Iran-US war highlights: Trump to address nation and provide update on Iran on Thursday, White House says

Iran-US war news LIVE: Iranian media reported Tuesday a wave of US-Israeli strikes hit military bases, a cancer drug plant and a religious site -- after President Donald Trump threatened to destroy the country's oil wells and power grid.

Video footage verified by AFP showed at least two massive explosions and columns of smoke in Isfahan, central Iran. State media reported the Grand Husseiniya, a Shia religious centre, was damaged in Zanjan in the northwest.

The Iranian government also said airstrikes had hit a pharmaceutical plant producing cancer drugs and anaesthetics, wile a health ministry official told the ISNA news agency that a bombing had left a desalination plant on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz "completely out of service". (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Iran hit a fully laden Kuwaiti oil tanker off the coast of Dubai during a fresh wave of attacks around the Persian Gulf, a sign it’s willing to escalate strikes on energy assets as the war drags on.

The Tuesday assault on the Al-Salmi, a large crude carrier in an area packed with ships, is one of the most significant on a vessel since the US and Israel began bombarding the Islamic Republic more than a month ago. Dubai authorities said a fire was contained and all 24 crew members are safe, with no oil leaking.

The US-Israeli alliance continued to target Iran, where state media reported a strike on a major pharmaceutical producer. Tehran kept up attacks on Arab countries as well as Israel, with the United Arab Emirates — including Dubai — Saudi Arabia and Iraq all reporting missile fire. (Bloomberg)

Iran-US war news LIVE: US President Donald Trump urged countries who did not help the US in its coordinated strikes against Iran and are now unable to get jet fuel to buy American oil and go to the Strait of Hormuz and "just TAKE it."

Iran-US war news LIVE: A strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, AFPTV footage showed, after Israel issued a warning for people in the Hezbollah stronghold to leave.

The strike is the first since Friday in the area, which is now largely deserted since Israel began frequent attacks against Hezbollah in early March.

AFPTV's live broadcast showed plumes of smoke rising from the southern suburbs. (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: The White House threatened further escalation of its military campaign against Iran, which later attacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai, as the war entered a fifth week with little relief for jolted global markets.

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday that if Tehran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz, “we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating” electricity plants, oil facilities and “possibly” desalination infrastructure.

Trump has regularly vacillated between saying a deal with Iran is imminent and warning that he’s prepared to increase the military tempo. The threat to water facilities would constitute a war crime as defined by the Geneva Conventions.

The president has told aides that he’s willing to end the US military campaign, even if the strait remains mostly closed, the Wall Street Journal reported. White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. (Bloomberg)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Without putting a timeline on when the war would end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that the war goals were “definitely beyond the halfway point”, and further specified that he was talking about the missions and “not necessarily” the time. Trump, who launched the war with Netanyahu on February 28, initially said the operation would last for four to six weeks.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Tehran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Tuesday, despite a threat by President Donald Trump that the U.S. will obliterate Iran's energy plants if it does not agree to a peace deal and open the Strait of Hormuz.

Authorities in Dubai said the fire on the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi had been brought under control following a drone attack, with no oil leak and no injuries to the crew. Kuwait Petroleum Corp, the ship's owner, said the vessel's hull was damaged.

The attack was the latest on merchant vessels in the strait, a vital waterway, since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. (Reuters)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Tuesday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing a fragile five-months-old U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, north of the enclave, killed at least three people earlier in the day, while another airstrike killed two others in Khan Younis, in the south.

There was no Israeli comment on either of the two incidents.

Hamas and Israel have traded blame for violations of a ceasefire agreed last October. The Gaza health ministry said Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the ceasefire. Israel said four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period. (Reuters)

Qatar has called for a collective regional approach to determining the future of the Strait of Hormuz, with its foreign ministry spokesperson stressing that decisions on such a critical waterway should not be taken unilaterally.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministers held talks focusing on the evolving situation in Iran and regional stability.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Gas prices in the United States reached all-time high on Tuesday as the war with Iran escalates. As per several media reports, gas prices in the US have now crossed $4 per gallon, the highest since 2022.

The national average for a gallon of gasoline in the US now costs around $4.02, which is a dollar higher than the price gas stood at when the US-Iran war broke out on February 28, said motor club AAA, reported Associated Press.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Iranian media said Tuesday airstrikes have put a desalination plant on Iran's Qeshm island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz out of service, though the report did not specify when the attack took place.

