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Key developments
• Iran warns US: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to retaliate after the US carried out what it described as “self-defense strikes” on Iranian missile launch sites and boats around the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC also claimed that 25 vessels, including oil tankers, transited Hormuz during the “last day and night.”
• War negotiations: The US and Iran are working toward a memorandum of understanding, but disputes over language concerning Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions have held up a deal.
• Web access: Internet activity in Iran has been partially restored following a monthslong blackout, according to watchdog NetBlocks.
• In Lebanon: Israeli airstrikes killed 31 people in Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, marking one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire in the country took effect in April. It comes as Israel began ground operations north of its self-declared military security zone in southern Lebanon, an Israeli military official said.
“Every step forward in the negotiations brings a glimmer of hope,” says China's Foreign Minister
Beijing has been working to resolve the stalemate between the US and Iran, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters on Tuesday.
Wang said that Beijing has been maintaining continuous communication with the key players: the US, Iran and Pakistan, which has taken the lead in mediating talks.
“We hope that the parties concerned will firmly adhere to a ceasefire and stopping hostilities, continue to move toward one another, and bring peace back to the Middle East as soon as possible.” Wang added.
On Monday, Wang met Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir –– the key interlocutor between Tehran and Washington –– in Beijing, with the pair discussing their efforts to restore peace in the Middle East, according to readouts from the respective countries.
Lebanon says Israeli strikes killed 31 in one of the deadliest days since ceasefire
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli airstrikes killed 31 people and wounded 40 others on Tuesday, in one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire in Lebanon took effect back in April.
In a statement, the ministry said the dead and wounded included children and women, and accused Israel of carrying out “a series of massacres” in multiple locations across southern Lebanon.
According to the ministry, 14 people were killed in Bourj Al-Shamali, including two children and three women, and 16 others were wounded, including five children and six women.
In Kawthariyat Al-Raz, five people were killed and six wounded, including two children, the ministry said.
The ministry said four people were killed in Habouch, including two children, and 10 others were wounded, including two children and three women.
In Maarakeh, six people were killed and six others wounded, including children, and in Sala’a, two were killed and two injured, according to the statement.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it “continues to strike Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.” The military said its troops had “eliminated Hezbollah terrorists involved in advancing attacks against IDF soldiers” and had struck infrastructure used to launch rockets.
Iran accuses US of violating ceasefire and attacking commercial shipping
Iran on Tuesday accused the United States of repeatedly violating a ceasefire and carrying out attacks on Iranian commercial vessels, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
The ministry said the US had continued what it called “unlawful and unjust actions” since the announcement of a ceasefire and had committed “numerous maritime robberies” against Iranian commercial ships. It also accused Washington of flagrantly violating the ceasefire in Iran’s Hormozgan region over the past 28 hours. Strait of Hormuz is located along the southern coast of Iran’s Hormozgan region.
On Monday, the US military conducted “self-defense strikes” targeting Iranian missile launch sites and boats around the Strait of Hormuz amid a ceasefire between the two countries and ongoing negotiations to end the war, according to US Central Command.
“U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” CENTCOM spokesman Timothy Hawkins told CNN in a statement when asked about explosions reported around the Strait of Hormuz.
The ministry said the actions took place as a diplomatic process mediated by Pakistan was ongoing, and described them as further evidence of what it called US “deceit and treachery.”
“Iran will not leave any act of aggression unanswered and will show no hesitation in defending Iran’s interests,” the statement concluded.
Recap the latest on US-Iran talks and key developments in the Middle East
US President Donald Trump said he will host a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday.
It comes as Tehran and Washington have signaled they are closing in on an agreement to turn the existing ceasefire that ended weeks of heavy bombing into a longer-lasting settlement. Disputes over language concerning Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions have stalled a deal, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling reporters there are “disagreements over a word, a sentence.”
Here’s the latest you need to know:
- Senior Iranian officials returned to their country on Tuesday after “intense talks” in Doha.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Tuesday that 25 vessels, including oil tankers, passed through the Strait of Hormuz during the “last day and night” after receiving permission and security coordination from its navy.
- Metrics show that internet activity in Iran has been partially restored, the internet monitoring group NetBlocks said, after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered authorities to restore internet access yesterday. “The internet isn’t fully open, it’s just no longer completely shut down,” a Tehran resident said.
