US-Iran war highlights: Hegseth pushes for a $1.5 trillion budget as war with Tehran rages

US-Iran war LIVE: Israel’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the New York Times of publishing what it described as “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.”

The ministry’s rebuttal came after the paper ran an article by columnist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof on the “brutal sexual abuse” of Palestinian detainees at the hands of Israeli soldiers, interrogators, and prison guards.

Drawing on deeply personal interviews with victims in the occupied West Bank, Kristof described what he called a “pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence” against Palestinians, including children, Aljazeera reported.

He said that while there is no evidence Israeli leaders explicitly ordered rape, they have presided over a security system in which sexual violence has allegedly become a “standard operating procedure.”

The ministry called these claims by Kristof “an unfathomable inversion of reality” and accused him of turning the victims into the abusers.

“In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused. Israel - whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse - is portrayed as the guilty party,” the post read.

The ministry added that this publication is no coincidence, but is a “part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign aimed at placing Israel on the UN Secretary-General’s blacklist.”

US-Iran war LIVE: Trump administration is offering a reward of up to $15 million “for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms” of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, CNN reported.

The bounty is being offered by the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program and comes amid efforts by the administration to choke off the Iranian economy and pressure Tehran into a deal.

US-Iran war LIVE: Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, where Iran is set to be among the topics discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump has been leaning on China to use its influence to push Tehran toward a deal with Washington.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Baghaei suggested China could instead use the visit to push back against US objectives in the Gulf. "Our Chinese friends know very well how to use these opportunities to warn about the consequences of the US' illegal and bullying actions on regional peace and security," he said.

(With inputs from Reuters)

US-Iran war LIVE: A former State Department negotiator told CNN on Monday it is now “much tougher” to get a deal with Iran than it was when he participated in negotiating the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and major world powers.

Alan Eyre, a key Farsi-speaking member of President Barack Obama’s negotiating team for the Iran nuclear deal, told CNN’s Omar Jimenez that President Donald Trump’s accusations of Iranian backtracking reflect “either miscommunication or fabrication.” He said he found it “unbelievable” that Iran would agree early in the current talks to export all of its highly enriched uranium directly to the United States. “A lot of what we are hearing in public is not tracking with underlying reality, from either side,” he said.

-CNN

US-Iran war LIVE: At least six people have been killed in an overnight Israeli air strike in Kafr Dunin, southern Lebanon, Aljazeera reported citing state media

The attack also wounded seven others, who were transported to hospitals in Tyre.

US-Iran war LIVE: Indian markets opened sharply lower on Tuesday as rising crude oil prices and uncertainty around the ongoing United States-Iran war rattled investor sentiment, while concerns over inflation and foreign fund outflows added to the pressure.

The BSE Sensex opened at 75,573.63, down 441.65 points or 0.58%, tracking weak global cues and persistent worries over the economic impact of elevated oil prices.

The selloff follows a sharp decline in the previous session, when the Nifty 50 and Sensex fell 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively. The rupee also hit a record closing low of 95.31 against the US dollar on Monday.

US-Iran war LIVE: Trump is scheduled to visit China tomorrow, a visit that comes after nearly nine years. It is expected that Trump might pressure Xi over the Iran war and opening of Hormuz as Beijing and Tehran hold closer relations. Ahead of their meeting, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader warned that Trump should not mistake the current lack of fighting between the US and Iran as a victory.

“Mr. Trump, never imagine that by taking advantage of Iran’s current calm, you will be able to enter Beijing triumphantly,” Ali Akbar Velayati said according to a report from Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, CNN reported.

US-Iran war LIVE: Pakistan appears to be running with the hare and hunting with the hound as it tries to continuously pitch itself as a mediator in the ongoing West Asia conflict.

However, Pakistan's template of playing both sides of the fence appear to have drawn distrust within the US administration as US President Donald Trump rejected the Iranian response to his peace overture. The Iranian response was conveyed to DC by the Pakistani side which had also played host to the round of dialogue between Iran and the US.

According to a CNN report, some people close to Trump have raised concerns over Pakistan's role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

CNN reported that, the US administration is questioning whether the Pakistani side has been conveying President Trump's 'displeasure' on the state of the peace process. It further reported that some officials also believe Pakistan has been sharing a more positive version of the Iranian position with the US than the reality.

