Tehranrejected a45-day ceasefire proposaland said it wants a permanent end to the war as U.S. PresidentDonald 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.
APTOPIX Lebanon Israel Iran War
Trump said Mondayhe’s “not at all” concernedabout committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. ET 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 on 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.
InLebanon, more than 1,400 peoplehave been killedand more than 1 million peoplehave 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 membershave been killed.
Here is the latest:
South Korean presidential 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.
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South Korea last month reached an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to receive 24 million barrels of crude from that country 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’s now largely blocked by Iran as it seeks to exert leverage against the United States and Israel.
Key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island of Bahrain closes over threats from Iranian attacks
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 in a post on X.
It said vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
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’s 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 clear what energies facilities had been impacted.