The Trump administration offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, a person briefed on the contours of the plan but who was not authorized to speak publicly about it told The Associated Press on Tuesday, even as it's sending more troops to the Middle East.
The ceasefire plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The U.S. military is preparing to deploy at
least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the move who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.
Also Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes battered Iran as Iranian missiles and drones struck sites across the Mideast. Lebanese militant fire into northern Israel killed a woman, medics said, in the war’s first death inside Israel from cross-border drone and missile attacks. Israel has pounded Beirut, saying it is targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.
Alluding to progress in talks with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Iran shared an oil- and gas-related “present,” a day after telling reporters the Middle Eastern nation is eager for a deal to end the war.
Here is the latest:
The Trump administration has offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, according to a person briefed on the contours of the plan but who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The ceasefire plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The proposal comes as the U.S. military is preparing to call up at least 1,000 more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to supplement some 50,000 troops already in the region.
The New York Times reported earlier Tuesday that the 15-point plan had been delivered to Iranian officials.
The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying a pair of Marine Expeditionary Units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region.
Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war against Iran, were taken by surprise by the U.S. administration’s submission of a ceasefire plan, the person said.
But with the U.S. taking steps to send additional soldiers and Marines to the Mideast, the move is being framed as Trump maneuvering to give himself “max flexibility” on what he will do next, the person added.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
By Aamer Madhani
Iraq’s government early Wednesday approved its militias and other members of its security forces to act in self-defense as it faces attacks.
The state-run Iraq News Agency reported the decision.
State-sanctioned, mainly Shiite militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, have grown into a powerful political faction within Iraq.
They have been targeted in attacks after Shiite militias have been attacking sites associated with the United States in Iraq as the Iran war rages on.
The move appears aimed at securing the uneasy coalition government now in control in Iraq as it balances competing forces within the country.
The strikes late Tuesday also wounded dozens, the Lebanese health ministry reported.
The overall toll was three dead and 18 wounded in Nabatiyeh province; six dead and five wounded in Sidon province; and 29 wounded in Tyre province.
Since March 2, Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,072 and injured 2,966, including 121 children and 81 women, according to the ministry.
Cyprus’ government is upset that it was kept in the dark.
When an Iranian-made Shahed drone struck a hangar at a British air base on Cyprus’ southern coastline minutes after midnight March 2, sirens had already been blaring on the base’s grounds, warning personnel to take cover.
But the British had not informed the Cypriot government, and now the east Mediterranean island nation wants to re-evaluate the status of Britain’s two bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On Tuesday the British warship HMS Dragon was making its way toward waters off Cyprus to offer additional protection from any potential attack.
Here’s what we know about what could happen with the bases.
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When sirens and cellphone alerts blare warnings of missiles incoming from Iran, people in Israel stream into shelters, turning parking garages, metro stations and basements into temporary communities.
Inside one shelter, a bride-to-be poses with her family, continuing the wedding photo shoot they had been doing above ground. During the Jewish holiday of Purim, revelers in costumes — a Shrek, a horror-film nurse splattered with fake blood — crowd into an underground station, almost dreamlike against the gray walls.
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The vote on a war powers resolution would have forced Trump to get congressional approval before carrying out any further attacks on Iran. As was the case with two previous similar proposals, it failed to advance on a 47-53 vote.
Once again Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote in favor while Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against.
A group of Democrats is forcing weekly votes on the war as a way to pressure the Senate to hold public hearings.
“This war makes absolutely no sense,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who forced the vote Tuesday evening.
So far GOP senators have backed the war and mostly expressed satisfaction with classified briefings given by the Trump administration.
The president has laid out five objectives for the war with Iran that he said the U.S. is close to achieving as he considers “winding down” the operation.
But some of the goals appear open-ended, and it’s unclear how the administration will define success in meeting them.
Adding to the muddle is that the White House has until very recently outlined four objectives for the war. But on Friday, Trump added a fifth one — also open to interpretation — to protect allies in the Middle East.
Here’s a look at the objectives as laid out in Trump’s words and where they stand.
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Of the total wounded to date, 255 service members have returned to duty, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for U.S. Central Command.
That leaves 35 wounded and out of action, with 10 still considered seriously wounded, Hawkins said.
The total of 290 is an increase of 90 since the last update, provided March 16. Last week 20 service members were too injured to return to their posts.
Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in combat in the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprising claim this week that talks with Iran were yielding great progress has only raised more confusion over a war whose goals were already unclear. The most basic question: What talks?
Iran denied any negotiations were taking place, pledging to fight “until complete victory.” Pakistan, Egypt and Gulf Arab nations are trying behind the scenes to piece together talks, but their efforts still seem preliminary. Israel is vowing to keep up its attacks.
If anything, the war appears to only be escalating. Barrages were fired into Iran, Israel and across the Mideast on Tuesday, and thousands more U.S. troops were on their way to the Gulf.
Here is a look at what’s known and not known about possible talks to wind down the war.
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The troops are to be sent in the coming days, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The unit is considered the Army’s emergency response force and can typically be deployed on short notice. The force would include a battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team as well as Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the division’s commander, and division staff, according to the people, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans or private conversations.
