Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war as U.S. President Donald Trump's ultimatum to make a deal ticked closer with an expanded threat of strikes against the Islamic Republic to include all power plants and bridges.
Trump said Monday he is "not at all" concerned about committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. EST deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacking civilian infrastructure is banned under international law, his spokesperson said Monday.
Israel carried out a new wave of attacks on Iran early Tuesday, while Iran responded with missile fire against Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Here is the latest:
Airstrikes hit Tehran
Airstrikes pounded sites across Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Monday, including residential areas. Strikes also were reported in Qom, the Shiite seminary city to the south of Tehran.
Iranian state television acknowledged the strikes in an online message, saying more details would be released.
Areas around Parchin, a military base associated with Iran’s ballistic missile program, and points south of downtown Tehran were struck.
Khorramabad International Airport also came under attack Tuesday, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
Video circulated online showing what appeared to be a cruise missile targeting one site in Iran.
Residential strikes in the past have targeted Iranian government and security officials.
King Fahd Causeway reopens after attack threats
The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia and the island of Bahrain, reopened Tuesday morning after closing for hours over possible threats from Iran.
The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement in a post on X, saying the only route by road between Bahrain and the Arabian Peninsula reopened.
Bahrain’s airport has been closed over the Iranian attacks for weeks.
The hourslong closure came after a ballistic missile attack from Iran targeted Saudi Arabia and may have done damage to energy infrastructure there.
The kingdom has not elaborated on damage from that attack.
France warns of ‘vicious circle’ of escalation
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law” and would surely trigger reprisals from Iran.
He spoke ahead of the Tuesday evening deadline for possible strikes against Iran set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“In the framework of the war in Iran, they would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle that would be very worrying and, most of all, very damaging to our own interests,” the minister said Tuesday morning on France Info television.
“We’re already seeing a surge of fuel prices. If energy facilities in Iran were struck, we can expect reprisals from the Iranian regime that would further worsen an already worrying situation,” he said.
Pakistan and Egypt urge de-escalation as Trump deadline nears
Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke early Tuesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty about the latest regional developments in the face of an approaching deadline for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the leaders “underscored the need for de-escalation and dialogue” and agreed to remain closely engaged as the situation evolves.
Pakistan, with the support of regional countries, has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table.
Abdelatty also spoke with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein.
The calls included “an assessment of the rapidly evolving situation and the efforts ... to reach understandings between the U.S. and Iran to achieve de-escalation and reduce tensions,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
WHO suspends Gaza medical evacuations after contractor killed
The United Nations health agency has suspended evacuations from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing with Egypt after the death of one of its contractors.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post that the contractor was killed Monday in what he described as a “security incident.”
Two WHO staffers also were wounded in the incident, he said without elaborating further details.
The incident is being investigated and the evacuations of patients and wounded people will be halted until further notice, Tedros said.
The Rafah Crossing was reopened in February after long delays in a key but mostly symbolic step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
Iran reports fatalities in 2 cities
Iran has reported fatalities from airstrikes overnight into Tuesday.
At least nine people were killed in the city of Shahriar, west of the capital, Tehran, Iranian media reported.
In the city of Pardis, east of Tehran, at least six people were killed in a strike and recovered from buildings, Iranian media reported.
Iran general says: ‘Moms, dads, at night send your kids to man checkpoints’
A Revolutionary Guard general in Iran has urged parents to “send your kids to man checkpoints.”
Gen. Hossein Yekta, previously identified as leading plainclothes units of the all-volunteer Basij force, made the comments on an Iranian state television channel.
“Moms, dads, take your kids hands and go out on streets,” he said. “Do you want your kid to become a real man? Let him feel like a hero standing right at the heart of the battlefield. Moms, dads, at night send your kids to man checkpoints. They become men!”
Basij checkpoints have been repeatedly targeted in airstrikes.
The Basij has been accepting children as young as 12 to man checkpoints. Amnesty International has warned some even carry firearms, calling their recruitment a war crime.
During nationwide protests in January, Yekta warned parents to keep their children home or they would be shot.
UAE presidential adviser says Iran's government can’t be trusted
An adviser to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, says they have lost trust in the Iranian government after its attacks on Arab neighbors.
“We are facing a perfidious regime that cannot be trusted,” Anwar Gargash wrote in a social media post Tuesday, adding that his country had sought to avoid the war.
He also claimed the UAE’s position toward Iran’s attacks in the Gulf Arab countries is appreciated across the region.
Iranian state television claims 14 million people have volunteered to fight
Iranian state television on Tuesday claimed 14 million people had volunteered to fight for the country if there is a ground invasion by the United States and Israel.
The claim by state TV, which included no other information, doubles an April 2 claim by Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf that 7 million had volunteered.
Iran is home to some 90 million people. Iran had conducted a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations in January that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained.
State media and text message campaigns have urged people to volunteer. The government also has called on retired soldiers to express their interest in fighting, while the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force has begun accepting children as young as 12 into its ranks.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for instance, called for a 20-million Basij force.
Synagogue damaged in airstrike in Iran’s capital
Iranian media reported Tuesday that a synagogue in the capital, Tehran, was damaged in an airstrike.
They identified the house of worship as the Rafi Niya Synagogue.
Video from the site showed rescuers moving around and what looked like a book of Hebrew scripture in the rubble.
Iran has a small Jewish population still living in the country. Many fled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Israeli issues warning to Iranians to avoid taking trains
Likely signaling a new target for their airstrikes, the Israeli military warned Iranians in Farsi on Tuesday to avoid taking trains until at least 9 p.m. local time.
“Your presence puts your life at risk,” the warning posted on X read.
Iran has shut off access to the internet for weeks, making it difficult for the average Iranians to see these warnings. However, Farsi-language satellite news networks abroad report them, allowing the information to make its way back into the Islamic Republic.
South Korean official to visit Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia to secure oil
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is dispatching his chief of staff as a special envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia in a diplomatic push to secure more fuel and mitigate the energy crunch caused by the war in the Middle East.
Kang Hoon-sik said he will depart Tuesday evening, with the visits aimed at securing additional sources of crude oil and naphtha, a key petroleum product used in plastics manufacturing.
South Korea last month reached an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to receive 24 million barrels of crude and initial shipments have arrived in recent weeks.
More than 60% of crude and 50% of naphtha supplies imported by South Korea last year passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that is now largely blocked by Iran as it seeks to exert leverage against the U.S. and Israel.
Key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to Bahrain closes over attack threats
The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, closed early Tuesday over threats from Iranian attacks.
The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement on X.
Vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the authority said.
The 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.
While there has been no formal threat against the King Fahd Causeway, some hard-liners within Iran have increasingly identified it as a possible target.
That risk likely would grow if Trump carries out his threatened strikes against bridges in Iran.
Saudi Arabia acknowledges ‘debris’ falls near energy infrastructure
Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that seven ballistic missiles from Iran targeted the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, with “debris from the missiles” crashing into the ground near energy facilities.
The brief statement from Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi military, did not elaborate on the extent of the damage on the ground, though he said an “assessment is underway.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what energies facilities had been impacted.
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