Here's the latest
• Fresh strikes on Lebanon: Israel’s military launched fresh attacks on Tyre this morning and issued a rare evacuation order for the historic southern Lebanese city’s Christian quarter. Iran has warned Israel against continuing its offensive in Lebanon.
• US-Israel tensions: The allies have “some differences” to work out, Israel’s ambassador to the US told CNN, after Trump warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that further strikes on Iran could isolate him.
• Trump confident: Early this morning, the president said the US could be sealing a deal with Iran within days, the latest in Trump’s dozens of promises that the end of the months-long war was close.
Drone rescues two US crew members after Apache helicopter went down
A US Navy surface drone “found and rescued” two US crew members after a US Army Apache helicopter went down off the coast of Oman “while patrolling regional waters,” the US military said early Tuesday.
US Central Command spokesperson Capt. Timothy Hawkins said, “A U.S. Navy surface drone found and rescued the crew from the water. U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59 is the Navy’s first operational AI and drone task force.”
Task Force 59, which was launched in 2021, includes unmanned vessels and drones. It’s the first Navy task force of its kind.
“The Soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition. The cause of the incident is under investigation,” US Central Command, the military branch responsible for operations in the Middle East, said in a post on X.
Earlier, President Donald Trump told reporters, “The pilots are fine, nobody injured.”
The loss of the aircraft marks the first loss of an Apache since the conflict with Iran began.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
Why the oil market remains relatively calm despite one of the biggest supply shocks ever
One of the biggest mysteries of the global economy is why the oil market has remained so calm during one of the greatest supply shocks in history.
The Strait of Hormuz has been paralyzed by three months of war – a nightmare scenario that few thought was possible before the war with Iran started. Visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains sparse, estimated at just 15% of pre-war levels, according to JPMorgan.
Yet oil futures have not skyrocketed to the dangerous levels forecasters feared – at least not yet.
One theory is that a surprisingly large amount of crude is escaping the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, helping the global energy system absorb the historic shock. Tankers carrying these so-called “clandestine flows” may be dodging the blockade by turning off transponders to avoid detection, experts told CNN.
Meanwhile, Piper Sandler estimates that about 4.5 million barrels of crude per day have left the Persian Gulf through other means, mostly via the East-West Pipeline that connects Saudi oilfields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
And even more importantly, China has slashed its crude imports, turning instead to massive stockpiles.
Lebanese president asks the Israeli people: "Aren’t you fed up with war since 1948?"
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun speaks with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about negotiations with Israel and his efforts to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Two Iranian military members killed in Israeli attack yesterday, state media says
Two members of Iran’s air defense unit were killed Monday in an Israeli attack, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported Tuesday.
The two men were “killed while carrying out a mission to defend the country’s airspace,” IRIB said.
Israel and Iran have restored a ceasefire following an exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday that threatened a major escalation in the conflict. Though Tehran has warned it will resume attacks if Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continue.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told reporters early Tuesday that a deal with Iran could be reached “in two or three days.” He claimed the deal would stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon and lead to the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran says its World Cup ticket allocation withdrawn a week before its opening game
Iran’s ticket allocation for the upcoming World Cup has been withdrawn a week before its opening game, the country’s soccer federation (FFIRI) said in a statement Tuesday, via state media.
Under regulations set out by FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, roughly 8% of the tickets to every World Cup match were reserved for each team competing in it so that national federations could sell them to their fans.
Iran is scheduled to play all three of its group games in the United States later this month, facing New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, and Egypt in Seattle. Iranian public support for the national team cuts through social, regional and political faultlines, making it a powerful uniting force.
However, the FFIRI said Tuesday that its ticket allocation had been withdrawn, “and under current circumstances the federation is unable to provide even a single ticket to supporters of the national team.” It did not specify who pulled the allocation.
“This comes despite the fact that many Iranian football fans had already made travel and attendance plans based on the officially announced process,” it added.
CNN has contacted FIFA for comment. Iran’s soccer team touched down in Mexico’s northwestern city of Tijuana on Sunday – right next to the US border – as Tehran criticized Washington over its visa restrictions for the team, which will limit the time the team spends in the US.
This is the first time since the World Cup’s inception in 1930 in which a host nation will receive a country it is actively at war with, according to Reuters.
"Very depressed": Iranians speak of the emotional turmoil of living through the war
More than 100 days of war in Iran have left ordinary Iranians both devastated and detached from what has become a brutal reality at home.
This moment is particularly precarious, with Iran and Israel halting attacks on each other after trading fresh strikes Sunday and Monday – though Tehran warned it would resume attacks if Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continue.
CNN talked to Iranians living through the war. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.
A 45-year-old man from Tehran said it was “unfortunate” to have been born in this country.
