Iran news highlights: Explosions, sirens heard in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait; IRGC says 'region will turn to ashes'

Iran war news LIVE: Israel and Hezbollah continued to clash overnight despite US President Donald Trump's announcement that both sides had agreed to halt fighting ahead of US-hosted ceasefire talks on Tuesday, AFP reported.

The clashes came after Lebanon said Hezbollah had agreed to a US proposal for a "mutual cessation of attacks" after Trump urged both sides to de-escalate.

Iran war news LIVE: Iran’s final draft proposal for an interim ceasefire agreement with the United States is still under review and has not yet been sent back to mediators, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported Tuesday citing an “informed” source.

The source said that “Iran’s final draft is still under discussion in Tehran” and that “no official response has yet been delivered.”

Iran war news LIVE: Israel has issued an evacuation order for residents of Lebanon's Nabatiyeh city, AFP reported, Lebanon's civil defence earlier today said Israeli strikes on the country's south had killed six people late on Monday.

Iran war news LIVE: Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon late on Monday killed at least six people, AFP cited Lebanon's civil defence as saying.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on Tuesday that countries in the region, including Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq, were paying the price for Iran’s “inflated regional ambitions.”

He said no country’s regional role should come at the expense of shared security, stability and prosperity.

“A review is required and inevitable on clear grounds: respect for sovereignty, good neighbourliness, and non-interference in the affairs of others,” he wrote in a post on X.

Lebanon’s Finance Minister Yassine Jaber has said losses caused by the war have exceeded $20 billion and could climb towards $25 billion if hostilities with Israel continue, Al Jazeera reported.

The minister warned that the full scale of the economic and social damage may not become clear until the fighting ends and displaced residents begin returning to devastated communities.

Israel’s military is reportedly investigating how Hezbollah’s first-person-view (FPV) drones have managed to strike Israeli forces in southern Lebanon at night several times in recent days.

The Israeli news website Ynet News reported that the first incident occurred on Saturday night when Givati Brigade soldier Staff Sergeant Michael Tyukin was killed, and a second followed overnight on Sunday into Monday when Maglan commando Staff Sergeant Adam Tzarfati was killed.

“It’s quite unusual that the drone struck a force at night. That still hasn’t happened to combat teams before,” an Israeli soldier told Ynet after visiting soldiers wounded in a nighttime drone attack near southern Lebanon’s Beaufort Castle.

Ynet reported that Israeli forces were “concerned that Hezbollah could equip fibre-optic FPV drones with thermal systems, enabling them to operate at night … Until now, the assessment had been that the drones involved did not carry thermal systems, which would indicate improved operational capabilities after dark.”

“They [the drones] improve the accuracy of their fire every time,” a military official told Ynet. “That’s why we try to keep moving as much as possible.”

The report also said the Israeli army has begun to limit the use of heavy vehicles, such as those used for engineering purposes like military bulldozers and excavators, describing them as “easy targets” for FPV drones.

An IRGC spokesman said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic’s military capability had increased significantly compared with before the war.

“If the enemy returns to the military arena, the type of operation, the geography of the battle and the weapons used will be different,” said Hossein Mohebbi, the IRGC spokesman and deputy for public relations.

At least four people have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports.

In the town of Jebchit, two Syrians were killed in an attack on the plant nursery where they were working, NNA said.

A drone also hit a motorcycle on Martyr Sabra Street in Toul and a car in the Dhi’at al-Arab neighbourhood of Ansar, killing two people.

NNA said the death toll in yesterday’s attack on Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre has risen to four people, with 50 people injured. There was significant damage to the hospital wards, the parking garage and neighbouring buildings. NNA described this toll as “preliminary”.

Israeli warplanes also hit the Lebanese civil defence centre on the Masil road in the town of Kfarsir, and the Kassar al-Zaatar neighbourhood in the city of Nabatieh was subjected to an air raid.

China's powerful state planner has allowed some independent refiners to cut output from June, consultancies and sources said, a sign of Beijing's growing confidence that it can weather an oil shock triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Some refiners in the eastern province of Shandong, popularly called teapots, were told recently that they can cut output to no lower than 80% of last year's monthly average, consultancy Horizon Insights said in a note on Monday.

Two trade sources briefed by the refiners confirmed to Reuters the notice from the National Development and Reform Commission, which did not immediately respond to questions sent by fax.

The change eases an earlier directive to refiners to hold output at an average of the past two years' level as Beijing sought to maintain domestic fuel supplies amid disruption from the Iran war, which closed the crucial Middle East waterway.

Iran ⁠has ⁠not yet responded to a proposed framework agreement from the United States to end the ongoing war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, state media report.

Discussions on the final ‌text are continuing in Tehran, an unnamed source close to the Iranian negotiating team told the Mehr news agency.

Iranian officials are reviewing the proposal cautiously because of ⁠what they see as ⁠a history ⁠of the US breaking agreements and attacking during negotiations.

