Associated Press:
Hopes rose that the Iran war could begin winding down as U.S. President Donald Trump said that his government was holding productive talks with Tehran, but fighting showed no signs of slowing and Iran denied there were talks.
Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, saying the U.S. will hold off striking Iranian power plants for five more days to allow U.S. envoys to hold talks with a “respected” Iranian leader.
Iranian officials said that Trump had backed down “following Iran’s firm warning.”
Relief ripped through financial markets on Monday as oil prices eased following severe losses prior to Trump’s announcement. Markets have experienced vicious swings since the war began because of uncertainty about how long it may last.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military personnel, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Israel’s military said it identified additional missiles from Iran for the ninth time within hours
The missiles are aimed at southern Israel, across a region near Israel’s main nuclear research center where two missiles struck Saturday.
Official says two Indian-flagged gas tankers have passed through Strait of Hormuz without incident
And the Indian officials says they’re expected to reach Indian shores later this week.
The Pine Gas and the Jag Vasant LPG carriers crossed the war-hit strait late Monday, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said Tuesday.
Indian media reported that the two tankers, carrying roughly a day’s supply of the country’s cooking gas, sailed close to each other and followed a route approved by Iran that cuts closely to the country’s coastline.
Iran continues to keep a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf toward the open ocean and through which a fifth of the world’s oil and other important commodities are shipped.
A trickle of ships has been getting through the strait and Iran insists it remains open — just not to the U.S., Israel or their allies.
Amazon says Bahrain data center operations disrupted by drone activity
Amazon says data center operations in Bahrain have been disrupted by drone activity, the second time that its cloud computing service in the Middle East has been affected since the Iran war erupted.
The company says Amazon Web Service in the Bahrain region “has been disrupted as a result of the ongoing conflict” early Tuesday, without providing further details.
“We continue to support affected customers, helping them to migrate to alternate AWS Regions, with a large number already successfully operating their applications from other parts of the world,” the company said.
Three AWS Middle East data centers, including two in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, were damaged by Iranian drone strikes days after the war began.
The company has been advising customers using servers in the Middle East to migrate shift their cloud computing workloads to other regions and to direct online traffic away from the UAE and Bahrain.
Palestinians in the West Bank inspect trunk of a massive missile that hit near village homes
The missile, which dwarfed its many onlookers, cratered the ground in the Palestinian village of Haris. It wasn’t clear whether it was an Iranian missile or an Israeli interceptor missile fired by Israeli air defense.
“We are caught between two fires, between Israeli missiles and Iranian missiles, so we do not know,” said Haris resident Hatem Dawood. “We have no shelters to protect our children, nothing at all.”
Dawood, who’s also a former member of the village’s governing council, said the missile had fallen Tuesday morning.
Palestinian paramedics haven’t reported any injuries or deaths from the impact. Israel’s military did not respond to requests for details from The Associated Press.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to France to sell the Iran war to skeptical G7 allies
He’ll attend a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting near Versailles outside of Paris on Friday “to advance key U.S. interests” and “discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation,” the State Department said.
“Areas of focus will include the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in the Middle East, and threats across the world to peace and stability,” it said.
Nearly all of the other G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — have reacted coolly at best to the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran and have declined to participate.
Iran will fight ‘until complete victory’
The spokesman of Iran’s top military command says that its armed forces will fight “until complete victory.”
The comments by Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters appeared related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that there were negotiations ongoing between Tehran and Washington.
Iran has denied any talks are taking place, though its foreign minister has been talking to counterparts around the region.
Iranian state television quoted Aliabadi as saying: “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory.”
The general didn’t say what “complete victory” would look like, but it appeared likely that Iran’s military was trying to warn against offering concessions in any possible negotiations with the United States.
Blasts heard in Tehran
An Associated Press journalist has heard a huge blast in the northern part of Iran’s capital, Tehran, that shook his home.
Another blast struck near central Tehran, another AP journalist says.
