Iran War Updates: Tehran proposes 7-day plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz as it seeks deal before U.S. midterms

Tarek al-Salami, aged 7, sat in a diaper, looking frail. Normally, the malnutrition and diarrhea that weakened his tiny frame would have been treated within a few days, but nothing is normal in Yemen anymore.

Tarek's father carried him on foot from the southwest city of Mokha as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels swept in this month, bringing the civil war that has embroiled Saudi Arabia, and nearly the United States last week, to the Red Sea coastal city. 

Al-Salami reached a hospital two days later in the government-held city of Aden, 170 miles away, but there were no beds available. Like others, the facility was overwhelmed by the war-wounded. His family finally found a therapeutic feeding center.

He arrived in an acute health crisis after the delay in care, according to the center's director, Dr. Arwa Atef, and he only began walking again Wednesday, over a week later.

"I swear to God, when I look at him, my heart breaks," said his father, Mohammed al-Salami. "He looks almost lifeless."

The already-fragile health system in the Arab world's poorest nation is collapsing, caught in a new front of the Iran war.

Some health centers are turning pregnant women and others in need away to focus on trauma patients. Vulnerable children are filling incubators and sharing beds. Millions of people are affected by the fighting backed by two of the Middle East's biggest powers, as the Iran-backed Houthis advance against government forces supported by Saudi Arabia. More than 130,000 people have fled their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.

"We are in a very dangerous situation," said Fahd al-Nazari, manager of the government health office in Taiz province, which has received most of the newly displaced. "Within a day or two, or a week at most, we might have to close down [some facilities]. In fact, some hospitals are already closed."

CBS/AP

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, appeared to threaten civil aviation across the Middle East on Friday, declaring that no country in the region would be able to operate flights and maintain airport services if Iran's airlines are denied permission to operate.

Multiple countries have closed their airports to Iranian airlines this week to comply with recent U.S. sanctions against Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that Iranian airlines would "shut down" from Wednesday, and he threatened countries that allowed them to use their airports with expulsion from the U.S. dollar system.

"Aligning with the United States in implementing hostile policies will remain in the memory of the Iranian people," Mokhber warned in a post on X. "Our strategy on this issue is clear: Flights in the region are either free for everyone, or for no one," he added.

"If Iran does not have the possibility of flying and receiving airport services, no country in the region will have this possibility either," Mokhber said.

Iran's representative to the United Nations has condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the General Assembly, questioning why the Israeli leader was allowed to speak at the world body.

"If the General Assembly banned the apartheid regime of South Africa from speaking at this Assembly in the 1970s, why should it today grant this privilege to this criminal?" said Nasser Asadi, Third Counsellor at Iran's Permanent Mission to the U.N., was quoted as saying Friday by Iran's state news agency IRNA.

"This organization was established to save future generations from the scourge of war. Yet today, the main architect of this very scourge, the Prime Minister of the Israeli regime, delivered a speech at this assembly," Asadi said, calling it "a disgraceful act for this institution."

Referring to the International Criminal Court's outstanding arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Asadi asked how it was possible for a man "whose case is currently being examined in two international courts for committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide be allowed to attend this Assembly? Should he have been here to justify his crimes or in court to answer for his genocide?"

Asadi also questioned why Israel had not been expelled from the U.N. "for its continued violation of the principles of the United Nations."

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected accusations that the country's actions in the Gaza Strip amount to genocide against the Palestinian people, and accused Iran of deliberately targeting civilians across the region.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator between Tehran and Washington, spoke Friday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian about deescalation and the conditions necessary to renew a direct dialogue between the two sides, Qatar's foreign ministry said.

The pair met Friday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to a statement posted on X.

Pezeshkian invited Al Thani to the meeting, where they "reviewed the latest developments in the region and the efforts being made to deescalate tensions and create a conducive environment for dialogue," the ministry said.

CBS/AFP

Iraq's Najaf airport, a top destination for Shiite Muslims, suspended all Iranian flights Friday, enforcing U.S. sanctions, the airport director told the AFP news agency.

Airport director Hussein Muhanna said "all flights were halted between Iran and Najaf airport following a directive from the prime minister's office to the governor" of Najaf.

The airport in the holy city south of Baghdad is a major hub for Iranian flights.They carry many Iraqi Shiite pilgrims to Iran's holy cities and Iranians visiting sacred sites in Iraq. The flights also serve Iraqi students studying in Iran, and patients seeking medical treatment there.