“Honestly, the only thing I can think about is how unfortunate we are to have been born here, and how everything we have here is going to waste,” he said.
Crestfallen by waves of attacks, some Iranians say they no longer feel the deep sadness borne at the beginning of the war. Now, they say, they are numb.
“I’m not worried. I am past worrying. At first these scenes were shocking, terrifying, but over time, a kind of emotional numbness developed,” said a 35-year-old Iranian woman from Tehran.
Quoting the Austrian writer Victor Frankl, she said that “man gets used to everything.”
“But don’t ask how,” she said, adding that it is a way to survive.
Oil prices fall on optimism over a deal
Oil prices are falling, after Israel and Iran halted tit-for-tat attacks and as traders take US President Donald Trump at his word that a deal aimed at ending the Middle East conflict is imminent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell around 2% to $92.40 a barrel shortly before 6:00 a.m. ET. WTI, the US benchmark, declined 2.41% to $89.10 a barrel.
Israel and Iran have restored a ceasefire following an exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday that threatened a major escalation in the conflict. Meanwhile, Trump said the United States could be sealing a deal with Iran within days – a claim he’s made some three dozen times over the past two months, according to a CNN analysis.
Trump said the deal would reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz “right away,” but analysts have argued that Iran’s ability to disrupt the oil chokepoint will long outlast the conflict, regardless of what is agreed to with the US.
Meanwhile, equity markets in Asia largely bounced back following selloffs on Monday, as optimism over artificial intelligence returned. Major stock indexes are trading mostly higher in Europe.
In the United States, Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures point to a stronger open.
Trump again says an Iran deal is close even as region remains on high alert. Catch up here
Despite the fragile ceasefire coming under severe strain in recent days, when Israel and Iran launched strikes against each other for the first time since April, President Donald Trump has reiterated his confident claim that a deal to end the war is close.
- Trump said a deal with Iran to end the war could be reached “in two or three days.” The deal would open the Strait of Hormuz “immediately” and prohibit Iran from having nuclear weapons, he said. He has repeated such claims frequently – at least 37 times – since he first announced a ceasefire with Iran more than two months ago.
- Trump convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suspend a significant attack on Tehran yesterday, according to an Israeli source and a US official. Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, acknowledged “some differences” on how to end the war, but stressed to CNN that the two countries still shared “pretty much aligned interests.” Separately, former top Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas told CNN the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is “diverging.”
- Israel’s military launched fresh attacks on southern Lebanon this morning and issued a rare evacuation order for Tyre’s Christian quarter. Yesterday, Israeli strikes killed five people and wounded eight more in Tyre, Lebanese authorities said. Those attacks came despite a US-brokered ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, which Iran-backed Hezbollah is not party to. The attacks come despite Tehran’s warning yesterday it would resume attacks against Israel if strikes against southern Lebanon continue.
- Trump said the “pilots are fine, nobody injured” after being asked about a report that a US Army helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz. “We are going to issue a report tomorrow,” he told reporters last night, without providing any further information about the incident.
- The US’ emergency crude oil stockpile is shrinking fast and has almost reached the four-decade low set under the Biden administration. At the pace it is being drained, as US officials try to cushion the oil shock caused by the war in Iran, it will likely decline further than the Biden-era low this week.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Charbel Mallo, Sarah Tamimi, Matt Egan, Kathleen Magramo, Jessie Yeung and Aaron Blake contributed reporting.
Israeli military launches fresh attacks on southern Lebanon
Israel’s military launched fresh strikes on Lebanon this morning, a day after Iran warned it would resume its attacks on Israel if the strikes continued.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported fresh attacks on a public housing area in the ancient southern Lebanese city of Tyre, where Israeli strikes killed at least five people yesterday. Rescue teams searching for residents still missing recovered one more body today, NNA said.
An Israeli military source confirmed the attacks on “the area of Tyre,” telling CNN they were targeting “terrorist Hezbollah infrastructure.”
Iran and Israel have halted attacks on each other following an exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday that threatened a major escalation in the conflict, but Tehran has warned it will resume if Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continue.
US President Donald Trump has urged Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by a US-brokered ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, as he attempts to seal a deal with Iran within days.
Iran-backed Hezbollah was not party to the ceasefire agreement and has rejected it so long as the Israeli military remains in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee sent an urgent warning to residents of Tyre, posting on X that “in light of Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement and its targeting of the Israeli home front, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is compelled to act forcefully against them.”
The warning included a rare order to residents of Tyre’s Christian quarter to evacuate, marking the second time the IDF has claimed Hezbollah is operating within the area.
Israel has said the evacuation of Tyre, which sits on the coast north of the zone occupied by Israeli forces, is necessary due to Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire deal.