"One of the desalination plants on Qeshm Island was targeted... and is now completely out of service, as it is not possible to repair it in the short term," the ISNA news agency reported, quoting health ministry official Mohsen Farhadi.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said a strike had taken place there on March 7, accusing the US of a "blatant and desperate crime" launched from its military base in Bahrain.

Qeshm is the largest Iranian island in the Gulf, stretching for around one hundred kilometres across the Strait of Hormuz. (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: US-Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed four people and damaged a Shia Muslim mosque and religious site in northwest Iran, Iranian media reported.

State television said the building of the Grand Husseiniya, a hall for Shia gatherings and mourning ceremonies, "was damaged following the enemy's morning attack on the Ferdowsi street" in the city of Zanjan.

It added that "parts of the dome and minarets were damaged."

The strikes killed four people and wounded 26 others in the area, according ISNA news agency citing Ali Sadeghi, a provincial deputy governor. (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: An explosion was heard Tuesday morning near the international airport of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

Iraq has been drawn into the broader Middle East war that started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted the groups. (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: US strikes hit a city on Tuesday that is home to one of Iran's main nuclear sites, sending a massive fireball into the sky, and Tehran attacked a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.

The attacks were a testament to the intensity of the war more than a month after the US and Israel launched their first strikes. The conflict has left more than 3,000 dead and caused major disruptions to the world's supply of oil and natural gas. On Tuesday, the average price of gasoline in the US shot past USD 4 a gallon - just another sign of the war's effects far beyond the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump, who has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war, shared footage of the attack on Isfahan. The central city is home to one of three nuclear enrichment sites attacked by the US in a 12-day war in June, and analysts believe much of Iran's highly enriched uranium is likely stored there. (AP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Israel will establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon and maintain control over the entire area up to the Litani River, Israel's defence minister said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Iran-US war news LIVE: European Union governments should prepare for a prolonged disruption to energy markets as a result of the Iran war, the bloc's energy chief has told ministers ahead of an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

In a letter to energy ministers, dated March 30 and seen by Reuters, EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said governments were "encouraged to make timely preparations in anticipation of a potentially prolonged disruption".

Europe's heavy reliance on imported fuel leaves it exposed to the Middle East conflict's impact on global energy prices. European gas prices have risen more than 70% since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.

The bloc's supplies of crude oil and natural gas have not been hit directly by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, since Europe imports most of those energy sources from suppliers outside of the Middle East. (Reuters)

Iran-US war news LIVE: US-Israeli strikes hit on Tuesday one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Iran which produces anaesthetic and cancer drugs, the Iranian government said.

"During the US and Zionist regime attacks on civilian centres, on the morning of Tuesday, one of the largest companies producing anti-cancer, anaesthetic and specialised medicines was damaged and the drug production line was damaged," the government said in a post on X.

The pharmaceutical company is owned by the Social Security Investment Company, a state-run holding firm managing pension funds. (AFP)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Israel is prepared for "weeks" more of fighting in Iran, a military spokesman said on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview the war was "beyond the halfway point."

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the decision is up to political leaders. But "we are prepared to keep operating for weeks to come. We have the targets for that, the munition for that, the manpower for that, and it's up to the leadership to decide," he said. (Reuters)

Iran-US war news LIVE: Strikes damaged a desalination plant on Iran island on the Strait of Hormuz, news agency AFP reported, without any more details. The development came hours after US President Donald Trump warned Iran that failure to arrive on a deal would lead to the US “blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)”.

Iran-US war news LIVE: At least four people of Asian nationality were injured in Dubai after shrapnel fell on residential homes in the southern part of the city, authorities said on Tuesday. The development came not so long after explosions were reported in the city and the UAE authorities said they were responding to a missile threat.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Three UN peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon in less than 24 hours, although it’s not clear who was responsible reports said on Tuesday.

Iran-US war news LIVE: The Kuwaiti oil tanker that was attacked by Iran near Dubai on Tuesday was loaded with 2 million barrels of oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to data from Lloyd's and TankerTrackers, news agency Reuters said in a report.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Gas prices in the US reportedly jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022. According to news agency AP, the price is a national average, meaning drivers in some states have been paying well over $4 a gallon for a while now. Prices vary from state to state due to factors ranging from nearby supply to differing tax rates.

Iran-US war news LIVE: Saudi Arabia's civil defence authorities have said that debris from drone interception caused injuries to two people and also caused "limited material damage" in the Kharj province.