- Meanwhile, Israel began ground operations north of its self-declared military security zone in southern Lebanon to push Iran-backed Hezbollah’s drone capabilities further from the border, an Israeli military official told CNN. The Israel Defense Forces launched successive attacks in Beqaa Valley on a road near the largest dam in Lebanon, prompting condemnation from water authorities over potential damage to the key civilian facility.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Catherine Nicholls, Eyad Kourdi, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Charbel Mallo, Dana Karni, Oliver Sherwood, Sana Noor Haq, Tal Shalev and Aida Karimi contributed to this report.
Trump moves Camp David Cabinet meeting due to weather
President Donald Trump said his Cabinet will no longer convene at Camp David on Wednesday, citing “possible bad weather.”
The Cabinet meeting will instead occur at the White House, as usual, he said.
“Based on the possible bad weather conditions tomorrow, we will be having our Cabinet Meeting in the White House, and will be postponing the Cabinet trip to Camp David,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump has previously sounded a sour note on the presidential retreat in Maryland.
“Yeah, Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes,” Trump said in an interview before taking office in 2017.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says 25 vessels transited Hormuz in past 24 hours
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Tuesday that 25 vessels, including oil tankers, passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours after receiving permission and security coordination from its navy.
In a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News, the IRGC Navy said the vessels, which included container ships, transited the strategic waterway during the “last day and night” with coordination and security provided by its forces.
CNN could not independently verify the shipping traffic numbers.
The IRGC Navy also said it was maintaining what it described as “intelligent control” over the Strait of Hormuz and warned that “any act of aggression will be met with crushing blows.”
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints, with a significant share of global oil and gas supplies passing through the narrow waterway.
Iranians greet partial internet restoration with skepticism after 88-day blackout
Iranians reacted with a mix of skepticism, caution and sarcasm on Tuesday after internet monitors reported a partial restoration of online access following months of near-total isolation under a nationwide shutdown imposed by Iranian authorities.
“Yes, I’m connected, but I still have to use a VPN. Don’t get too excited though — the internet isn’t fully open, it’s just no longer completely shut down,” a 46-year-old man in Tehran told CNN on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
A VPN (virtual private network) essentially creates a private, digital tunnel that shields your online activity from hackers, advertisers and trackers.
Others voiced frustration online, casting the limited return of access as too little, too late.
An Iranian woman who previously took part in anti-government protests said in a post on X that the regime wants “to bring back the ‘filternet’ and they’re making such a huge spectacle out of it. South Korea and Japan, with all their internet speed, don’t lecture their people this much,” adding that Iranian officials were “creating all this hype over basic internet connection.”
Some Iranians, meanwhile, appeared to use the moment as a symbolic show of resilience, posting selfies on Instagram for the first time in months.
Internet activity in Iran has been partially restored, monitoring group NetBlocks said, after President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered authorities to restore access, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency, which cited a source in the Ministry of Communications.
NetBlocks said the restoration came on day 88 of the blackout, calling it “the longest nationwide internet shutdown in modern history.”
Israel repeatedly strikes Bekaa Valley, hitting road near Lebanon’s largest dam
The Israeli military launched successive attacks on a road near the largest dam in Lebanon, prompting condemnation from water authorities over potential damage to the key civilian facility.
Israel “targeted the area” near the Qaraoun Dam, along the lush Bekaa Valley, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported Tuesday. “Residents fear potential cracks in the dam,” NNA said.
The Israeli military told CNN that it “carried out a strike in that area to remove a threat.”
Gaping plumes of smoke rolled over a blue lake surrounding the dam, in video of the aftermath verified by CNN. The Qaraoun dam is the largest in Lebanon, providing electricity and irrigation to agricultural pastures, according to Litani River National Authority.
Lebanese officials warned that “any direct or indirect targeting” of the dam and wider infrastructure “could lead to catastrophic risks for the population.”
“They are civilian and vital installations whose targeting is prohibited under international humanitarian law,” the Litani River National Authority said.
It came after an Israeli strike on the town of Mashghara, in the western Bekaa Valley, killed at least 11 people – including two girls – on Monday.
In total, at least 3,213 people have been killed and another 9,737 wounded since March 2, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported on Tuesday.