-ANI

US-Iran war LIVE: Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran more than 10 weeks ago, the Islamic Republic has pursued a strategy that firmly rejects any signal of capitulation. Instead, Tehran portrays a readiness to prolong the conflict if necessary to increase pressure on Washington and extract major commitments that would strengthen the regime financially and secure its long-term survival, CNN reported.

“They think I’ll get tired, or get bored, or I’ll have some pressure,” Trump told reporters in the White House on Monday. “There’s no pressure at all. We’re going to have a complete victory.”

US-Iran war LIVE: US President Donald Trump has complained that Iran’s leaders “change their mind” when the two sides appear to reach points of agreement, CNN reported.

Trump on Sunday rejected Tehran's response to its peace proposal, calling it “completely unacceptable.” Speaking to reporters on Monday, the US president said that the proposal was a ‘piece of garbage’, and that he didn't even get to the end of it.

He further said that he is still aiming for "complete victory" in the war against Iran.

US-Iran war LIVE: Pakistan, which has been playing a key role in talks between the US and Iran, quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, possibly protecting them from American strikes, CBS News, citing US officials aware of the developments.

US officials, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said Tehran sent several aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan just days after Trump announced the ceasefire in early April. Notably, the base is a strategically important military facility located near the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

US-Iran war LIVE: Calling the proposal “weak” and “piece of garbage”, Trump said he didn’t “even finish reading it,” adding that the US-Iran ceasefire is on ‘life support’. He further said that he is still aiming for "complete victory" in the war against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran's parliament speaker said his country's military stood ready to "teach a lesson" to any aggressor on Monday, after US President Donald Trump warned the ceasefire in the Middle East was hanging by a thread.

US-Iran war LIVE: Tens of millions of people could be pushed towards hunger and starvation if fertiliser shipments are not allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz soon, the head of a United Nations task force working to prevent a growing humanitarian crisis told AFP.

Roughly one-third of the world’s fertiliser supply usually moves through the strategic Gulf waterway, which has been blocked by Iran.

“We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis,” Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and head of the task force, told AFP in an interview.

US-Iran war LIVE: Two out of every three Americans believe President Donald Trump has not properly explained why the United States entered the war against Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. The survey also showed a slight rise in his approval rating after it had fallen to the lowest point of his presidency.

The four-day poll highlighted growing worries over rising petrol prices. It also suggested that many voters are holding Trump’s Republican allies responsible ahead of the November midterm elections, where they will try to hold on to their congressional majorities.

More than two months after the conflict began on February 28 through a joint US-Israeli bombing campaign, 66% of respondents said Trump had not “clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.” The group included nearly all Democrats and around one in three Republicans.

US-Iran war LIVE: Saudi oil giant Aramco's Asim Nasser has reportedly said that it would still take months for markets to rebalance even if the Strait of Hormuz opens today. "The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced," the CEO and president of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, told investors, according to an AFP report.

"If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027."

US Iran war LIVE: The situation between the two countries remains fragile as no consensus has been reached, especially after Trump rejected Tehran’s response to its proposal. While the US president thinks “it's unacceptable”, Iran says the United States must abandon its "one-sided approach" and accept Tehran's "legitimate demands," including ending the war, lifting blockades, halting maritime piracy, and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

Calling the proposal “weak” and “piece of garbage”, Trump said he didn’t “even finish reading it,” adding that the US-Iran ceasefire is on ‘life support’. He further said that he is still aiming for "complete victory" in the war against Iran.

US Iran war LIVE: An oil supertanker that exited the Persian Gulf on Sunday hauling a cargo of Iraqi crude appears to have stopped shy of the US naval blockade line and is now turning back into the Gulf of Oman.

The very large crude carrier Agios Fanourios I appears to be retracing its journey at a relatively slow speed of about 5 knots, after previously having crossed the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman over the weekend, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. The vessel is still signaling its intent to sail to the Nghi Son refinery in Vietnam. It loaded a cargo of crude from the Basra Oil Terminal last month.

- Bloomberg

US Iran war LIVE: US President Donald Trump has grown frustrated by how Iranians are dealing with negotiations and the closure of Strait of Hormuz and is now more seriously considering a resumption of major combat operations than he has in recent weeks, CNN reported citing sources.