Fighting as Israel invades southern Lebanon killed U.N. peacekeepers and Israeli soldiers, officials said Tuesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian officials issued contradictory statements about negotiations to end their war.
Israel is trying to push Hezbollah militants, who have fired rockets and drones across the border, out of southern Lebanon in a campaign that Israeli officials suggest could become a prolonged occupation.
The U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the situation after three U.N. peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon in less than 24 hours, although it’s not clear who was responsible. Israel said early Tuesday that another four of its soldiers had been killed in the offensive.
Trump said the U.S. is negotiating with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, in an interview with the New York Post published Monday. The former Revolutionary Guard commander was previously floated as Washington’s negotiating partner, but has denied Iran is talking to the U.S. and said Pakistan-facilitated discussions were merely a cover for American troop deployments.
Trump also threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plants, if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached “shortly.”
U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday for the first time since 2022 as fuel prices continue to soar worldwide. U.S. stocks edged higher in shaky trading Monday as oil prices keep climbing because of uncertainty about when the war could end.
Here is the latest:
An Israeli soldier has been dismissed after making “inappropriate comments” to a CNN crew, Israel’s military spokesperson said Tuesday.
The solider’s battalion assaulted and detained the crew in the West Bank last week.
Other soldiers involved in the incident received reprimands, the spokesperson said.
The military’s chief of staff has suspended the battalion from its current deployment.
Three Chinese vessels recently passed through the Strait of Hormuz “through coordination with relevant parties,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
“We appreciate the assistance provided by the relevant parties,” she said without naming them.
She repeated China’s call for an immediate ceasefire, saying the strait is a vital corridor for goods and energy trade.
U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 as fuel prices continue to soar worldwide.
According to motor club AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is now $4.02, over a dollar more than before the war began.
The last time U.S. drivers were collectively paying this much at the pump was nearly four years ago, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The price is a national average, meaning drivers in some states have been paying well over $4 a gallon for a while now.
Some of Myanmar’s most visible fuel constraints have appeared in big cities with long lines at gas stations becoming a daily sight, according to a report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper on Tuesday.
Authorities have gradually rolled out measures and controls including an odd-even vehicle numbering system limits which cars can be on the roads each day, a QR code system and daily fuel purchase limits.
The measures have slowed fuel distribution and added to congestion as vehicles often wait for hours or even overnight under rationing rules.
The report says authorities have taken action against 17 gas stations and warned 24 others for violations such as selling without scanning codes, failing to open or overcharging.
Oil steadied and Asian stocks were mostly lower Tuesday as signs of a de-escalation of the Iran war remained mixed.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.6% to 51,063.72. South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.3% to 5,052.46.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3% to 24,678.17, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8% to 3,891.86.
Brent crude futures were less than 0.1% lower at $107.37 a barrel on Tuesday, while benchmark U.S. crude edged up 0.1% to $102.93 per barrel.
The defense ministers of Italy and France expressed “deep and profound concern” Tuesday over the deteriorating security in Lebanon.
The joint statement by Guido Crosetto and Catherine Vautrin made particular reference to recent attacks targeting personnel from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
In a phone conversation Monday they stressed the “unacceptability of such incidents and the increasing risks faced by the personnel deployed in the mission,” the statement said.
The ministers agreed on the strategic importance of UNIFIL, saying Lebanon’s stability constitutes “an indispensable pillar for the balance of the entire Mediterranean basin.”
They confirmed Italy and France will continue operating in close coordination to ensure the safety of international personnel, the protection of peace and support for Lebanese authorities.
Suspected militants blew up a local gas pipeline Monday in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack near Quetta, the capital of the province bordering Iran.
Officials reported the attack Tuesday, saying it disrupted natural gas supplies to regional cities. The Sui Southern Gas Company said engineers were working to repair the damaged pipeline.
Iran held a funeral Tuesday for Rear. Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, the head of Revolutionary Guard’s navy.
An Israeli airstrike killed Tangsiri last week, with Tehran only acknowledging his death Monday.
It showed his casket on a flat bed truck driving through the streets of Bandar Abbas, a crucial port city on the Strait of Hormuz that has seen repeated U.S. airstrikes during the war.
Authorities in Dubai said Tuesday morning they “contained” a Kuwaiti oil tanker after it came under attack from Iran.
Officials said there was “no oil leakage and no injuries reported.”
Pakistan’s foreign minister left for Beijing on Tuesday for a one-day visit as the country steps up efforts to help end the war in the Middle East.
Ishaq Dar is visiting China at the invitation of his counterpart, Wang Yi, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said in a statement without providing additional details.
Dar held consultations over the weekend in Islamabad with top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Dar later said Pakistan would host talks between the United States and Iran in the coming days, though it remains unclear whether they would be direct or indirect.
Two more members of the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq were hanged Tuesday in Iran, state media reported.
The two men were identified as Babak Alipour and Pouya Ghobadi.
Amnesty International has said Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted the men on charges of armed rebellion against the state “following a grossly unfair trial in October 2024” after they were subjected to torture.
Two other MEK members had been hanged Monday over the same case.
The operator of a Thai cargo ship struck by a projectile near the Strait of Hormuz said a search team was able to board the vessel but did not locate its missing three crew members.
The Mayuree Naree was disabled after being hit just north of Oman earlier this month.
Precious Shipping Co., Ltd said in a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Monday that all accessible areas on the Mayuree Naree ship were searched “under challenging conditions, including the presence of fire damage, residual smoke, and flooding in the engine room.” It said the families of the three crew members were notified accordingly.
A satellite image taken just before the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel suggests Tehran transferred a truckload of highly enriched uranium to its nuclear facility at Isfahan.
The image from an Airbus Defense and Space Pléiades Neo satellite shows a truck loaded with 18 blue containers going into a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center on June 9, 2025. The war began June 13, The United States bombed the Isfahan facility along with two other nuclear sites on June 22.
François Diaz-Maurin, an analyst with the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, wrote that the truck likely carried 18 secured containers of as much as 534 kilograms (1,177 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity. That’s a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.
“This calculation suggests that Iran could have transferred all of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to Isfahan via the truck seen in the satellite image,” Diaz-Maurin wrote in his analysis.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security also suggested the vehicle was transferring the highly enriched uranium. The French newspaper Le Monde first reported on the images.
Iran’s foreign minister early Tuesday insisted that Tehran’s attacks on the Gulf Arab states only target U.S. forces, even after assaults have hit civilian targets throughout the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments, addressed to Saudi Arabia, come as growing Gulf Arab anger has those states encouraging America to continue to prosecute the war.
“Iran respects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and considers it a brotherly nation,” Araghchi wrote on X, sharing a photo purportedly showing damage to an American aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in the kingdom. “Our operations are aimed at enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians, nor can provide any security. … High time to eject U.S. forces.”