Hezbollah meanwhile has increased explosive drone launches on Israeli border villages. On Tuesday, the group claimed responsibility for at least 23 attacks on Israeli military posts in Lebanon.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting.
Leaders of Iran and Qatar discuss de-escalation in phone call
The leaders of Iran and Qatar spoke over the phone today about de-escalation efforts regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to a readout of the conversation shared by Qatar’s Amiri Diwan, the administrative offices of the emir.
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, where they “reviewed the latest developments in the region and the efforts being made to reduce escalation, preserve regional security, and strengthen peace and stability,” the Amiri Diwan said.
Al Thani reiterated his country’s “firm position calling for prioritizing political and diplomatic solutions,” it continued, as well as “the need for all parties to exercise the highest levels of responsibility and wisdom to spare the region the repercussions of escalation.”
He thanked the Iranian leader for his efforts toward a peaceful end to the conflict, it said, and called for continued negotiations and strengthening dialogue.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency also reported on the phone call.
In the conversation, Pezeshkian said that his country “is prepared to reach a dignified framework for ending the war and the current tensions in the region,” according to Tasnim, while Al Thani said that his government “will spare no effort in establishing regional peace and stability.”
CNN’s Aida Karimi contributed to this reporting.
Israeli soldiers in Lebanon conducting ground operations north of “Yellow Line”
Israeli soldiers have begun conducting ground operations beyond the “Yellow Line” — the northern boundary of Israel’s self-declared military security zone in southern Lebanon, an Israeli military official tells CNN.
The official added the goal of these expanded operations — which he defined as “targeted” — is to push Hezbollah’s explosive drone capabilities further away from the border, and thereby “remove direct threats,” amid an increase in fire toward Israeli border communities in recent days.
The line runs east to west a few miles north of the border between Israel and Lebanon, at one point intersecting with the Litani River. Some 55 towns and villages south of the line are under Israeli control.
Israeli forces have largely refrained from operating across the “Yellow Line” and north of the Litani River in recent weeks, following requests from the United States, which is mediating direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.
However, as CNN previously reported, Israel has decided to step up operations against Hezbollah’s drone infrastructure, in moves co-ordinated with the US.
The IDF said Tuesday it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight and issued extensive evacuation orders to residents of the town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, warning that anyone near Hezbollah operatives or facilities may be endangering their lives.
This post has been updated with Netanyahu’s remarks.
Iranian delegation returns from negotiations in Qatar, according to state media
Senior officials from Iran returned to their country on Tuesday after seeing mediators in the Qatari capital of Doha, as ceasefire talks between Tehran and Washington grind on.
The trio — Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati — “returned to the country a few hours ago,” according to the state-affiliated Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting agency.
Qatari and Iranian diplomats chiefly discussed Iran’s “frozen funds,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. Crippling US sanctions and regional violence have exacerbated an economic crisis in Iran, with Tehran urging the immediate unfreezing of billions of dollars of assets stored in banks overseas. If Tehran and Washington agree to the proposed deal, $24 billion worth of Iranian assets could be released, the semi-official Iranian outlet Tasnim said Tuesday. But a senior US administration official told CNN on Sunday that the unfreezing of Iranian assets will occur only once the Strait of Hormuz has reopened.
Tehran’s delegation held “generally positive” talks in Doha, Tasnim said, as negotiating parties iron out key sticking points in a proposed memorandum to halt the violence set off by US-Israeli strikes in late February.
Trump expected to convene Cabinet meeting at Camp David Wednesday
President Donald Trump is expected to gather his Cabinet Wednesday for a meeting at Camp David, according to a White House official, convening top officials at a high-stakes moment for the US war with Iran.
Talks around a potential peace deal with Iran have intensified in recent days as the president weighs a path to stop the fighting, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and settle negotiations on nuclear matters within 60 days. There is significant political pressure on the White House to resolve the conflict, with consequential midterm elections months away.
The rare offsite meeting is expected to be attended by all Cabinet members, according to the official. The New York Post first reported the meeting. And it comes after significant turnover within the president’s team: Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer have departed and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is expected to end her tenure next month.
This is the first Cabinet meeting since March 26 and marks the 10th time the Cabinet has gathered during Trump’s second term.
The president has visited the highly-restricted Maryland presidential retreat relatively sparingly, just once during his second term and 15 times during his first.
