US-Iran war highlights: US hits Iranian missile sites near Hormuz; Trump says ‘ahead of schedule’ in war

US Iran war LIVE updates: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the killing of Tehran's national security chief Ali Larijani was part of efforts to give Iranians a chance to remove their rulers.

"This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran," Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

He said the overthrow of the clerical authorities by Iranians "will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this -- we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands." (AFP)

US Iran war LIVE updates: The Israel Defense Forces said it has identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel, with defensive systems deployed to intercept the threat.

US Iran war LIVE updates: Iran arrested 10 foreigners among dozens rounded up on suspicion of collaborating with Israel and the U.S., Iranian media said on Tuesday, as officials warned people to stay at home during a festival that they said could be exploited by "the enemy".

Iran's police chief Ahmadreza Radan said on Sunday that at least 500 people had been arrested since the start of the war pitting Tehran against Israel and Washington, accusing the detainees of sharing information with adversaries.

In addition to the 10 foreign individuals arrested in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, 55 people were detained in the southern Hormozgan province, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

The group of foreign individuals, whose nationality was not given in media reports, are accused of collecting information on sensitive sites and preparing field operations. The larger group arrested in southern Iran were presented as "mercenaries" of the U.S. and Israel. (Reuters)

US Iran war LIVE updates: After a military takeover of Venezuela and an ongoing war with Iran, US President Donald Trump is now eyeing another power grab, this time closer to home.

During a press briefing on Monday, Trump made his plans public: a possible takeover of the communist island of Cuba, which plunged into darkness following a total blackout after a US-led oil blockade.

"I do believe I'll be having the honor of taking Cuba. I think that's a big honour. Taking Cuba in some form," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"Whether I free it, take it -- think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They're a very weakened nation right now," he added.

The remark comes as Cuba plunged into darkness after the country's electric grid suffered a total collapse on Monday after weeks of crippling oil embargo imposed by the US.

US Iran war LIVE updates: Israel claimed on Tuesday to have killed Iran's security chief, while a senior Iranian official said the new supreme leader had rejected de-escalation offers conveyed by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the U.S. first be "brought to their knees".

The senior official, who asked not to be identified, said two intermediary countries had conveyed proposals to Iran's Foreign Ministry for "reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States". The official did not give further details of the proposals or the intermediaries.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who had held his first foreign policy session since being named supreme leader, had responded that it was not "the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation", the official said.

He did not clarify whether Khamenei, who has not yet been pictured since being named last week to replace his slain father, had attended the meeting in person or remotely. (Reuters)

US Iran war LIVE updates: Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, has denied a media report that the country's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is receiving medical treatment in Moscow, the state TASS news agency reported on Tuesday.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported over the weekend that the 56-year-old, who was reported to have been severely injured in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike that killed his father, had been moved to Moscow for medical treatment following President Vladimir Putin's personal invitation. (Reuters)

US Iran war LIVE updates: Fuel prices for UK drivers hit their highest level in over 18 months after a second week of sharply rising costs in response to the conflict in the Middle East.

Unleaded petrol was up 4.6 pence (6.1 cents) per liter to an average of 140.28 pence on Monday compared to a week earlier, the highest level since August 2024, and the largest weekly increase since the energy market turmoil in 2022, government data showed. Diesel prices were up almost 10 pence per liter to 158.78 pence, the highest since late 2023.

The figures lay bare how an inflationary hit from the US and Israeli war with Iran is already filtering through to UK consumers. Prices on the forecourt have surged after Brent crude rocketed above $100 per barrel as Iran disrupted trade through the Strait of Hormuz and dragged more oil-producing countries into the conflict. (Bloomberg)

US Iran war LIVE updates: Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi held talks with UN chief Antonio Guterres, raising concerns over what he described as continued US and Israeli military aggression in the region.

He called on the United Nations to explicitly condemn the actions and hold those responsible accountable under international law, linking tensions in the Strait of Hormuz to the broader regional conflict.

US Iran war LIVE updates: Israel's defence minister Israel Katz claimed on Tuesday that Iran's security chief Ali Larijani was killed, reported news agency Reuters. However, there has been no confirmation from Tehran yet.

US Iran war LIVE updates: Iran's top security official and the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij militia were both killed in overnight strikes in a blow to the country’s leadership, Israel's defense minister said Tuesday, while Tehran defiantly fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.

Both security official Ali Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani were “eliminated last night," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died in an airstrike Feb. 28, the first day of the war launched by the United States and Israel, and other top leaders from the Iranian theocracy have been killed since then.

Iranian state media did not immediately confirm either death. However, it said a message from Larijani’s office would be published shortly. (AP)

US Iran war LIVE updates: France strongly condemns the shots fired several times at soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) yesterday.

Iranian state media has said that a message from the country's security chief, Ali Larijani, whom Israeli media had said IDF targeted in strikes on Tehran, will be published soon.

The Israeli military has said that it killed the chief of Basij, an IRGC volunteer militia, Gholam Reza Soleimani, Reuters has reported.