It’s the latest addition of troops after U.S. officials said last week that thousands of Marines aboard several Navy ships would head to the region.
While the Marine units are trained in missions that include supporting U.S. embassies, evacuating civilians and disaster relief, the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, are trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.
The New York Times reported earlier that the deployment was being considered.
— Konstantin Toropin
The U.N. Security Council draft resolution calls for countries to use “all necessary means” to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
The proposal was obtained by AP on Tuesday as world powers grapple with how to release Iran’s chokehold on the crucial waterway, which has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and threatened the world economy.
The resolution would authorize countries or naval partnerships to use military action to secure passage and “to repress, neutralize and deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.” It also demands that Iran “immediately cease all attacks against merchant and commercial vessels” and stop impeding freedom of navigation.
One of the diplomats said the draft was being reworked after a number of countries raised concerns about it being placed under Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter, which allows the council to authorize actions ranging from sanctions to the use of force.
The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private negotiations.
— Farnoush Amiri and Edith M. Lederer
In a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the French president also called on Iran to end the “unacceptable attacks” against countries in the region, preserve energy and civilian infrastructure and restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I called on Iran to engage in good faith in negotiations, in order to open a path to de-escalation,” he said on the social platform X.
Secretary-General António Guterres said the rapid pace of settlement expansion and proliferation of outposts is fueling tensions, impeding Palestinians’ access to their land and threatening the viability of an independent and contiguous Palestinian state. It is also taking place in conjunction with a rise in settler attacks, he said.
U.N. deputy Middle East envoy Ramiz Alakbarov, delivered the findings from Guterres’ report to the U.N. Security Council, saying Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved over 6,000 housing units in the West Bank between December and March 13.
He said demolitions and seizures of Palestinian homes and other structures also accelerated, as well as inflammatory rhetoric from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Israeli ministers and members of Parliament.
Eight of the 15 council members — Bahrain, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Pakistan, Somalia and United Kingdom — delivered a joint statement just before the meeting reaffirming their “firm opposition to annexation” of any Palestinian territory and any forced displacements.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday evening outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, the pontiff invited leaders to “work for peace” not with weapons but rather “with dialogue, truly seeking a solution for all.”
“Hatred is increasing, violence is worsening,” Pope Leo warned, saying more than a million people have been displaced and many others killed.
“We want to pray for peace,” he said, adding, “but I invite all authorities to truly work through dialogue to resolve this problem.”
The decision was the clearest sign yet of deteriorating relations between the two countries and raises tensions within Lebanon over the role of Tehran and its Lebanon-based ally, the militant group Hezbollah.
Over the weekend, Lebanon’s prime minister said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is commanding the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel, which have drawn stiff retaliation and dragged Lebanon into a confrontation the government “was not willing to get involved in.”
Lebanon’s foreign minister posted on X that Iran’s new ambassador, Mohammad Reza Shibani, will be declared “persona non grata, and requested that he leaves Lebanese territory no later than 29 March 2026.” The ministry later said the move does not mean that Lebanon is severing its diplomatic relations with Tehran.
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Long before he became Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf went on a charm offensive for almost two decades, portraying himself as a hard-liner the West could do business with in the Islamic Republic.
The 64-year-old pilot and former Revolutionary Guard commander has denied that there have been discussions with the United States amid reports that he was floated as Washington’s negotiating partner in talks.
Questions also remain as to what power Qalibaf has within Iran’s theocracy, shattered after the Feb. 28 Israeli airstrike that killed 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, now Iran’s new supreme leader, has backed Qalibaf through his repeated and failed presidential campaigns. Still, multiple centers of power within Iran’s theocracy now likely vie for control of the Islamic Republic — and uncertainties remain over Mojtaba Khamenei’s status as he has yet to be seen after reportedly being wounded.
Meanwhile, Qalibaf has been tied to the crackdown against protesters calling for change within Iran’s government and has seen corruption allegations swirl around him during his time in office.
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Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon says as far as he knows Israel isn’t part of any reported talks between the United States and Iran later this week in Pakistan.
“As we speak, Israel and the U.S., we continue to target military targets in Iran, and we will continue to do that,” he told U.N. reporters Tuesday.
He said the attacks have “accomplished a lot” but not everything.
Danon accused Iran’s foreign minister of saying just weeks ago that Iran didn’t have missiles with a range beyond 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) — then launching a missile that went nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 kilometers) toward Diego Garcia, a remote Indian Ocean island that hosts a major U.K.-U.S. military base.
In negotiations at the end of the conflict, he said, Israel is determined to ensure that Iran has no nuclear or ballistic missile capability.
No casualties or technical damage was reported at the facility from the incident Tuesday night, which Iran’s atomic agency blamed on Israel and the United States.
The International Atomic Energy Agency posted on X that it “has been informed by Iran that another projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr.”
A similar event was reported last week by Iran and Russia who said a projectile had struck the grounds of the Russia-built Bushehr plant, raising the specter of a radiological incident as the war rages.
