Firefighters look for victims and inspect damages at a residential building in southern Tehran on Friday, nearly a month into the Middle East war. — AFP 
WASHINGTON, Mar 27 (Agencies): US President Donald Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran's energy assets, saying talks on ending the war were "going very well" as Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran early Friday.
As the conflict that has roiled energy markets nears its second month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said G7 nations should help push for the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, in remarks before arriving in France on Friday for a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.
Last Saturday, Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the strategic strait to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice.
"As per Iranian Government request... I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," he posted on Thursday.
Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.
Trump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war, despite the Islamic republic's cool response to an American peace plan.
"Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The president's envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier of "strong signs" that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point "action list" to Tehran through Pakistani officials.
"We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction," Witkoff said.
At the meeting, Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks.
The Iranian news agency Tasnim said Tehran had replied to Washington's 15 points and was "awaiting the other side's response."
Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards urged civilians across the region on Friday to stay away from areas near US forces, nearly a month into the war with the United States and Israel.
"The cowardly American-Zionist forces... are attempting to use civilian locations and innocent people as human shields," said the Guards in a statement on their Sepah News website.
"We recommend that you urgently leave locations where American forces are stationed so that no harm comes to you."
The warning came as Kuwait's main commercial port was damaged in a drone attack on Friday, authorities said, as Iran pressed on with its campaign in the Gulf in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.
The Shuwaikh port was targeted at dawn "by enemy drones, preliminary reports revealed material damage but no human casualties," the Kuwait port authority said in a statement on X.
Earlier, the United States is weighing sending up to 10,000 extra troops to the Middle East, US media reported Friday, as speculation grows that Washington may be preparing a ground operation in Iran.
The deployment would mark a significant boost to Washington's military presence in the region, despite US President Donald Trump insisting that Tehran was taking part in peace talks with Washington to end the war.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the move would aim to provide Trump with "more military options" in the Middle East, engulfed by war since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
UN demands 'justice' after
Iran school strike
The deadly bombing of an Iranian school on February 28 spurred "visceral horror", the UN rights chief said Friday, urging Washington to conclude its probe and demanding justice "for the terrible harm done".
"The bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab evoked a visceral horror," Volker Turk told the United Nations Human Rights Council, stressing that "the onus is on those who carried out the attack to investigate it promptly, impartially, transparently and thoroughly".
More than 1,900 dead in Iran since start of US-Israel strikes
More than 1,900 people have been killed and at least 20,000 injured in Iran since the start of US and Israeli attacks, said Maria Martinez of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Friday, citing figures provided by the Iranian Red Crescent.
Martinez said the Iranian Red Crescent continues to serve as the only nationwide humanitarian organization operating across the country amidst the escalating conflict.
Israel's military said it carried out strikes on targets in Tehran early Friday, nearly a month into the Middle East war.
Trump's Iran war pushes India to
rekindle old friendship with Russia
As India's diplomats negotiated an accord that would ease punitive US tariffs on the South Asian country's exports in January, New Delhi slashed its purchases of Russian crude oil in a move that was widely seen as a painful concession to President Donald Trump.
Just two months later, however, Delhi and Moscow are deepening their energy cooperation, with both sides agreeing to prepare for Russia to resume direct sales of liquefied natural gas for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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