Two people have been killed in Abu Dhabi after Iran launched a fresh barrage of missiles during its ongoing conflict with the US and Israel.
Another three people were injured in the attacks on the Emirati capital when debris from an intercepted missile fell, the emirate’s media office said.
The death toll from the war has continued to mount amid conflicting reports of peace talks.
Israeli media reported that two people were injured in a blast north of Tel Aviv in Kfar Qasim on Thursday morning, and two teenagers were killed in Shiraz in the southwest of Iran on Wednesday evening during Israeli strikes on a residential area.
In the early hours of Thursday, the Israeli military said it was launching a “wave of extensive strikes” targeting the city of Isfahan in central Iran. The city is home to a major Iranian base, as well as a nuclear site that was hit by the US during the 12-day war last June.
Although the semi-official Fars news agency, close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said the attacks targeted “two residential areas”, without providing details.
The tit-for-tat strikes come after Donald Trump claimed Iran’s leaders wanted “to make a deal so badly” but that “they’re afraid to say it, because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people”.
At a fundraiser in Washington, the US president insisted that Iran was “negotiating” with the US to end the war in the Middle East, despite the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claiming there were no such negotiations taking place. Iran previously suggested that the US was “negotiating with itself”.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Mr Trump had sent a 15-point plan to Iran, although the White House press secretary downplayed this during a press briefing.
“I saw a 15-point plan that was floated in the media. I would caution reporters in this room from reporting about speculative points or speculative plans from anonymous sources,” said Karoline Leavitt.
“The White House never confirmed that full plan. There are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories I read were not entirely factual.”
Araghchi said that Mr Trump had been sending ideas via mediators, but the exchange of messages through mediators “does not mean negotiations with the US”.
Later on, a senior Iranian official said the initial response to the US proposal was not “positive”, but added that the regime was still reviewing it.
Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are said to be trying to facilitate negotiations between Iran and the US, and a senior Iranian source said on Wednesday that Pakistan has passed on a proposal.
The war began on 28 February with US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, after which the country retaliated and widened hostilities by targeting American allies in the Gulf. It also closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane, which caused a spike in oil prices.
On Thursday morning, prices rose back up to $103 per barrel after confusion over the peace talks between Iran, Israel, and the US.
The bombardments on both sides do not appear to be slowing down anytime soon, with reports that Iran is about to receive a shipment of drones, food, and medicine from Russia to help with their war effort.
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