Originally called “Shangri-La,” the facility has been used as a presidential retreat and place to host foreign dignitaries since President Franklin Roosevelt. The tranquil 180-acre camp houses log cabins, an outdoor swimming pool, a one-hole golf course, a shooting range, a bowling alley and walking trails.
“Yeah, Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes,” Trump said in an interview before taking office in 2017.
These demands from the US and Iran are shaping ceasefire talks
Iran and the United States have signaled they are closing in on an agreement to turn the existing ceasefire that ended weeks of heavy bombing into a longer-lasting settlement.
With each passing day, Iranian and US officials are raising their demands, hostilities are flaring between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and civilians are being killed — raising the stakes of tenuous negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Here’s what you should know:
- Iranian uranium stocks and enrichment: Iran’s nuclear stockpile was on the cards when a Tehran delegation met Qatari mediators for “generally positive” talks in Doha on Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. Officials in Washington have been using the refrain, “No dust, no dollars,” to describe the stock of nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium that US President Donald Trump demands must be disposed of before meeting Tehran’s financial demands.
- Tehran’s frozen assets: With its economy in deep trouble, Iran is demanding the immediate unfreezing of billions of dollars in assets held in banks overseas. On Tuesday, Tasnim reported that $24 billion worth of Iranian assets could be released if Tehran and Washington agree to the memorandum. Half that sum could be released when the deal is first announced, the Iranian news agency added. But a senior US administration official told CNN on Sunday that the unfreezing of Iranian assets will occur only once the Strait of Hormuz has reopened.
- Israeli campaign in Lebanon: Earlier this month, both Israeli and Lebanese delegations agreed to extend a tenuous truce — which Hezbollah is not party to — by 45 days. Under the terms of the US-led deal, Israel is permitted to conduct “defensive” operations. On Tuesday, an Israeli source told CNN that forces will “expand operations” in Lebanon and “renew operations” in the capital Beirut. The Trump administration has doubled down its support for the Israeli campaign. The US president told Netanyahu he backs the country’s wish to “maintain freedom of action against threats on all fronts, including Lebanon,” an Israeli official told CNN.
Internet connection partially restored in Iran, watchdog says
Metrics show that internet activity in Iran has been partially restored, the internet monitoring group NetBlocks said a short while ago, after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered authorities to restore internet access yesterday.
The partial online restoration comes on day 88 of an internet blackout, NetBlocks said, calling it the “the longest nationwide internet shutdown in modern history.”
Iran began restricting internet access in late December 2025, according to NetBlocks and other monitoring groups, following mass anti-government demonstrations initially driven by surging inflation, currency collapse and a deepening economic crisis.
After those demonstrations, the Iranian regime made progress to allow only a subset of people with security clearance to access the international web, experts said, but Iran again entered a near-total internet blackout after the US and Israel strikes on February 28.
Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, wrote on X today that, following Pezeshkian’s proclamation yesterday, “the first step toward free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken.”
Iran's Revolutionary Guards threaten retaliation after US strikes, as Israel strikes Lebanon
Iran has threatened to retaliate after the US carried out what it described as “self-defense strikes” on Iranian missile launch sites and boats overnight.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what’s been going on so far today:
- The US strikes were carried out in southern Iran “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” US Central Command spokesperson Timothy Hawkins told CNN, adding that CENTCOM “continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”
- In a statement published after the US strikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned retaliation against any ceasefire violations, saying it considers the “right to reciprocal response to be legitimate and certain.”
- The global oil price has risen again today, as the renewed US strikes on Iran curbed optimism that a deal is in sight to end the war.
- Despite the fresh attacks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks on an agreement with Iran are being held up by disputes over the wording of the deal, saying there are “disagreements over a word, a sentence.”
- Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that Middle Eastern nations will “no longer serve as shields for US bases.”
- Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, a further sign Israel is moving to a more aggressive posture in its campaign against the militant group, as we reported yesterday.
- The first Japanese oil tanker to transit the Strait of Hormuz during the war with Iran has arrived in Japan.
- And a tanker reported an external explosion off Oman’s coast this afternoon, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which said that the crew is safe.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Mostafa Salem, Aida Karimi, Hanna Ziady, Kathleen Magramo, Junko Ogura and Kara Fox contributed to this reporting.
