Here's the latest
• US strikes on Iran: The US on Tuesday launched new strikes against Iran and reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz. “This is punishment,” a US official told CNN. “It won’t be over for a bit.”
• Local impact: Iranian state media reported explosions in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as on Qeshm Island. These attacks happened as Iran holds a funeral for the late supreme leader. Last week, Tehran warned the US and Israel not to launch any strikes during the multi-day event.
• NATO summit: Security in the Strait of Hormuz was expected to be discussed by US President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders as they gather in Ankara, Turkey.
• Turkey jet sales: Earlier Tuesday, in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump said he would soon decide whether to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, despite a congressional ban.
Iran's president leaves Iraq to head back to Tehran after strikes
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is heading back to Tehran from Iraq, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
The president had traveled to the Iraqi city of Najaf for the multi-day funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose body arrived in the city on Tuesday.
State news outlet IRNA said Pezeshkian left Najaf in the early hours of Wednesday local time after completing his visit to Iraq.
Pezeshkian’s return came as the US began striking Iran in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
Explosions heard in Iran's southern port cities, state media says
Explosions have been heard in southern Iran, according to state media.
Several explosions were heard in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as on Qeshm Island, according to Iranian state outlet Press TV.
Projectiles reportedly struck a commercial pier in Sirik, a fishing pier in the village of Ziarat and civilian fishing vessels in Bandar Abbas. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said a telecommunications tower in Bandar Abbas had apparently been targeted.
Several people were injured by shrapnel from the strike on the Sirik pier, according to IRIB.
US Central Command announced Tuesday it has begun striking Iran in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
Defense Secretary Hegseth planning to make first visit to Israel on Wednesday, sources say
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning to make his first visit to Israel on Wednesday, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
It was not immediately clear if those plans would be impacted by US strikes in Iran overnight.
Hegseth is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his counterpart, Defense Minister Israel Katz, one of the sources said. Part of the purpose of the visit was to assuage Israeli concerns over the potential sale of advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, something President Donald Trump has floated during the NATO summit in Ankara.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Netanyahu said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “not exactly a model ally of the United States.” Netanyahu said that Erdogan “threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state.” Israel is the only country in the Middle East that currently operates the F-35, America’s most advanced fighter jet.
One US official familiar with the plans said Hegseth, who had traveled with the president to the NATO summit in Turkey, will break with Trump’s delegation tomorrow.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.
US oil sanctions on Iran violate agreement, Tehran says
Iran has condemned the re-imposition of US oil sanctions on Tehran, calling it a “clear violation” of the Memorandum of Understanding reached between the two countries last month.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “holds the US government responsible for the consequences of this breach of commitment.”
It added that Iran will take “any measures” it finds necessary to defend its national security.
The Iranian statement was posted as the US strikes on Iran got underway, in retaliation for attacks on cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
US strikes against Iran are "punishment," US official says
US military strikes underway against targets in Iran are “not proportional,” a US official told CNN, as the US looks to respond to recent Iranian attacks on cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command announced Tuesday evening that strikes were underway, describing them as “powerful” and saying that they were intended “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians.”
What to know as US strikes Iran in retaliation for attacks on ships in Strait of Hormuz
The US on Tuesday launched new strikes against Iran and reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales in retaliation for a series of attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
This comes while President Donald Trump is in Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit.
Here’s what to know:
• Iran fired on three commercial vessels on Tuesday in Oman’s territorial waters near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a US official who described the strikes as a “gross violation” of the memorandum of understanding with Iran.
• This was followed by the US announcing it is reimposing sanctions on Iranian oil sales in retaliation for the attacks. The price of Brent crude futures rose more than 5% Tuesday. The move eliminates one of the central concessions made to the Iranian regime in exchange for its reopening of the waterway.
CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Lex Harvey and Pamela Brown contributed to the report.
The US has launched strikes against Iran, CENTCOM says
The United States has begun striking Iran in retaliation for a series of attacks on commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command announced moments ago.
