Iran's Revolutionary Guards urged civilians across the region on Friday to stay away from areas near U.S. 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.

U.S. President Donald Trump denied Thursday he was desperate for a deal to end the Middle East war, insisting that Tehran was keen to come to the table despite the Islamic republic's cool response to an American peace plan.

Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the government Thursday of steering Israel toward a "security disaster" due to a shortage of combat soldiers.

Iran has responded through unnamed intermediaries to a 15-point U.S. plan to end the war, news agency Tasnim reported on Thursday, and is now waiting for Washington's reply.

The exact contents of the U.S. plan, conveyed to Iran via Pakistan according to Pakistani officials, are not officially known.

U.S. President Donald Trump has told associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and that he hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Pentagon is developing military options for a "final blow" in Iran that could include the use of ground forces and a massive bombing campaign, two U.S. officials and two sources with knowledge told U.S. news portal Axios.

U.S. President Donald Trump's surprising claim this week that talks with Iran were yielding great progress has only raised more confusion over a war whose goals were already unclear. The most basic question: What talks?

A 15-point plan from the Trump administration offering a potential pathway to an exit was offered late Tuesday to Iran through Pakistan, according to a person briefed on the contours of the plan but who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Thursday that indirect negotiations were being held to end the war in Iran, using Islamabad as an intermediary.

Dar, who is also deputy prime minister, described speculation about "peace talks" as "unnecessary", adding: "In reality, U.S.-Iran indirect talks are taking place through messages being relayed by Pakistan.

U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to "unleash hell" if Iran does not accept a deal to end the nearly four-week Middle East war, the White House warned Wednesday, but a defiant Tehran said it did not intend to negotiate.

The ramped-up rhetoric dashed hopes of any imminent de-escalation as violence on the ground showed no sign of abating, with Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all coming under fire.

Iranian state television, citing an unidentified senior official, said Wednesday that Iran had rejected a peace plan proposed by the United States to end the Middle East war.