The US is poised to deploy about 3,000 additional soldiers from its elite 82nd airborne division to the Middle East even as the Trump administration seeks talks with Iran over ending the war.
The US and Israel continued air strikes across Iran on Tuesday, day 25 of the war, with the Iranian Red Crescent reporting more than 82,000 civilian buildings have been hit in air strikes.
Israel and Gulf Arab states on Tuesday suffered waves of rockets and drones fired by a defiant Tehran.
Amid speculation over contacts to end the fighting, US president Donald Trump repeated his assertion on Tuesday night that Iran wants a ceasefire.
“Their leaders are all gone but we are actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly,” he said.
Trump insisted the US was having “tremendous success” in Iran and had “won the war”, and claimed that Iran had made a major “energy-related gift” to the US.
Iran’s military commander, Maj Gen Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, however, vowed to fight until “complete victory”, mocking the US as a “hollow nation that has been brought down in front of the world”.
The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said it was “committed to a comprehensive ceasefire, not just a temporary one”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Tuesday that the Iran war had brought about ‘the greatest oil supply shock ever in the history of the markets’. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins
In Dublin, Taoiseach Micheál Martin urged fuel retailers to ensure tax cuts, introduced to offset the effects of the war on energy prices, were passed on to motorists. He also encouraged householders to conserve energy.
The Government unveiled a €250 million package of temporary cost of living supports aimed at easing the impact.
They include an excise cut on petrol and diesel that took effect last night, and a four-week extension to the fuel allowance payment for vulnerable households. The Dáil approved the excise cuts in a 118 to 39 vote.
The Opposition criticised the measures which they said did not go far enough. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Government had “abandoned” 750,000 households relying on home-heating oil claiming the supports were “half measures”.
Martin said the war had brought about “the greatest oil supply shock ever in the history of the markets”.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was willing to host negotiations between the US and Iran on ending the war, a day after Trump postponed threats to bomb Iranian power plants for five days after what he called “productive” talks.
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly been urging Trump to continue the war, citing people briefed by US officials.
Trump and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the White House in November 2025. Photograph: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
According to a New York Times report, Riyadh’s de facto leader said the attack by the US and Israel presented a “historic opportunity” to reshape the Middle East.
Saudi officials denied the report, saying the kingdom “has always supported a peaceful resolution to this conflict”.
There was also no let-up in the fighting in Lebanon as Israel continued its ground operation in the south and air force strikes in other Shia areas, where the Iran-backed Hizbullah has assets.
The Israeli military said it bombed petrol stations of the Al-Amana company in a wave of strikes “across Lebanon”, claiming they were owned by Hizbullah and helped fund the group’s operations.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz vowed that Israel forces will control a “security zone” up to the Litani river in south Lebanon, some 30km from the Israeli border in most areas.
Hundreds of thousands of residents who were ordered to leave their homes in recent weeks will not be allowed to return, he said, “until security is guaranteed in northern Israel”.
Israel has blown up five bridges in the region, which it says were being used by Hizbullah.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported that more than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting since March 2nd.
Lebanon on Tuesday withdrew accreditation from the Iranian ambassador, declared him persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country by Sunday.
Such a move would have been unthinkable a few months ago and represents growing frustration by the Beirut central government with Hizbullah and its Iranian sponsors.