Air strikes battered Iran and Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel’s Tel Aviv and sites across the Mideast on Tuesday, even as US President Donald Trump said Washington was in talks with Tehran to end the war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz is open to all and ships can pass safely, but countries that are at war with Iran are not under consideration.

Araghchi made the remarks in a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who called on all sides to seize every opportunity and window for peace and start peace talks as soon as possible.

Wang added that hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, rather than through the use of force.

With thousands more US Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides firing barrages and Iran denying any negotiations are taking place, the war’s tempo remained high a day after Trump delayed his self-imposed deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan offered to host diplomatic talks, but Iran remained defiant, vowing to fight “until complete victory.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the war.

The US had agreed “in principle” to join talks in Pakistan, according to three Pakistani officials, one Egyptian official and a Gulf diplomat, while mediators were still working to convince Iran.

The Pakistani officials said the “quiet diplomacy” had grown more complicated since news of it leaked.

Talk of negotiations briefly drove down oil prices and boosted stocks. But that respite was short-lived, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, nudging back over US$100 a barrel on Tuesday, up nearly 40 percent since the war started.

Meanwhile, Israel said it carried out an extensive series of strikes on Iranian “production sites,” without providing more information.

In Tehran, a massive blast was heard in northern neighbourhoods and another in the city centre.

Iran also fired at least 10 waves of missiles at Israel.

First responders said a 40 year-old man was in moderate condition and a woman and two-month-old baby suffered minor wounds in an attack in southern Israel.

In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 100-kilogramme warhead slammed into a street in the city centre, blowing out windows of an apartment building and sending smoke billowing.

Four people suffered minor wounds, rescue service worker Yoel Moshe said.

In Kuwait, power lines were hit by air defence shrapnel, causing partial electricity outages for several hours.

Bahrain said it was attacked with missiles and drones, and that an Emirati soldier serving with its forces had been killed.

The United Arab Emirates said air defence systems responded to similar attacks, and Saudi Arabia said it destroyed Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

Israel pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying that it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

A strike on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least three people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Another five people were killed in the south. (Xinhua/AP)



Edited by Edmond Fong