Iran targets Israel, Arab Gulf states even as Trump says US in talks to end war
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile crashed into a street in central Tel Aviv as Iran continued its bombing raids on Israel and Gulf Arab states on Tuesday, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.
Trump also delayed the deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz to shipping or for its power plants to be targeted by airstrikes, briefly depressing oil prices and boosting stocks.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
The delay offered some respite after the United States and Iran traded threats over the weekend of attacks that could have cut off electricity to millions of people in Iran and around the Gulf and destroyed desalination plants that supply drinking water to many desert nations, while raising fears of a possible catastrophe if nuclear plants were attacked.
But any information about the talks described by Trump remains disputed with Iran, which denied any talks had taken place.
“No negotiations have been held with the United States,” the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, posted on X, adding that “fake news is used to manipulate financial and oil markets.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel will continue attacking Iran and Lebanon even as the United States considers a ceasefire.
“There is more to come,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been talking about the war this week with his counterparts from Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Turkmenistan, his office said.
Iran hits Israel and its Gulf neighbors as Israel attacks Beirut
Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel early Tuesday, with reports of one hit in the north of the country.
In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 100-kilogram (220-pound) warhead escaped Israeli defenses and crashed into a city center street, shattering the windows of a neighboring apartment building and sending up clouds of smoke.
“We saw destruction, smoke and chaos,” rescue service worker Yoel Moshe told reporters when he arrived at the scene minutes after the missile hit. Four people suffered minor injuries, he said.
AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg
Leaving the shelter, Amir Hasid said he expected the scene to be much worse. “It feels like you’re an easy target, waiting for the missiles to hit you or someone next to you,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Israel attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut saying it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least eight people died. An attack on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least three people, including a three-year-old girl. Two other people died in the village of Salaa and three in the village of Srifa.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, resumed on March 2 and more than 1 million people have been displaced.
In Kuwait, power lines were hit by air defense shrapnel, causing partial power outages for several hours. Missile warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 19 Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.
Oil prices briefly fell below $100 a barrel after Trump claimed his administration was in talks to end the war. But that respite was short-lived as the price of Brent crude, the international standard, returned to $104 a barrel in morning trading, an increase of more than 40% since Israel and the United States began war on February 28.
Iran skeptical of Trump’s motives for extending deadline
Trump initially set a deadline of Monday night Washington time for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, but on Monday he gave Tehran five more days to comply.
Iran has allowed a small number of ships to pass through the strait, which runs from the Persian Gulf to the open sea, but has said it will continue to target ships linked to the United States, Israel or their allies.
Its leaders are wary of Washington’s motives, in part because Tehran was in negotiations with the United States before the surprise attack that started the war. Iran was also in talks last year when the United States and Israel attacked its nuclear facilities, starting a 12-day war.
“Trump, Netanyahu and the like are inherently liars and their nature is to create division,” Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
“We must think wisely. Its nature is to sow discord so that people distrust officials and believe that such actions have taken place, when such action has not occurred.”
Trump’s extension of the deadline comes as a contingent of thousands of Marines is en route to the area, raising speculation that the United States could try to seize Kharg Island, which is off the coast of Iran and is vital to the country’s oil network.
The United States bombed the island in the Persian Gulf more than a week ago, attacking its defenses but saying it had left oil infrastructure intact.
Iran has threatened that if the United States appears to be about to land troops, it could undermine the Persian Gulf, complicating an amphibious assault and also jeopardizing all shipping in the area.
The delay could coincide with the arrival of US Marines in the region, scheduled for Friday, the New York-based think tank Soufan Center wrote in an analysis.
“As Trump has done in the past, he could be moving military assets into place, in this case to prepare for an invasion and takeover of Kharg Island, while using negotiations as cover until those assets are fully combat-ready.”
However, the center also noted that “Trump may be actively seeking a way out. Whether Iran will reciprocate remains to be seen.”
Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces to Iran, but he has not ruled it out. Israel has suggested that its ground forces could participate in the war.
The death toll in Iran has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have died from Iranian attacks. At least 13 US service members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Arab Gulf states.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. News writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.