Images released by rescue authorities showed extensive damage to one floor of a residential building in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv, where rescue services said a man was moderately wounded and six people lightly injured, including a 7-year-old boy and 80-year-old woman.
Impact sites with varying degrees of damage were reported in at least seven other locations in central Israel.
This was the 12th Iranian missile barrage fired at Israel on Tuesday, while rockets fired by militants in Lebanon also kept air raid sirens sounding for hours in Israel’s north and killed at least one woman.
Israeli Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the military’s spokesman, said in a televised statement that Iran fired dozens of missiles on Israel in the war’s first and second days of the war but this number “dropped quickly.” He attributed that to Israel’s continued strikes on military headquarters, launch sites and missile production sites across Iran.
He said the military completed several more waves of strikes on targets in Iran on Tuesday.
Although the volume of missiles has decreased, Iran has kept up and indeed increased the pace of its launches, sending millions of Israelis into shelters multiple times a day. Recent failed interceptions have caused deaths and injuries.
Asked if he trusts the Iranians said to be in talks with U.S. representatives, Trump said he doesn’t trust anybody but alluded to receiving a “gift” that he said suggested “we’re dealing with the right people.”
“They gave us a present, and the present arrived today,” Trump said speaking at the White House on Tuesday. “It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize.”
Pressed for more detail, Trump said it was “oil- and gas-related” but went no further. “It was a very nice thing they did. But what it showed me is that we’re dealing with the right people.”
A senior Lebanese military official said the cluster munition-equipped ballistic missile exploded earlier Tuesday over the Keserwan region north of Beirut, causing some material damage.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, added that the missile was heading west when it exploded but it was not clear where it was headed. It marked the first time an Iranian missile was intercepted over Lebanese airspace during the current conflict.
It was not clear how the missile was intercepted. The Lebanese military lacks air defenses.
The Israeli military said following an assessment that alongside the Iranian launches toward Israel on Tuesday was a ballistic missile fired from Iran that fell in Beirut.
— Bassem Mroue
The president said while speaking at the White House on Tuesday that the U.S. is “in negotiations right now,” and that his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are involved in the talks, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
“We have a number of people doing it,” Trump said. “And the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal.”
The Chinese-owned vessel sailed through a pay-to-pass corridor between Larak and Qeshm islands that Iran set up earlier this month, according to its location transponder data.
The Panama-flagged ship, Newvoyager, is the first Chinese-owned container ship to transit the corridor, according to the Chinese financial news site Caixin.
The vessel, owned by a shipping company in the Chinese province of Anhui, broadcast its status as “China Owner” during the transit Monday, according to Caixin.
Data show the ship set sail from Iranian waters on Sunday and transited out of the strait by Monday.
Iran has insisted that “safe passage” in the Strait of Hormuz is possible for non-enemies. Vessels with ties to India and Pakistan are among those that have already transited the strait.
Paramedics from Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said the woman was found lying in a ditch by the side of a road with critical wounds, south of the town of Safed, and was declared dead shortly after. Medics said two more people were lightly injured in the attack.
Sirens rang out across northern Israel almost nonstop for hours on Tuesday warning of drones and rockets fired from Lebanon.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon has been carrying out attacks against Israel in support of Iran from the early days of the war, with Israel striking across Lebanon.
Also Tuesday evening, sirens rang out across parts of the northern Israel after the military warned of another wave of incoming missiles from Iran.
Gen. Fabien Mandon made the comments Tuesday at a Paris defense and security forum. The French military chief described France’s relationship with the U.S. as “very strong” but lamented that “they have just decided to intervene in the Near and Middle East without notifying us.”
“We acted immediately, surprised by an American ally, who remains an ally, but who is less and less predictable and doesn’t even bother to inform us when it decides to engage in military operations. This affects our security. This affects our interests,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, the commander of chief of France’s armed forces, dispatched the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and other naval warships to the Mediterranean, and deployed aircraft and other assets, to defend France’s interests and allies in the region and the Persian Gulf after the launch of the U.S.- Israeli war with Iran.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that the war must be brought to an end through dialogue and serious negotiations but suggested that Israel’s position was undermining diplomacy.
“Israel’s uncompromising, maximalist, radical stance must not be allowed to sabotage diplomatic solutions,” Erdogan, a consistent and outspoken critic of Israel, said in a televised address. “No country that values world peace and stability should continue to add fuel to the fire that Israel has unjustly ignited in our region.”
When asked about the possibility of the U.S. participating in talks in Pakistan, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that “these are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the U.S. will not negotiate through the press.”
“This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House,” Leavitt said.
Amid regional efforts to revive talks between the U.S. and Iran, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
“Wang called on all parties to seize every opportunity and window for peace and start peace talks as soon as possible,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
It was unclear what the intended target of the missiles was or how they had been intercepted. The Lebanese military lacks air defenses.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that explosions heard north of Beirut in the Keserwan district were caused by interceptor missiles, and that missiles fell in the town of Faitroun and in the mountain village of Baskinta.
In the Sahel Alma area on the coast north of Beirut, Associated Press journalists saw minor damage to buildings and a wall. No casualties were reported.
