Live Updates: Iran war rages as oil and stock markets face mixed messages from Trump and Tehran

Iran attacked Israel with at least nine waves of missile launches on Tuesday, including cluster munitions and conventional weapons. While some of the weapons were intercepted, falling cluster munitions and debris from the interceptions caused damage to residential buildings and left at least nine people injured, two of them seriously, according to military and medical officials.

According to police, cluster munitions hit an apartment building in the northern city of Nesher and a community in central Israel, while in Tel Aviv, three buildings and several parked cars were severely damaged by a missile hit.

The national Magen David Adom of Israel [MDA] The emergency rescue service said four people were slightly injured in the Tel Aviv attack.

According to the Times of Israel, the Israeli Air Force was investigating the failure to intercept the ballistic missile that hit Tel Aviv. The newspaper quoted military officials as saying that the missile carried a conventional warhead, not a cluster bomb, and that several attempts to intercept it had failed.

Another missile aimed at northern Israel hit a Bedouin village, leaving three people injured, one of them seriously, according to the MDA.

Separately, Israeli authorities reported repeated weapons bombardments launched from Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is based, against northern Israel. The MDA said a crash Tuesday afternoon in the far north near the Golan Heights left one woman seriously injured and two others with minor injuries.

President Trump reshared a social media post from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday in which the Pakistani leader expressed his government’s willingness to support “efforts to pursue dialogue to end the WAR in the Middle East,” including arranging a possible meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials.

“Subject to the US-Iran agreement, Pakistan is ready and honored to host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive resolution of the ongoing conflict,” Sharif said in his post on X.

President Trump reposted Sharif’s message on his Truth Social account without comment.

On Monday morning, Trump surprised many by announcing, in an all-caps post on Truth, that “good and productive” peace talks were underway with Tehran. Iran has denied any direct discussions, but a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official told News themezone later on Monday that the regime had received a list of points from the United States through an intermediary, which Tehran was reviewing.

Pakistan, which has maintained fluid relations with both the United States and Iran, was positioning itself as a mediator in the Middle East crisis. There have been numerous unconfirmed reports that the Trump administration is pushing for a meeting this weekend between senior Iranian and American officials, possibly in Pakistan.

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces said Tuesday that a container ship leaving the port of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was “turned away for not complying with legal protocols and lacking authorization to transit the Strait of Hormuz.”

IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri did not provide any details about the Iranian force’s intervention to prevent the St. Kitts and Nevis-flagged container ship SELEN from passing through the strait in his announcement on social media.

Tracking data from the MarineTraffic website indicates that the SELEN left the port of the United Arab Emirates on Monday night bound for Karachi, Pakistan, but as of Tuesday afternoon it was stopped 10 to 20 miles off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The passage of any ship through this waterway requires full coordination with Iran’s maritime sovereignty,” Tangsiri said in his post.

The UK military’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre, which monitors and reports on incidents affecting commercial vessels in the Middle East, has not reported any suspicious activity or attacks targeting ships in the region since Sunday.

Iranian drone attacks on ships in and around the strait have occurred daily, often several times a day, since the United States and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on February 28.

The Pentagon and Israel’s military say those strikes have severely degraded Iran’s ability to launch missile and drone strikes, although Iranian missiles have continued to cause damage and claim lives in the Gulf states and Israel this week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Malaysian counterpart during a phone call on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz remained “closed to ships owned or associated with the United States, Israel or any party participating in or assisting its military aggression against Iran,” according to a readout of the conversation provided by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

“However, other vessels can safely transit through the strait with the coordination of relevant authorities in Iran,” Araghchi told Malaysia’s Dato’ Sri Utama Haji Mohamad bin Hassan.

The Iranian ministry statement said Araghchi explained to bin Hassan that Iran’s de facto closure of the vital sea route, which has driven a sharp rise in global oil and gas prices, was “a direct result of US and Israeli military aggression,” and a means by which Iran sought to “defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The statement did not mention any diplomatic efforts between Iran and the United States to resolve the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz or the broader conflict.

President Trump claimed on Monday that talks were underway, suggesting a comprehensive peace deal could be feasible, but Iran quickly denied any direct talks. A senior Iranian official told News themezone later Monday that the regime had “received points from the United States through mediators” but that Tehran was still reviewing them.

A group that has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Jewish institutions across Europe told News themezone it would continue attacking American and Israeli interests, a day after three men were captured on security camera video. Burning of ambulances used by a Jewish non-profit organization. medical organization in London.

The Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia group has taken credit for a series of arson attacks in Western Europe since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran. A representative for the group told News themezone Monday night that it would “avenge” the lives of children murdered in Iran and the Gaza Strip.

The group, whose name translates as Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, has released propaganda videos showing attacks on mostly Jewish institutions since the beginning of March.