It wasn’t immediately clear what was being targeted, but Israel had said that it was embarking on airstrikes targeting locations in Iran.
Egypt and Jordan condemn Israeli practices in the West Bank
Egypt and Jordan say the Iran war shouldn’t distract the international community from the Israeli practices in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s “illegitimate measures” in the West Bank “undermine all chances to achieve just peace,” the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers said.
The ministers also condemned settler attacks in the West Bank as a “flagrant violation of international law.”
Lebanon orders Iran’s ambassador to leave
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry says Tehran’s diplomatic representative in Lebanon has to leave by Sunday, declaring him persona non grata.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Denise Rahme told The Associated Press that the Iranian Embassy will still have a charge d’affaires to head its diplomatic mission.
The removal of the ambassador marks a culmination in the deterioration of Lebanon’s relations with Iran since the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024.
Iran names new Supreme National Security Council secretary
Iran has named a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander as the new secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike.
Iranian state television identified the new secretary as Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr.
Zolghadr reached the rank of brigadier general in the Guard. He had been serving as the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council.
United Arab Emirates reports more missile and drone attacks
The Emirati Defense Ministry says air defense systems have responded to five ballistic missiles and 17 drones fired at the Gulf nation.
That has brought the number of projectiles fired at the UAE since the start of the war to 372 missiles and 1,806 drones.
Israel gives update on Iran strikes
Israel’s military says it has finished an extensive wave of strikes on Iranian “production sites,” without immediately providing more information.
It also said that it has detected a new wave of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.
Katz threatens Gaza-like destruction in southern Lebanon
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that the Israeli military will destroy homes in southern Lebanon, just as it did in Gaza, in what he says is a stepped-up effort to rid the area of Hezbollah militants.
Katz says that Israel will implement “the Rafah and Beit Hanoun models,” referring to two Gaza border towns that Israel flattened in its offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Katz says that the military is going beyond destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, and that it was also destroying houses in Lebanese villages near the border that he says “serve as terrorist outposts for all intents and purposes.”
6 killed in missile attack on Kurdish base in Iraq
The attack on a Peshmerga base in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil also wounded 30 others.
A statement from the Peshmerga forces blamed Iran for the strike and another attack, which caused no casualties.
Israeli defense officials discuss southern Lebanon
Defense Minister Israel Katz says Israel’s military will control a “security zone” in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River.
Katz says the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese people who have evacuated north of the river — fleeing Israeli airstrikes — wouldn’t be able to return home until “security is guaranteed” for residents of Israel’s north.
He made the comments in a meeting with top Israeli defense officials, according to a statement released by his office.
Oman’s top diplomat engages in flurry of diplomacy
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi has engaged in a flurry of diplomacy amid regional efforts to stop the war in the Middle East.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry listed phone calls al-Busaidi made in recent days with 18 top diplomats from across the globe, including the foreign ministers of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and France.
The Omani ministry said that the calls aimed to “support efforts to contain the ongoing war in the region, and return to diplomacy to address outstanding issues.”
Death toll in strike near Beirut increases
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that another person died after the Israeli airstrike on the town of Bchamoun southeast of Beirut, raising the death toll to three.
The ministry says the dead include a 3-year-old girl
Iran-backed militiamen killed in Iraq airstrike
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias backed by Iran, says 15 militiamen were killed in an airstrike in western Iraq.
The dead included Saad Dawai al-Baiji, who commands the PMF operations in the province of Anbar, the PMF said in a statement.
The PMF blamed the United States for the strike, which hit the coalition’s command headquarters in Anbar.
The PMF was formed to fight the Islamic State group and is formally under the control of the Iraqi army, but in practice still operates with significant autonomy.
Police say Tel Aviv blast caused by Iranian warhead
Israeli Police Superintendent Fadida Yaniv confirmed damage to central Tel Aviv on Tuesday was caused by an Iranian warhead with about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives.