Iran is yet to confirm or deny the Israeli claim.

China said on Tuesday it will provide humanitarian assistance to Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Lebanon, targeted in US and Israeli strikes in the conflict now in its third week.

Beijing is a close partner of Iran and has urged the United States and Israel to cease their attacks on the country, while also criticising Tehran's strikes against Gulf states housing US military bases.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the war had caused "grave humanitarian catastrophes" in Iran and other Middle Eastern nations.

"China has decided to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. It is hoped this will help alleviate the humanitarian plight faced by the local populations," Lin told a press conference, without providing further details.

"China will continue to make every effort to promote peace and stop the war... and to prevent further spreading of the humanitarian crisis," he added.

Five Lebanese soldiers have injured in an Israeli air strike on a car and a motorcycle in Qaqaiyat al-Jisr, southern Lebanon, the country's army said in a statement.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh warned that a potential US ground invasion of Iran would be defeated.

“Just read what happened in Vietnam,” the diplomat told Sky News in an interview aired on Monday. He argued that American troops would face a similar fate in Iran.

“They understand that those who dragged them into this war can also drag them into a quagmire,” he said.

Israeli media said on Tuesday that the military has targeted Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, adding that it was not immediately clear whether he was killed or injured.

Iran has not yet commented on the report.

The key port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates has suspended oil loadings, Bloomberg News reported, citing a shipping agent and a source familiar with the matter.

This marks the latest disruption after a series of war-related strikes on the country’s only crude export route outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Loading berths at the Fujairah Oil Tanker Terminals, which handle liquid cargo including fuel, were suspended from Tuesday morning, according to a note from Inchcape Shipping Services.

A terminal run in a joint venture with Dutch firm Koninklijke Vopak NV has also stopped operations at its offshore mooring point, the note said.

The price of oil jumped more than five percent Tuesday as several countries pushed back against Donald Trump's demand that they help secure the key Strait of Hormuz, while Iran targeted crude-producing neighbours.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 5.16 per cent at $98.32 a barrel while Brent Crude also rose above five per cent before easing back.

Israeli warplanes have carried out two raids on Qaqaiyat al-Jisr in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, the National News Agency is reporting.

The Israeli military was also targeting the outskirts of the town of Shebaa in southeastern Lebanon with heavy shelling, the agency reported.

Iraq's oil minister said Baghdad is in contact with Iran to allow some oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the state news agency reported on Tuesday.

Iraq is also working to resume exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey as it seeks to offset disruptions to shipments caused by the Hormuz crisis, after some vessels were attacked off the Iraqi coast during transfers.

Al Jazeera is reporting that loud explosions are being heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in what looks like renewed Israeli-US strikes.

At least 12,000 housing units in Tehran have sustained partial or total damage due to the ongoing US-Israeli attack, according to the city’s governor, Mohammad Sadegh Motamadian.

Mehr news agency quoted Motamadian as saying that affected residents of Tehran can file their compensation claims before the municipality office.

The ship-to-ship transfer of LPG from mother vessel MT Nanda Devi to daughter vessel MT BW Birch will commence today.

Sushil Kumar Singh, Chairman of the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA), went on board the vessel to facilitate and interact with the captain and crew of Nanda Devi.

This is the second LPG carrier that arrived in India after successfully passing through the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday evening, the Indian carrier LPG Shivalik, carrying 46,000 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas, arrived at the Mudra Port. Of this, 20,000 MT will be unloaded at Mundra, while the remaining 26,000 MT is scheduled for Mangalore.

Earlier, the Chief Officer of the Nanda Devi vessel said that the initiative was taken by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Shipping Corporation of India, with the Indian and Iranian navies providing the necessary assistance to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

"I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this operation of crossing the Strait of Hormuz. The initiative was taken by the Indian Ministry, Shipping Corporation of India, with the help of the Indian Navy and the Iranian Navy. Vessel transmitted the Hormuz safely, now it is en route to Kandla, Gujarat and will be serving a huge amount of LPG, 46,000 metric tonnes. This will help in the worldwide crisis of LPG. We will continue to serve the LPG in future also," he said.

Britain and Ukraine are set to sign a defence partnership aimed at addressing the threat of low-cost drones, Downing Street announced ahead of a visit from Ukraine's leader on Tuesday.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran late last month, Tehran has mainly used ballistic missiles to attack Israel but has relied on drones to strike targets in Gulf states.

The UK-Ukraine agreement will "boost global defensive capability against the proliferation of low-cost, high-tech military hardware, including drones", British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said in a statement.

It seeks to leverage Ukraine's "expertise" in fending off drones from its years-long war with Russia, as well as Britain's industrial base, "to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities".

"Drones, electronic warfare and rapid battlefield innovation are now central to national and economic security, and that has only been further magnified by the conflict in the Middle East," Starmer said in the statement.

"By deepening our defence partnerships, we are strengthening Ukraine's ability to defend itself from Russia's brutal, ongoing attacks, while ensuring the UK and our allies are better prepared to meet the threats of the future."