“U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” it said on X.
Relations with Trump are "cordial," Italy's Meloni says
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday she has “cordial relations” with US President Donald Trump, in remarks that follow weeks of tensions between the two once-close leaders.
Meloni’s comments, to Italian reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, follow a spat between the two in which Trump claimed she had “begged” him for a picture together at the G7 meeting in Evian, France. Meloni denied the story, and the episode led to Italy’s foreign minister canceling a scheduled trip to the United States.
Over the weekend, Trump further taunted the Italian leader by writing on social media that he needed a restraining order against her.
However, on Tuesday the US leader refered to Meloni as a “nice person,” saying that they had had a “good week” despite their relationship previously having become “a little bad” because she had refused to help with the Iran war.
Meloni, asked on Tuesday whether she had received clarification on Trump’s comments, told reporters that he had “already answered” the question, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Netanyahu warns Trump over possible sale of F-35 jets: Turkey "not exactly a model ally"
Hours after US President Donald Trump said he’s considering selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke against the potential move, even as he downplayed divisions between the two world leaders.
In an interview with CNN, Netanyahu warned that the sale of America’s most advanced fighter aircraft “doesn’t make Turkey a friendly state to the United States.” In part of an escalating dispute with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Netanyahu described Ankara as “a regime that’s infected with the Muslim Brotherhood, which hates the United States.”
“He’s not exactly a model ally of the United States,” Netanyahu told CNN’s Dana Bash. “He threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state.”
Here's how much NATO members are spending as a share of their GDP
US President Donald Trump has long urged NATO members to “pay their fair share” of defense spending.
The US spent an estimated $980 billion on defense in 2025 — nearly 62 percent of NATO’s total spending, and more than 10 times that of the UK, NATO’s second-biggest spender.
However, NATO allies are spending more in recent years. NATO asks its members to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, a threshold all members reached for the first time in 2025.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many countries have increased budgets to meet the moment. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — all of which border Russia — each spend a larger share of GDP on defense than the US does, according to the alliance.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stressed that Europe is now a stronger partner precisely because of this increased spending.
The US is the only NATO member to have actually decreased defense spending as a share of GDP over the past decade, from 3.5 percent in 2015 to 3.2 percent in 2025.
Further increases are expected: Last year, members pledged to reach 5 percent of GDP (3.5 percent on core military expenditures, 1.5 per cent on broader security) by 2035.
Trump arrives for dinner with NATO leaders, including those he's criticized
President Donald Trump is now attending a dinner for all the NATO leaders inside the Bestepe presidential compound in Ankara.
Trump arrived after a long string of leaders, each of whom was welcomed to the sound of a military marching band.
He again greeted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warmly before they all walked inside.
This will be Trump’s first chance to interact with the other NATO leaders, including some he’s been highly critical of in recent months.
Among those seen arriving ahead of Trump: French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — each of whom has come under criticism from Trump.
NATO chief touts “literally billions of dollars” worth of defense deals
NATO member countries are signing defense deals worth “literally billions of dollars” at the Ankara summit, the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, said today.
Speaking at the summit’s defense industry forum, the NATO chief said allies were unveiling “new major projects,” adding: “These are billions that are invested in our security, boosting our economies and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs. It’s money well spent.”
The deals announced include a plan for NATO to procure five “high-end, high-altitude and long-endurance uncrewed aircraft” from Northrop Grumman and 40 billion dollars’ worth of investment in “counter-drone capabilities over the next five years,” the alliance said in a statement.
The second initiative comes alongside a plan for NATO allies to “train five times as many drone operators by the end of 2027.”
“Drones have fundamentally altered the character of modern warfare and become a decisive factor on the battlefield,” the alliance said. “These initiatives will be essential to increase both Alliance readiness and resilience.”