Israeli military reports 100+ Hezbollah targets struck in Lebanon overnight
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, a further sign Israel is moving to a more aggressive posture in its campaign against the militant group, as CNN reported on Monday.
Lebanon’s National News Agency says one person, a paramedic, was killed in the latest strikes.
It comes amid an increase in explosive drone launches by Hezbollah targeting Israel’s border villages. The IDF reported further drone launches Tuesday morning, though there were no reports of any injuries. Most schools in Israel’s border areas are now closed in response to the heightened threat.
In a statement Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, command centers and other infrastructure sites in the Bekaa Valley and across southern Lebanon.
An earlier IDF statement on Monday described strikes on 70 Hezbollah targets, including in the city of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast.
Israeli forces have largely refrained from operating north of the Litani river in recent weeks, following requests from the US, which is mediating direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. The US is also negotiating a lasting end to hostilities with Iran, which has reportedly demanded an end to Israeli operations in Lebanon as part of any agreement.
On Monday, an Israeli source told CNN the IDF was poised to set to step up operations against Hezbollah’s drone infrastructure, in moves co-ordinated with the US.
The source also said the IDF is pushing to renew attacks against Hezbollah leaders in Beirut but said plans for any such strikes were awaiting approval from Netanyahu and his cabinet.
Netanyahu under pressure from allies and opponents on Hezbollah threat and US-Iran talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this evening for the first time since reports emerged of a developing US-Iran agreement, drawing sharp criticism from Israeli officials who privately describe it is a “bad idea.”
While Netanyahu has avoided publicly criticizing US President Donald Trump, two Israeli sources told CNN that in private discussions he has acknowledged having limited influence over Washington’s decision making and the negotiations with Iran.
The emerging deal, as currently understood by Israeli officials, leaves core Israeli concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and its stockpile of enriched uranium unaddressed.
Moreover, Iran is reportedly pushing to reinforce a ceasefire in Lebanon, while Hezbollah has been intensifying its daily drone and UAV attacks on Israeli troops and northern border communities.
Netanyahu is facing mounting pressure both from political rivals and members of his own coalition. Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff now leading a party aiming to replace Netanyahu after the next election, described the situation as “a forced ceasefire, on unfavorable terms for Israel, that endangers residents of the north and IDF soldiers.”
Netanyahu’s far-right political allies, ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have both called for a more aggressive military response.
Ben Gvir urged Netanyahu to confront Trump and “make it clear that the state of Israel cannot tolerate this,” while Smotrich argued that “a strategic threat is not answered with defense alone, but by changing the rules and the equation.”
“For every explosive drone, 10 buildings in Beirut must fall,” Smotrich said.
Against the backdrop of the criticism, Netanyahu put out a video statement Monday declaring that the IDF will intensify its strikes in Lebanon, following a day of extensive drone fire by Hezbollah.
“We must increase the blows, increase the intensity. We will strike them decisively,” Netanyahu said.
Tanker reports explosion off Oman's coast
A tanker reported an external explosion off Oman’s coast on Tuesday afternoon, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The explosion, 60 nautical miles off the capital city of Muscat, was on the side aft — an area located towards the rear of the vessel — and close to the waterline, the agency said in a statement.
The UKMTO statement added that the vessel and its crew are safe and that the tanker reported that “some bunker fuel” was discharged into the sea.
Authorities are investigating the incident, it said.
Iran warns of retaliation over ceasefire violations after claiming US breached airspace
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a statement that its forces downed an MQ-9 Reaper drone and opened fire on an F-35 fighter jet and another drone that that had entered Iranian airspace.
In a statement, the IRGC did not reveal when the incidents took place. Last night, the US military carried out what it called “self-defense strikes” targeting Iranian missile launch sites and boats around the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC warned in the statement that it will retaliate against any ceasefire violations.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warns against any violation of the ceasefire by the aggressive US military, and considers its right to reciprocal response to be legitimate and certain,” a statement by the group said according to Iranian state-affliliated media.
Iran’s foreign ministry said the US committed a violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region over the past 48-hours, saying there were “repeated naval harassment against Iranian commercial vessels.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered and will not hesitate in defending the Iranian people with the slightest delay,” a statement said.
US and Iranian forces have previously exchanged fire during the ceasefire, and it’s unclear how the attacks will affect the truce.
