Iran fires missiles at Israel after warning Trump they have 'special plans for you tonight' - after US President threatened attack on power plants before touting 'deal' with Ayatollah - RECAP

The IDF has detected its fifth Iranian missile attack of the day, this time targeting the Eilat area in southern Israel.

The IDF tonight said it has detected a new Iranian ballistic missile attack.

Alarms have reportedly been sounded in the Israeli cities of Dimona and Yeruham, while residents in the Jerusalem area reported hearing loud explosions.

The military said: 'Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat.'

This is the first report of an Iranian missile attack against Israel in 11 hours. It comes after Iran warned it had 'special plans' for the US and its Gulf allies.

Iran is tonight planning 'special events' for the US and Israel which it says will 'completely remove the hope of negotiations from the minds of the aggressors', state media reports.

In a message posted on Telegram by Fars News Agency, sources appeared to reject Donald Trump's claims of 'major points of agreement' between the US and Iran.

The message reads: 'Informed officials in Iran announced that there were no negotiations and emphasized that until the US completely withdrew, evacuated its bases in the region, paid compensation, and received valid guarantees not to repeat the aggression, neither would the war end nor would the Strait of Hormuz be reopened.

'According to this report, even after the possible end of the war, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will not return to the pre-war situation.'

In an interview with Fars, an unnamed foreign policy analyst added 'no sane official in Iran would indulge in such foolishness' in regards to negotiating with the US.

Donald Trump has suggested he could jointly run the Strait of Hormuz with the Iranian Ayatollah when it fully reopens to the world.

Asked who would in charge of the key waterway in any deal to end the conflict, Trump said: 'maybe me, me and... whoever the next ayatollah (is).'

The President also admitted he does not know if Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is alive and that the US was pushing for a 'very serious form of a regime change.'

He added: 'We're dealing with some people that I find to be very reasonable, very solid. The people within know who they are. They're very respected. Maybe one of them will be exactly what we're looking for.'

Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public after he was reportedly injured in the airstrike that killed his father on February 28.

European Commission president Von der Leyen said at a press conference in Australia today: 'The situation is critical for the energy supply allies worldwide.

'We all feel the knock on effects on gas and oil prices, our businesses and our societies, but it is of utmost importance that we come to a solution that is negotiated, and this puts an end to the hostilities that we see in the Middle East.'

She added: 'The leaders in the European Union have been very clear that at the when the hostilities end, they could envisage an operation, a mission. But of course, it is not for me to judge on their decision to provide the necessary capabilities in the strait of Hormuz.'

Iran's Fars News Agency has claimed that attacks were carried out against energy infrastructures in Isfahan and Khorramshahr, despite Donald Trump's promise to pause on attacks for five days.

Overnight, it was claimed that the gas administration building and the gas reduction station in Isfahan, as well as a gas pipeline at the Khorramshahr power plant, were targeted.

Just yesterday, Trump made a major pledge to postpone military strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for five days.

He said in a post to Truth Social: 'I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.'

New Zealand has this morning announced it will provide temporary financial support of NZ$50 ($29.30) every week from April for low income families as conflict in the Middle East drives up fuel prices and adds pressure to household budgets.

The policy is estimated to cost a one-off NZ$373 million ($218.5 million) if it runs for the full year, finance minister Nicola Willis said.

Kuwait's electricity ministry said that seven power lines had been taken out following damage caused by debris that fell from the interception of drones and missiles.

The head of the Metropolitan Police has warned that the threat Iran poses to the UK is 'grave.'

Speaking on Monday night at the annual dinner of the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors anti-Semitism in the UK, Sir Mark Rowley warned: '[The] rapid growth in recent years of Iranian state threats is grave.'

He added: 'Britain’s Jewish community has in recent years been increasingly targeted by individuals, groups and hostile states, intent on spreading fear, hate and harm.

'This volatile mix is at the front of my mind given events of today.

'The rapid growth in recent years of Iranian state threats is grave: hostile state surveillance activity, 20 disrupted plots, and recent attempted attacks on the Iranian diaspora.

'None of this is isolated.'

The White House has appeared to dampen down speculation about possible US-Iran negotiations over the end of the war.

It comes after Donald Trump claimed the countries were making 'major' progress on a deal.

It sparked speculation that Vice President JD Vance might represent the US in talks with the regime in Pakistan.

But the White House has now said the situation is 'fluid'.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 'These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the US will not negotiate through the press.

'This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House.'

by Nikki Schwab

While thousands of Marines are arriving in the Middle East, senior military officials are considering deploying an Army paratrooper division to the region as the Iran war stretches into week four.

Top officials are weighing whether the Army's 82nd Airborne Division should be deployed, the New York Times reported on Monday.

That would provide the military with 3,000 soldiers for a possible invasion of Kharg Island - where 90 percent of Iran's oil exports are processed.

Sources told the Times that no orders have yet been given by Donald Trump, who lashed out at a reporter earlier Monday who asked about boots on the ground.

• Read more here