Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Smoke billowed over central Tel Aviv on Tuesday as Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel and Gulf Arab states, even as US President Donald Trump said the US was in talks with the Islamic republic. war.
Trump also delayed a deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz to shipping or target its power stations with air strikes, briefly driving Fall in oil prices and rise in stocks.
The delay came as the US and Iran traded threats over the weekend for an attack that could knock out power to millions of people in Iran and around the Gulf and destroy desalination plants that provide drinking water to many desert countries, while raising fears of a possible devastation if nuclear plants were hit.
But no information about the conversation Dispute with Iran as described by Trump remainsWho denied any conversation.
“There has been no negotiations with the US,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on Twitter, adding that “fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that Israel would continue to attack Iran and Lebanon, even if the US was considering a ceasefire.
“There is still more to come,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been talking about the war this week with his counterparts in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Turkmenistan, his office said.
Iran fired several waves of missiles at Israel early Tuesday, with reports of impacts in the north of the country and an explosion followed by smoke billowing over central Tel Aviv. Officials did not immediately provide any information about the explosion.
Meanwhile, Israel attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.
At least two people were killed in the attack on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
In Kuwait, power lines were hit by air defense shrapnel, causing partial power outages over several hours. Missile alert sirens were 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 government was negotiating an end to the war. But that relief was short-lived, with the price of international standard Brent crude falling back to $104 a barrel in morning trading, more than 40% higher than Israel and the US. The war started on 28 February.
Trump had initially set a deadline of late 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 through the strait leading from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but has said it will continue to target ships belonging to the US, Israel or its allies.
Its leaders are wary of Washington’s intentions, as Tehran had been in talks with the US before the surprise attack that started the war. Iran was also in talks last year after the US and Israel attacked its nuclear facilities, triggering a 12-day war.
“Trump, Netanyahu and people like them are liars by nature and their nature is to create division,” Esmail Kousari, 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 should think sensibly. Their nature is to create controversy so that they can make people distrust the authorities and make them believe that such action has been taken, when no such action has been taken.”
Trump’s extension of the deadline comes as a force of thousands of Marines is moving toward the region, fueling speculation the US could try to take over. Kharg IslandWhich is off the coast of Iran and is important for the country’s oil network.
The US bombed the island in the Persian Gulf more than a week ago, damaging its defenses but said it had left its oil infrastructure intact.
Iran has threatened to mine the Persian Gulf if the US is about to commit troops, complicating an amphibious assault and endangering all shipping in the region.
The delay could coincide with the arrival of US marines in the area, expected on Friday, the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, wrote in an analysis.
“As Trump has done in the past, he could in this case move military assets to prepare for the invasion and seizure of Kharag Island, while using those assets as cover to negotiate until they are ready for full-scale war.”
However, the center also said that “Trump may actively seek an OFRAMP. It remains to be seen whether Iran responds.”
Trump has said that he has no plans to send ground troops to Iran, but he has not denied it either. Israel has suggested that its ground forces could take part in the war.
Iran’s Health Ministry said the death toll had exceeded 1,500. 15 people have been killed in Iranian attacks in Israel. At least 13 US military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.
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There were reports of Rising from Bangkok and Maggi from Cairo. Associated Press writers Elena Bekatoros in Athens, Greece, and Sally Abou Aljoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
