'terrorist global armies,'" said the statement.

Khamenei was announced as Iran's new supreme leader after his father, who ruled over Iran for 36 years, was killed in a U.S. or Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28, the first day of the war. The younger Khamenei has not been seen or heard from directly since then. U.S. officials say he's believed to be alive, but that he was severely wounded in the same strike that killed his father.

Several statements attributed to the new supreme leader have been read out by presenters on Iranian state media during the war.

Israel's military was taken by surprise when President Trump said Tuesday that he had been just "an hour away" from deciding whether to order new strikes on Iran the previous night, according to a report by the Israeli news outlet Haaretz.

The newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources, that Israel Defense Forces commanders had thought the timing of any resumption of hostilities "would be closely coordinated in advance with Israel."  

The outlet said Israeli officials believed any renewal of U.S. strikes on Iran "could lead almost immediately to direct Israeli involvement in the fighting," adding that it was possible some high-ranking politicians were informed, but the message was not conveyed to the military.

The IDF didn't respond immediately to a CBS News request for comment on the story. 

Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Monday evening that he had decided to cancel strikes on Iran planned for Tuesday on a request from U.S. allies in the Gulf, who he said had informed him "serious" negotiations were underway toward a peace deal.

Pakistani Interior Minister and Senator Syed Mohsin Reza Naqvi arrived in Tehran Wednesday for meetings as Islamabad continues pushing for a peace deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Iran's state news outlets said.

The reports did not say which Iranian officials Naqvi would meet in Tehran, but diplomatic sources told CBS News his visit – the second in less than a week – was part of intensified efforts by Pakistan to broker a peace agreement as tension between the U.S. and Iran rises. 

"Pakistan has doubled its efforts to find a solution," a senior Pakistani diplomat told CBS News, adding that Islamabad understood frustrations, "but restarting war would be a total disaster for everyone."

President Trump said Monday that he had called off plans to launch new strikes on Iran at the request of several Persian Gulf allies, which he said had informed him "serious negotiations are now taking place" toward a deal to end the war.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the country's ambassador-designate to Iran, Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar ahead of Siddiqui's departure to Tehran to take up his post.

Dar "highlighted Pakistan's constructive and responsible role in promoting regional peace, dialogue, and stability, and expressed confidence that the Ambassador-designate would make a valuable contribution towards further strengthening the enduring partnership between the two brotherly countries," the ministry said in its statement.

A South Korean oil tanker transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the country's top diplomat said, marking the first such passage by a South Korean vessel through the waterway since the Iran war began.

"At this very moment, our oil tanker is passing through the Strait of Hormuz," Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told lawmakers at the National Assembly in Seoul earlier. "We completed consultations with the Iranian authorities, and the vessel began sailing yesterday, proceeding very cautiously."

He said it was carrying "2 million barrels" of oil.

"It is the first South Korea-flagged ship to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war began," a foreign ministry official told AFP.  

Ship-tracking site MarineTraffic showed the South Korea-flagged tanker Universal Winner on the eastern side of the Strait of Hormuz near the entrance to the Gulf of Oman, bound for the southeastern South Korean city of Ulsan after departing Kuwait's Mina Al Ahmadi port.

The passage comes weeks after a South Korean-operated vessel was hit by airborne objects near the Strait of Hormuz, heightening concerns in Seoul over the safety of South Korean shipping in the region.

HMM Namu was struck by "two unidentified aircraft" on May 4, hitting the outer plate of the vessel's port-side ballast tank near the stern and causing a fire in the engine room. Tehran denied responsibility, with its embassy in Seoul posting a statement on its website in the days following the attack, saying it "firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations regarding the involvement" of its forces.

Seoul strongly condemned the attack and said it hoped to identify those behind it through a thorough investigation. 

Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Wednesday that any renewed U.S. or Israeli attacks would be met with retaliation "beyond the region."

In a statement, the IRGC said it still had not brought "all the capacities" of the country "into action."

"But if aggression against Iran is repeated, the regional war that had been warned of will this time spread beyond the region, and our crushing blows will bring you to ruin in places you cannot even imagine," the statement said.

"We are men of war, and you will witness our power on the battlefield," the IRGC added, "not in hollow statements or on social media pages."

President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had been just "an hour away" from ordering new strikes on Iran Monday evening, but that he decided against it after a request from several Persian Gulf allies, who he said were voicing optimism that a peace deal could be reached.

Mr. Trump warned, however, that if an agreement isn't made, he could order a major wave of new strikes "on a moment's notice."

Chinese President Xi Jinping said further hostilities in the Middle East would be "inadvisable" and called for a "comprehensive" ceasefire as he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, state media reported.

"A comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, resuming hostilities is even more inadvisable and maintaining negotiations is particularly important," Xi told Putin, according to Xinhua news agency.

Russia's TASS state news agency Wednesday reported that the country stands ready to help end the war in Iran. 

Speaking to TASS, Deputy ⁠Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, "Russia is ready ‌to provide all possible assistance in resolving this conflict, and the ‌parties involved ‌are well aware of ⁠this."

In a joint statement after the leaders' meeting, China and Russia both condemned the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran as illegal and said they had undermined stability in the Middle East.

CBS/AFP

Iran has called the claim that a girls elementary school bombed on the first day of the war was located within a missile facility an "appalling lie."

The head of U.S. Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper told the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the strike, which killed more than 165 people on the first day of the war, was still under investigation. He said it was complex as the school was on a missile site operated by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

But on Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Beqaei called that assertion "a baseless fabrication and an appalling lie" in a post on X.

"This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to obscure the severe reality of the 28 February missile attacks," he said, describing it as a "clear war crime."

"The military commanders and United States authorities responsible for ordering and executing this catastrophic assault must be held fully accountable under international law," he added.

Adm. Cooper said Tuesday that he's committed to transparency once the investigation is complete. But Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington said, "I do not trust that answer."

Smith said he respects Cooper, but accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of showing a "callous disregard" for protecting civilian life.

An early American assessment of the strike suggested that the U.S. was "likely" responsible for the strike, CBS News reported early March.

CBS/AP

The Senate advanced a resolution to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran on Tuesday, marking a breakthrough for Democrats after seven failed attempts.

Senators approved a motion to discharge the resolution from committee in a 50 to 47 vote. Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — joined the bulk of Democrats in favor of advancing the resolution. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to oppose. 

The vote marked the first time Cassidy supported advancing a war powers resolution. It came days after he failed to win enough support to advance to a runoff in the Louisiana GOP Senate primary, where Mr. Trump endorsed one of his opponents. 

And three Republicans — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — did not vote, tipping the scales in Democrats' favor for the first time since they began bringing war powers resolutions related to Iran.

The vote marked only a first step in the Senate. And even if both chambers approved the resolution, the president would be expected to veto it. But Democrats say the move would carry significance and have the potential to change the president's thinking in the war. 

President Trump told reporters Tuesday he was "an hour away" from making the decision to strike Iran on Monday, but that U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf requested he not go ahead with the plan. Mr. Trump made the comments to reporters while offering them a tour of the White House ballroom construction site. 

The president said he would allow a "limited period of time" — two or three days, at least — for talks to continue, saying several Gulf states had told him there was progress in negotiations brokered by Pakistan toward a peace deal. 

Mr. Trump said Monday that he was holding off on a strike on Iran that had been scheduled for Tuesday — plans that had not been mentioned by U.S. officials until the president made his announcement in a Truth Social post.