The bond between Iraq and neighboring Iran, both Shiite-majority nations, runs deep and is shaped by both religion and politics.

Iranian airline flights were suspended at Najaf's airport early Thursday morning, the airport director said.

Several sources, including a senior government official, told AFP earlier this week that Iraq would enforce the U.S. ban on Iranian airlines, joining several other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said Iranian airlines would "shut down" Wednesday, and he threatened countries that did not comply with expulsion from the U.S. dollar system.

Although land routes are available, Iraq remains one of the top destinations for Iranian airlines, especially after Iraqi airlines stopped flying to Iran at the start of the Iran war in February.

CBS/AFP

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the U.N. General Assembly to use the podium in front of other world leaders as a "loudspeaker for justifying war and aggression," but he argued the mass walkout by dozens of other delegations "spoke louder than any speech."

"The world is not fooled by narrative-building," Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X Thursday evening. "History will judge crime, occupation and aggression, not propaganda displays in New York."

As Netanyahu took the stage in New York Thursday, many attendees walked out, but CBS News has not confirmed Gharibabadi's claim that 77 national delegations left the chamber.

"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now," Netanyahu said as the officials filed out, before launching into a defense of his country's actions in Iran and across the Middle East.

"We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice," he said, adding his thanks to President Trump for supporting Israel throughout the interlinked wars in the Middle East.

Iran wants to make a deal with the U.S. before the midterm elections in November, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told journalists from several news organizations Thursday in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

"We don't want it to get to the midterm elections," Pezeshkian said. "We wish Americans to return to the MoU before the midterms," he added, referring to the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries in June. That agreement formed the basis of a ceasefire that collapsed within several weeks, as Iran accused the U.S. of breaching the deal by keeping its naval blockade in place.

President Trump has said Iran will make a deal "right after the election" because "they're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election."

Pezeshkian also told the journalists on Thursday that Iran was "open" to allowing inspections of its nuclear facilities, and he denied that the regime is seeking to assassinate Mr. Trump or any members of his family.

"This has not been the position of the Iranian government, that we seek to assassinate President Trump or his family members," Pezeshkian said.

The dozens of U.S. troops bombarded by Iranian drones at a small Kuwaiti port in the opening days of the Iran war could have relocated to safer positions in western Saudi Arabia, multiple sources told CBS News, but those plans were rejected by the unit's commanding general despite intelligence warning of a potential attack on their post.

About one week before the launch of Operation Epic Fury, most American soldiers and Air Force personnel stationed in Kuwait were moved to Jordan and Saudi Arabia — farther away from Iranian missile range. At least two options were scouted, planned and presented to the leadership of the 103rd Sustainment Command, the Army Reserve unit that ran logistics for U.S. Central Command: one was Logistical Support Area Jenkins, a U.S. military base near the southwest port city of Yanbu, and another was Prince Sultan Air Force Base, just southeast of the Saudi capital city Riyadh.

A third option, supported by the commander, Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes, was to follow the playbook from the unit that was previously deployed to Kuwait before the 103rd arrived in September 2025. During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran that July, the active unit briefly moved its home base at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait to Port of Shuaiba, roughly 30 miles south of Kuwait City and just 65 miles southwest of Iran.

"That was a totally different scenario," one service member, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, told CBS News. "Missiles and drones were flying overhead between Iran and Israel and we were more worried about one of them being intercepted and falling out of the sky."

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told a group of reporters in New York City that Iran shared a 7-day plan with U.S. mediators this week. If certain conditions of that proposal are met, the Strait of Hormuz would be opened at the end of the seven days and talks would be restarted to try to get a final deal.

The terms of the proposal mimic large portions of what was in the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by President Trump back in June.

A mediator in the talks told CBS News on Thursday that the talks are positive, but still in an early phase.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was more circumspect about the diplomacy, saying there had been no breakthroughs. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have been handling the shuttling back-and-forth with the mediators on the possible terms of a hypothetical truce with follow-on talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday as his country faces broad condemnation and growing isolation.

As Netanyahu took the stage, many attendees walked out.

"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now," Netanyahu began.

Netanyahu launched a defense of his country's actions in Iran and across the Middle East.

"With our great American friends, we crushed Iran's army, navy, air force and nuclear facilities," he said, later thanking President Trump for his "bold leadership." 

"We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice," he said. 

Read more here.