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\n A thick plume of smoke rises Sunday from an oil storage facility hit by a U.S.-Israeli strike late Saturday in Tehran, Iran.<\/p>\n
Vahid Salemi\/AP<\/p>\n
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Vahid Salemi\/AP<\/p>\n
The Trump administration promised the most intense day of strikes on Iran, while Israel intensified its attacks in Lebanon, as the war in the Middle East entered its 11th day.<\/p>\n
“Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a news conference on Tuesday. He said the Pentagon was giving the president “maximum options,” and that the war will not be “endless.”<\/p>\n It came a day after President Trump touted major success but sent mixed signals on whether the fighting was almost over.<\/p>\n Iran launched drones and rockets across the Gulf region on Tuesday, while Israel’s military said it conducted strikes against the financial infrastructure of the Iran-backed organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran, 570 in Lebanon and 12 people in Israel, according to figures from Iranian and Lebanese health officials and Israeli authorities. Seven U.S. soldiers<\/a> have died in the war so far, the Pentagon says.<\/p>\n Here’s what to know about the latest developments in the conflict.<\/p>\n To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below:<\/p>\n Trump on war’s end <\/a>| Iran’s reaction<\/a> | Israel strikes Hezbollah<\/a> | Iranian strikes<\/a> | Iran-backed militia in Iraq <\/a>| Turkey NATO air defenses<\/a> | Trump’s reaction on Iran’s new leader<\/a> | Iran women soccer team<\/a><\/p>\n Trump sends mixed signals on when the war will end <\/p>\n In a phone call with CBS News<\/a> Monday, President Trump said, “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” He said Iran’s military capabilities were wiped out. <\/p>\n At a later press conference, Trump’s first since the war began<\/a>, he said the U.S. was “achieving major strides toward completing our military objective” and warned Iran against disrupting global energy supplies.<\/p>\n But at a separate event with Republican lawmakers<\/a> in Miami, he struck a more open-ended tone. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he said. “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all.”<\/p>\n Trump also intensified his warnings about the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on social media<\/a> late Monday that if Iran does anything to stop oil shipments from flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would respond “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” than it has so far.<\/p>\n Trump’s warning came as markets went into shock over fears of supply disruptions. The price of oil briefly hit nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, then fell back<\/a> after Trump suggested the war might end soon.<\/p>\n \u2014 Rebecca Rosman<\/p>\n Iran says it will decide when the war ends <\/p>\n In an apparent response to President Trump’s remarks, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that Iran, not the U.S., would have the final say on the end of the war.<\/p>\n “Iran will determine when the war ends,” Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini told Iranian state media.<\/p>\n Sardar Shekarchi, a spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, called Trump<\/a> “the delusional president.”<\/p>\n In an interview with PBS Newshour<\/a> on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he did not believe negotiating with the United States would “be on the table” again.<\/p>\n “We have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans,” he said. He pointed out indirect nuclear talks were underway last June when the U.S. attacked Iran, and negotiations had resumed in February when the U.S. attacked again.<\/p>\n Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on social media<\/a>, “Certainly we aren’t seeking a ceasefire.”<\/p>\n Israel strikes more Hezbollah targets; Lebanon’s president calls for direct talks <\/p>\n Israel intensified its attacks on Lebanon where it says it is striking sites linked to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. <\/p>\n The Israel military said it targeted assets and storage facilities tied to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which it said finances weapons purchases<\/a> and provides salaries for Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Israel has been striking southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, both considered Hezbollah strongholds, since the Iran-backed group launched rockets into northern Israel last week after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n The death toll in Lebanon rose to 570 people on Tuesday, with more than 750,000 people displaced by the fighting, according to a government disaster management office. <\/p>\n Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, once again called on the international community to provide the Lebanese armed forces with equipment and what he called logistical support to help in the government’s campaign to try to disarm Hezbollah.<\/p>\n He said Lebanon was ready to enter direct talks with Israel, under the supervision of international mediators, to come to a solution.<\/p>\n An official briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic affairs, told NPR that Israel saw positive signs from the Lebanese government in its approach to Hezbollah, but that the war would continue.<\/p>\n \u2014 Hadeel Al-Shalchi<\/p>\n Iran continues strikes on neighboring Gulf countries <\/p>\n Iran’s missile and drone attacks continued across the Gulf on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said<\/a> it intercepted and destroyed two drones over the kingdom’s oil-rich eastern region.<\/p>\n Kuwait’s National Guard, meanwhile, said it downed six drones<\/a> in areas north and south of the country.<\/p>\n The United Arab Emirates also condemned what it called<\/a> a drone attack targeting its consulate general in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, saying it caused material damage but no injuries.<\/p>\n Iraq says airstrike on Iran-linked militia killed five <\/p>\n Iraq’s military said an airstrike killed at least five members of an Iran-linked militia in the city of Kirkuk, located near the border with Iran.<\/p>\n It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the strikes.<\/p>\n NATO boosts Turkey’s air defenses <\/p>\n Turkey on Tuesday said a Patriot air defense system was deployed to protect a NATO radar station in the eastern part of the country.<\/p>\n The move comes after two missiles have been shot down in or near Turkish airspace since the start of the war.<\/p>\n The Turkish Defense Ministry said<\/a> the Patriot system was being deployed to the Malatya province, which is home to the Kurecik NATO radar base.<\/p>\n In a phone call Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that violations of Turkey’s airspace cannot be excused, according to a Turkish government readout<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, denied that Iran had targeted Turkey<\/a> with any projectiles and claimed there was an Israeli government plot to “destroy Iran’s friendly relations with regional countries.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Durrie Bouscaren<\/p>\n Trump “disappointed” with new supreme leader pick, won’t say if he will be targeted <\/p>\n President Trump said Monday he was “disappointed” that Iran had named Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a>, the son of the killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, as its new supreme leader. <\/p>\n “I was disappointed because we think it’s going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country. So I was disappointed to see their choice,” Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n Asked by a journalist whether the new leader had “a target on his back,” Trump said, “I don’t want to say whether or not he does, because that would be inappropriate.”<\/p>\n In an interview with CNN<\/a> Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declined to rule out assassination plans targeting Khamenei, saying Israel would not disclose operational steps in advance.<\/p>\n “We never in a war declare what will be our operational steps or actions for that kind of thing,” Sa’ar told CNN. “You will have to wait and see.”<\/p>\n Iranian women’s soccer players granted humanitarian visas in Australia <\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773170529_32_.jpeg\")
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