Also announced was a plan to replace NATO’s aging fleet of E3 surveillance planes with up to 10 GlobalEye aircraft made by Swedish company SAAB, with some components and manufacturing from the US and Canada. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson called the initiative a “a moment of great pride for Sweden” in remarks alongside other alliance members.
Rutte spent much of the morning touting NATO’s “remarkable progress” in upping member countries’ defense spending, a notable point of contention with US President Donald Trump, who has often criticized the alliance.
NATO members need to keep "heads cool" with Trump, Finnish foreign minister says
Finland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Elina Valtonen spoke to CNN today in Ankara, Turkey, where this year’s NATO summit is being held.
When asked about US President Donald Trump’s complaints about some NATO countries not supporting the war with Iran or fulfilling a 5% defense spending pledge, Valtonen said that the US leader’s “frustration has been needed to truly force each and every ally to realize that this is for real.”
The 5% defense spending pledge “has been the Finnish position all along,” she continued. “I think it’s great that, as Europe, we have taken, as to say, the hard pill, and we are in the process of swallowing it.”
Finland is one of NATO’s newest member countries, having officially joined the alliance in 2023. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine drove Helsinki to abandon its neutrality and seek protection within the organization, in a move that more than doubled NATO’s land border with Russia.
Valtonen said today that NATO members “need to be having our heads cool now at the moment,” after CNN’s Nic Robertson asked her about the way that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deals with Trump.
Watch more from the interview in the video above.
Here's a recap of what Trump and Erdoğan just spoke about in Ankara
US President Donald Trump said he would soon decide whether to sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets despite a congressional ban. The president also said he would lift sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of a Russian air defense system.
A short while ago, we heard from US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who spoke to journalists in Ankara ahead of this year’s NATO summit.
Catch up on what the leaders said below:
- Trump said he would soon decide whether to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey despite a congressional ban, also praising the country as more loyal than other recipients of the plane.
- Meanwhile, Erdoğan indicated he believes a deal is close for Ankara to buy American F-35 fighter jets and US-made jet engines for Turkey’s flagship KAAN fighter jets, saying Turkey has “been promised five jets.”
- Trump reiterated that he would like his country to control Greenland, arguing the territory is strategically vital to American security while acknowledging that it “would hurt my relationship with NATO.”
- Trump declined to say whether he plans to announce additional US troop reductions in Europe, telling reporters: “We’re going to see.”
- He also expressed optimism over prospects for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, despite saying that nothing has changed regarding the conflict.
- Trump called Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “nice person” despite suggesting in a post on Truth Social over the weekend that he needed a restraining order for her.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Alejandra Jaramillo, Aileen Graef and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this reporting.
Erdoğan says he expects good news on US sale of jets and engines to Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today indicated he believes a deal is close for Ankara to buy American F-35 fighter jets and US-made jet engines for Turkey’s flagship KAAN fighter jets.
Speaking about the F-35s during his bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump, Erdoğan said Turkey has “been promised five jets.”
“We believe that President Trump also has made a promise on this separately… and we are hoping that the news we have previously received is going to be productively tested towards the future,” the Turkish leader said.
“President Trump has always been a man of his word, and hopefully with respect to the F-35 we will have a fruitful outcome and a decision from this leaders summit,” he added.
Speaking about the US-made engines for Turkey’s KAAN jets, Erdoğan said he believed Trump “has given us some good news and I believe that he will repeat those good news again and I think with these good news, probably, I will be thanking him during this summit.”
Trump said he would soon decide whether to sell Turkey the jets despite a congressional ban. He also said he would lift sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of a Russian air defense system.
Trump shows optimism about Russia-Ukraine peace deal, despite saying nothing has changed
US President Donald Trump expressed optimism over prospects for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, despite also saying that nothing has changed regarding the conflict.
Speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, where this year’s NATO summit is being held, Trump said he had a “very good talk” with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, and that he also spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
“They (Putin and Zelensky) both wanna get it settled now… I think we’re going to get it settled. Hopefully soon,” he added.