Yaniv, who serves with the police unit investigating explosions, told the Associated Press at the scene that the missile damaged homes and cars on the residential street but there were no serious injuries reported.
Asian markets rebound
Asian markets mostly rebounded Tuesday, echoing cautious relief that swept through Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. has talked with Iran about ending the war.
U.S. crude and brent crude rose, reversing course after the easing overnight on Wall Street.
Global markets have been on a roller coaster over worries about the war in Iran.
Nations in Asia have been impacted by a lack of access to energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rescue forces working in Tel Aviv
Israel’s military said search and rescue forces were headed to several sites where missile impacts were reported in Tel Aviv.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service posted images to X of a damaged site in central Israel where rescue workers worked around charred cars.
First responders combed through rubble after a missile struck a street in central Tel Aviv.
An Associated Press reporter saw a crater next to a destroyed building fa栤e and shards where glass lined the ground as rescue workers searched for wounded people.
Yaffa Folger, who was a few hundred meters from the blast, said her building shook and the windows of several other buildings were blown out.
Egypt minister and US envoy discuss potential Iran negotiations
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed “potential negotiations” between the U.S. and Iran in a phone call Monday with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said that the call came during concerted efforts to revive the “diplomatic path .. as the sole way to avert a comprehensive chaos in the region.”
Abdelatty also spoke with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, France and Cyprus, the ministry said.
Central Tel Aviv hit by missile strike
After a recent warning about an incoming Iranian missile barrage, an explosion could be heard and smoke could be seen in central Tel Aviv.
Israel’s military said search and rescue forces were headed for several sites where impacts had been reported.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service posted images to X of a damaged site in central Israel where rescue workers thronged around cars that had been charred to ashes.
Israel’s police said Tel Aviv officers were headed to multiple sites where impacts were reported.
Yoel Moshe of Magen David Adom rescue service said four people had been lightly wounded but did not require treatment, adding that teams were searching for more injured.
Iran’s foreign minister holds talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi since Monday has been discussing the conflict with some of his counterparts.
Araghchi is speaking with officials from Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Turkmenistan, his office confirmed.
South Korea to increase nuclear and coal power generation
South Korea says it will expand operations at nuclear and coal-fired power plants to reduce natural gas consumption.
Kim Sungwhan, the climate and energy minister, said Tuesday that 15 of the country’s 26 nuclear reactors are currently in operation and five of 11 reactors now undergoing maintenance will likely be back online by May.
Kim said officials also will temporarily ease emissions-related restrictions on coal-fired plants to allow them to increase output on clear days.
He said officials are considering extending the life of three coal plants that had been scheduled for decommissioning this year.
Iran must ‘think wisely’ over Trump’s comments about talks
A member of Iran’s Parliament has warned that his nation must “think wisely” about U.S. President Donald Trump saying talks were ongoing between Tehran and Washington.
The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Esmail Kowsari, a member of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, as making the comment.
“Trump, Netanyahu and the like are inherently liars and their nature is to create division,” he said. “We must think wisely. Their nature is to sow discord so that they can make people distrust officials and believe that such actions have taken place, whereas no such action has occurred.”
Israel issues sixth missile warning Tuesday
Israel issued another missile warning to the public for Iranian fire, the sixth warning since midnight on Tuesday.
Israeli strikes near Beirut kill 2, hit targets in southern Lebanon
An Israeli strike early Tuesday on a residential apartment in Bchamoun, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) southeast of Beirut, killed at least two people, according to an initial toll from the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The strike wounded five others, the ministry added.
The strike came without warning and hit an area outside Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Israeli military had previously issued evacuation notices.
Footage circulating online showed at least one apartment in a building engulfed in flames.
Also early Tuesday, Israeli strikes hit several areas in southern Lebanon, including a gas station belonging to the Amana company in Rashidieh, near the port city of Tyre, sending a large plume of fire into the air.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel has repeatedly struck Amana fuel stations since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited on March 2, accusing them of being part of the group’s “economic infrastructure” that can support its military activities.
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