Experts told News themezone that Ashab al-Yamin’s amateur videos and his sudden appearance in anti-Israel and anti-American online spaces make him appear more like a “turfgrass terrorist brand,” opportunistic individuals who claim responsibility for the actions of others to suit their goals, or a loose collection of volunteer or paid recruits solicited by pro-Iran groups through social media.

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The UAE Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that an Iranian missile attack in neighboring Bahrain had killed a civilian contractor working for the UAE Armed Forces.

The ministry statement said the contractor was a Moroccan national killed during “a routine mission” in a “blatant Iranian attack” that left five other UAE government personnel injured.

At least two more people have been killed in Bahrain by missile and drone attacks by Iran since the United States and Israel launched their joint war against the Islamic Republic 25 days ago, according to figures shared by the Bahraini government.

The United Arab Emirates has reported eight people dead on its territory, including two Emirati military service members.

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society said Tuesday that the organization was under attack by Israel amid continued US and Israeli attacks on the country.

Statement by Ali Kolivand, director of the Iranian Red Crescent:

The attackers attacked 17 Red Crescent bases throughout the country.

94 ambulances and emergency vehicles were directly hit by enemy missiles, highlighting the extent of the damage to the country’s humanitarian and rescue infrastructure.

“Seventeen branches and bases of the Red Crescent have been attacked,” Ali Kolivand said in a video posted online by Iranian state media. “Some of our colleagues were injured. One of our colleagues has been a martyr.”

Kolivand did not specify whether the alleged attacks were carried out by US or Israeli forces, but stated that the “aggressors” had “directly attacked with missiles” 46 ambulances and 48 other emergency vehicles, including three rescue helicopters, belonging to the organization since the war began.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared a state of “national energy emergency” on Tuesday, citing risks to domestic fuel supply and energy stability created by the Middle East war.

“A state of national energy emergency is declared in light of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the resulting imminent danger it poses to the availability and stability of the country’s energy supply,” says an executive order released Tuesday night.

The order authorizes the country’s Department of Energy to make 15% advance payments to guarantee fuel contracts while taking direct measures against hoarding or speculation.

“The declaration… will allow the government, through the (energy department) and other concerned agencies, to implement responsive and coordinated measures under existing laws to address the risks posed by the in disruptions to the global energy supply and the national economy,” the order says.

The Philippines has one of the highest energy costs in the region and relies heavily on imported fuel to keep its power plants running.

The state of emergency was declared just hours after the country’s energy secretary said the Philippines planned to increase output from its coal-fired power plants to keep electricity costs down as the war wreaks havoc on gas shipments.

Pakistan “is ready” to host talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday.

“Subject to the US-Iran agreement, Pakistan is ready and honored to host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive resolution of the ongoing conflict,” Shehbaz Sharif wrote in X.

“Pakistan welcomes and fully supports the ongoing efforts to seek dialogue to end the WAR in the Middle East, for the sake of peace and stability in the region and beyond,” he posted.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio He will travel to France on Friday for talks with Group of Seven foreign ministers.

They will discuss the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine “and threats to peace and stability around the world,” according to a press release.

Rubio “will meet with foreign ministers from partner countries to discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation,” according to the statement.

Israel’s military says it has carried out more than 3,000 strikes across Iran since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, Israel’s campaign against the Islamic Republic.

“Yesterday, the IDF attacked IRGC command centers, weapons storage facilities and air defense systems,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday.

“Overnight, more than 50 additional targets were attacked, including ballistic missile storage and launch,” he said.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that the Israeli military will control a “security zone” in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River.

The hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who have evacuated north of the river, fleeing Israeli airstrikes, would not be able to return to their homes until “security is guaranteed” for residents of northern Israel, he said in a meeting with senior Israeli defense officials, according to a statement from his office.

The Israeli army also destroyed bridges over the Litani River.

Amazon’s cloud arm said on Tuesday that its service in Bahrain had been interrupted after drone attacks hit the region.

An Amazon Web Services (AWS) spokesperson said the outage was ongoing, without specifying the exact location affected or any potential damage caused.

“The AWS Bahrain region has been affected as a result of the ongoing conflict,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company was helping affected customers migrate to AWS servers in other parts of the world.

“We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our staff.”

Bahrain and other Gulf countries have been regularly targeted by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign. AWS said in early March that drone attacks damaged two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a facility in Bahrain.

AWS is the world’s leading cloud computing provider, competing with rivals such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud to deliver infrastructure to support popular apps and websites, as well as power generative AI.

A source inside Iran told News themezone on Tuesday that many people who wanted intervention in the country to end the Islamic Republic’s repression are now changing their minds.

“They assumed that war could be [a] liberator and free them from despotism in Iran and theocratic despotic regimes. “Now they are thinking twice and reviewing it,” the source said.