“America’s history of bad faith and historical distrust has caused Iran to view the matter very strictly. Based on previous experiences, Iran is seeking tangible and real benefits,” the ‌source ‌said.

Crisis management authorities in Iran’s Isfahan governorate say they have carried out “controlled explosions” on unexploded ordnance left over from US-Israeli attacks.

Technical teams dismantled explosives as part of the disposal process south of Isfahan and the city of Baharestan, the Mehr news agency reports.

“Sounds heard during this time period were caused by these technical and controlled operations and are not a cause for concern for citizens,” according to the report.

Teams are continuing to work on “clearing and securing the area”, it said.

France's foreign minister said Tuesday that nothing could justify Israeli troops remaining deep inside Lebanon, following the deepest incursion into Lebanese territory in two decades.

Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah clashed overnight despite US President Donald Trump's announcement that both sides had agreed to halt fighting ahead of US-hosted talks between Israel and Lebanon.

"Nothing can justify the continuation of military operations and Israel's prolonged occupation deep inside Lebanese territory," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France TV.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, says Iran has grown “enormously in its technology and capacity” since the previous nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached.

“What’s very important is this is a post-war agreement,” he said of the deal that is expected to come out of the negotiations between the US and Iran.

Grossi said the JCPOA, which was agreed in 2015, was “what it was. Now you need something different.”

France foreign minister has said that nothing can “justify prolonged Israeli occupation in Lebanon”.

Iran said it would halt talks with the US in protest over Israel’s expanded ground assault in Lebanon, escalating tensions as Washington and Tehran seek to reach an interim peace agreement, Bloomberg reported.

Gold held a decline as conflicting signals from the US and Iran cast doubt over a diplomatic resolution to the war, fanning concerns over inflation and prolonged trade disruptions.

Bullion was near $4,490 an ounce, having fallen more than 1% in the previous session. Against a backdrop of renewed clashes near the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were continuing “at a rapid pace,” countering earlier threats from Tehran to suspend diplomacy and close the key waterway completely.

Israeli forces have continued their attacks across southern Lebanon, firing artillery near Nabatieh and striking the villages of Shukin and Kafr Tibnit, our colleagues on the ground report.

Israeli drones also carried out three strikes on the town of Tallet Tol in Nabatieh district, according to reports.

Separately, an Israeli air attack struck near Tibnin.

An IRGC cleric said on Tuesday that the public should be given updates on the country’s wartime situation, citing how former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei spoke directly to people when he was still alive.

“In the 12-day war, our martyred Imam would take the microphone, speak to the people and reassure them. Of course, we are not saying that secrets should be revealed… but people should be given reports on the situation so the enemy cannot exploit it,” said Abdollah Haji Sadeghi, the leadership’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Since his appointment as the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public and no image or audio recording of him has been released.

The IRGC cleric also said the United States had repeatedly shown it could not be trusted and warned that Iran would give “stronger and more astonishing” responses if necessary.

A member of Iran parliament’s presiding board warned on Tuesday against taking disputes among officials into the public sphere, saying it could harm unity.

“All political groups, elites and those with public platforms must align their positions and conduct with the Supreme Leader’s guidance,” Ahmad Naderi said.

The lawmaker said during the “silence of the military scene,” preserving unity and avoiding division were conditions for maintaining power.

“The battlefield is not only the military arena; diplomacy is another domain of the same battlefield,” he added.

Iran war news LIVE: Oil prices dipped on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump said that talks with Iran were ongoing.

Brent crude futures fell 0.79 per cent to $94.23 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate fell 0.92 per cent to $91.31 per barrel.

Iran war news LIVE: US President Donald Trump on Monday confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a heated phone call.

"You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your a*s. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this," a US official told Axios, summarising Trump's remarks.

He had reportedly confronted him over Israel's continuous bombardment of Lebanon amid the ongoing peace talks between Iran and the US.

Israeli police used water cannon against Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters demonstrating over the country’s military draft.

Officers mounted on horses charged the protesters, who do not want to serve in Israel’s military, which is suffering a serious staffing crisis as the country fights wars on multiple fronts.

Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, has said that Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “was not invited to the Israel Day Parade in New York. He crashed it.”

“He should have stayed away. His extremist views do harm to the US-Israel relationship,” Shapiro, who represented the US in Israel from 2011 to 2017, added in a post on X.

IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qa'ani warned that continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Gaza could trigger a broader response from Iran-aligned groups across the region.

In remarks carried by Fars News, Qa'ani said Israeli “aggression” in Lebanon and Gaza, carried out with US support, would strengthen the resolve of the “Axis of Resistance” to expand its backing for allied groups and activate additional fronts.

He also warned that developments could lead to what he called the “equalisation” of traffic conditions in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that disruptions affecting one strategic waterway could be mirrored in the other.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, and the Strait of Hormuz are among the world's most important maritime chokepoints for energy shipments and international trade.