When asked if anything had changed for him to have this opinion, including if Putin was open to any concessions, the US leader said: “Never changed.”
“I just don’t want them killing people,” Trump added, noting how many people are reportedly killed in the conflict every month.
He told reporters that he has seen pictures of battlefields in the conflict, saying “people wouldn’t believe how violent it is.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s carnage and it should stop,” he said.
Trump calls Italian PM Meloni a "nice person" despite his social media post
US President Donald Trump called Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “nice person” despite suggesting in a post on Truth Social over the weekend that he needed a restraining order.
“I think she’s a nice person, actually, we’ve had a good week. We had a bad relationship. It became a little bad because she refused to help us again,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
US President Donald Trump says his relationship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni "soured" over disagreements about Iran and that she "made a mistake." But he added that "I like her" and she's "a nice person."
“I think she’s a nice person, actually. But I think she made a mistake,” he said, referring to Italy’s refusal to help with the war in Iran.
Trump said he didn’t put a “heavy press” on her for help and when she refused to get Italy involved it “soured my relationship with her a little bit.”
Trump repeats Greenland "should be controlled by US,” but acknowledges it would hurt NATO ties
President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday that he would like the US to control Greenland, arguing the territory is strategically vital to American security.
But, he added, “that would hurt my relationship with NATO.”
During a bilateral meeting ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump went on to argue that Denmark has failed to adequately invest in Greenland and warned that the island’s location makes it increasingly important as China and Russia expand their presence in the Arctic.
“Greenland doesn’t help Denmark, Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States,” the president continued.
Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” he concluded.
Trump has previously refused to rule out military action to acquire Greenland, but he largely shifted to advocating a long-term framework agreement during the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year. Even so, administration officials have continued to leave open the possibility of more aggressive measures as they argue that Greenland is essential to US national security.
Why one country sent two competing delegations to the NATO summit
An obscure domestic political row bursted into the international arena on Tuesday when the Czech Republic dispatched two competing delegations to the NATO summit in Ankara.
First to land, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his entourage were welcomed in Ankara by Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat. Not long after that, a second Czech government aircraft touched down, bringing President Petr Pavel. He was greeted by Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
The Czech government did not explain why the two men couldn’t travel together, despite setting off from the same airport in Prague less than an hour apart.
Personal animosity likely played a major role. Pavel and Babiš have been locked in a dispute over the summit for months. Czech delegations to NATO have traditionally included both the country’s prime minister as the head of government and the president as the head of state.
But last month, Babiš banned Pavel from attending the summit, prompting Pavel to launch a lawsuit with the Czech Constitutional Court. The court issued an injunction, effectively ordering Babiš to allow Pavel to go.
Officially, the prime minister said he needed more “space” to negotiate and to explain why the Czech Republic is one of just three NATO countries not meeting the current defense spending targets.
But the two men have clashed over multiple issues, including the government’s decision to cut defense spending as well as Pavel’s refusal to appoint a controversial anti-establishment, right-wing politician into Babiš’s government.
By attempting to stop the president from attending the summit, Babiš was clearly trying to hit where it would hurt, as NATO has for years been Pavel’s home turf. A retired general, Pavel previously served as chair of NATO’s Military Committee, one of the alliance’s top positions.
Trump says "we're going to see" on possible US troop drawdowns in Europe
President Donald Trump declined Tuesday to say whether he plans to announce additional US troop reductions in Europe, telling reporters, “we’re going to see,” during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara.
“Well, we’re going to see,” Trump said when asked whether he is likely to announce further drawdowns of US forces in Europe.
The US president also renewed his criticism of NATO, suggesting he had considered skipping the summit altogether.
Trump’s comments come amid ongoing questions about the future of the US military presence in Europe. Trump has privately discussed the possibility of cutting American troop levels on the continent by roughly one-third after expressing frustration that NATO allies declined to participate in US military operations against Iran, according to people familiar with the discussions.