“They are reaching a ceasefire at any time, no matter who the boss is… anything that can say ‘enough is enough and there is a ceasefire until further notice.'”

Lebanon ordered Iran’s ambassador to leave the country by Sunday and decided to declare him persona non grata, according to Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry.

The Lebanese government has been critical of Iran and accuses its Revolutionary Guard of operating in Lebanon alongside Hezbollah and dragging the country into another war with Israel. Israel has said some of its attacks have targeted Revolutionary Guard officials operating in the country.

Lebanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Denise Rahme told The News that Iran’s embassy will still have a charge d’affaires to head its diplomatic mission.

Iran on Tuesday 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 achieved the rank of Brigadier General of the Guard. He had served as secretary of the Iranian Expediency Council.

Ali Larijani was killed in Israeli strikes last week, marking a significant moment for the Islamic Republic in the conflict.

Traders placed $500 million worth of oil market bets about 15 minutes before President Trump posted remarks on social media Monday about “productive talks” with Iran, the Financial Times reported. After Trump’s post, the price of crude oil plummeted.

“It’s hard to prove causality… but you have to wonder who would have been relatively aggressive selling futures at that time, 15 minutes before Trump’s message,” a market strategist at a US brokerage firm told the Financial Times.

The timing of the trades echoed large, profitable bets placed on prediction market Polymarket on the timing of US attacks on Venezuela and Iran, the Financial Times reported.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “The White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally benefiting from inside knowledge, and any implication that officials engage in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting.”

The price of Brent crude oil climbed back above $100 a barrel early Tuesday after falling on President Trump’s claim the previous morning that there were advanced talks with Iran, something Tehran quickly denied.

Brent crude, known as the international standard for oil pricing, was trading at $104 a barrel early Monday morning but later fell to $100.94, still a major turnaround after it plunged 10% on Trump’s comments the previous day. At more than $100 a barrel, the price represents an increase of at least 40% since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28.

Stock markets appeared more optimistic after Trump’s comments. Global benchmarks mostly recovered on Tuesday, with France’s CAC 40 gaining 0.4% in early trading, Germany’s DAX rising 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 inching up just under 0.1%.

In the US, Dow futures rose less than 0.1% to 46,536.00 and S&P 500 futures were also largely unchanged, falling less than 0.1% to 6,634.50.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed up 1.4%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% and South Korea’s Kospi received a major boost to close up 2.7% along with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which rose 2.8%.

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Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement Tuesday accusing Israel of “taking advantage of the regional war environment and media attention” on Iran to intensify its attacks against suspected targets of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The IRGC accused Israel of “widespread war crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, crossing all the red lines of genocide.”

The Israeli military recognizes ongoing operations in Gaza, where a The ceasefire technically ended the three-year war. with Hamas at the end of last year, although there are routines accusations that the agreement is being violated.

Israel has announced multiple expansions of its operations in Lebanon since the war with Iran began, including airstrikes across the country and ground forces seizing ground in the south and ordering tens of thousands of civilians to flee. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the attack will continue until the Iran-backed Hezbollah group no longer poses a threat to communities in northern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces say they are taking all possible measures to avoid harming civilians, including evacuation orders, although residents have reported multiple attacks near the Lebanese capital that occurred without warning.

In its statement on Tuesday, the IRGC said that unless Israel changes its tactics, “enemy rallying points” in northern Israel and Gaza “will be hit without hesitation by heavy missile and drone strikes.”

A missile crashed into a street in central Tel Aviv as Iran maintained its attacks on Israel and Arab Gulf states on Tuesday, hours after President Trump said the United States was in talks with Tehran to end the war.

Iran dismissed the claim that negotiations are ongoing because “l Fake news is used to manipulate financial and oil markets,” and Israel’s leader vowed to continue attacking Iran and Lebanon regardless of diplomatic incursions, to “protect our vital interests, in any case.”

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 220-pound warhead tore through Israeli defenses and crashed into a street, shattering the windows of an apartment building and sending up clouds of smoke.

“We saw destruction, smoke and chaos,” rescue service worker Yoel Moshe told reporters at the scene minutes after the missile hit. Four people suffered minor injuries, he said.

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.

Earlier in the day, Israel again attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group. An attack on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least two people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

While President Trump said on Monday he would extend his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic by five days to allow for talks, postponing his threat to attack Iranian power plants, the Israeli and US militaries have said attacks will continue against Iranian military targets.

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The head of the International Energy Agency says the global economy faces a “major threat” from the Iran war.

Fatih Birol told Austra The crisis in the Middle East has had a worse impact on oil than the two oil crises of the 1970s combined, and a worse effect on gas markets than the war between Russia and Ukraine.