Trump and Netanyahu remain far apart, former Israeli diplomat says
The relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “diverging,” a former top Israeli diplomat told CNN.
When asked if Trump and Netanyahu were on the same page, Alon Pinkas responded: “They’re not even on the same book at this point.”
The former Israeli Consul General in New York City said this was “evident in how Trump is talking about Netanyahu in the last two weeks.”
Pinkas also raised concerns over the lack of exit strategy for Israel’s offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — and pointed out that conflict has become part of Netanyahu’s political campaign.
Here's how many times Trump claimed an Iran deal was close
It’s been more than two months since President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran, saying at the time that the two sides were close to a deal.
Trump said on April 7 that they were “very far along” but needed two weeks for “the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.” He concluded by saying that “it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.”
There was no resolution, of course. But Trump has nonetheless spent the two months since then continuing to suggest a deal was right around the corner. A lot.
Including the period before the ceasefire, he’s done it at least 37 times. That’s the number of times he’s said directly — in social media posts, public appearances and phone calls with the media — that a deal was nigh or claimed Iran was desperate to cut one.
There’s no indication that’s any more true today than it was back on April 7. But Trump keeps saying it, either because he’s delusional, trying to calm the financial markets or thinking he can will it into existence.
But it’s clearly not a claim people should take seriously anymore.
Trump says Iran deal could come in "two or three days," will ban nuclear weapons and reopen Hormuz
A deal aimed at ending the conflict with Iran could be reached “in two or three days,” US President Donald Trump told reporters early Tuesday, adding that that outcome would stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon and lead to the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, who spoke to reporters after attending the NBA Finals in Madison Square Garden, said Iran and Israel had agreed to stop firing at each other following the worst escalation in tensions between the two since a shaky ceasefire came into effect in early April.
“They were going back and forth (with strikes), and now they both agreed, through me, to stop,” he told reporters before boarding Air Force One.
“The strait will open up right away. It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days,” he added.
He said he didn’t think there were any sticking points, and that all parties were “very close” to reaching a deal. Meanwhile, the US blockade on Iranian ports is continuing, he added.
Some context: It’s worth remembering that Trump has made similar optimistic claims that a deal was about to be signed during back-and-forth negotiations, only for conflict to flare up once more.
This moment is particularly precarious, with Iran and Israel halting attacks on each other after trading fresh strikes Sunday and Monday – though Tehran warned it would resume if Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continue.
Trump says “pilots are fine” after report US Army helicopter went down near Strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump said “the pilots are fine” after being asked about a report that a US Army helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz.
The New York Times reported that a US Army Apache helicopter gunship went down near the strait on Monday, and that two crew members were rescued.
“The pilots are fine, nobody injured,” Trump told reporters in New York after attending Monday night’s NBA Finals game. “We are going to issue a report tomorrow,” Trump added.
He did not provide further information on what happened. The New York Times report said it was not clear what brought down the helicopter.
How the war in Iran is driving Trump and Netanyahu apart
The latest Israel-Iran attacks are exposing a growing rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports.
The latest Israel-Iran attacks are exposing a growing rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Trump is looking for a deal to end the war, Netanyahu remains skeptical of negotiations with Iran. As political pressure mounts on both leaders, questions are growing about whether they're still on the same page. CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports.
US and Israel have "differences" to iron out, Israeli ambassador tells CNN
Israel and the US still have “some differences” to work out on how to end the war with Iran, the Israeli ambassador to Washington told CNN, as President Donald Trump suggested he would be declaring “total victory” within two weeks.
When asked if Israel believes a deal to end the war could be reached within two weeks, as Trump suggested Monday, Leiter said it would depend on the specific terms of agreement.
“If we can end this war where Iran no longer has a nuclear weapons program, no longer has a ballistic missile program that can hold the world hostage and no longer supports its proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah… then the war will be won, whether it’s in two weeks or two hours,” Leiter said.
When asked about Trump’s recent remark that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots” and would have to accept any deal the US reaches with Iran, Leiter reluctantly agreed, but added that “there’s a wonderful relationship between the president and the prime minister.”
“We entered this war against Iran together, and I think we’re going to end it together on the same page,” he said.
Iran doesn’t see “serious will” from US to finalize deal, top Iranian official says
A top Iranian official told CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen major roadblocks persist on issues like Iran’s nuclear program and uranium enrichment.
Iran’s top security official told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen that major obstacles remain to any U.S.–Iran deal, citing disputes over nuclear and enrichment issues, deep mistrust, and what Tehran sees as a lack of U.S. will to finalize a framework. The comments come amid renewed Iran‑Israel tensions following recent cross‑border attacks. CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government but maintains full editorial control of its reports.
US emergency oil reserve nears Biden-era low
America’s stockpile of emergency crude oil is shrinking fast, rapidly approaching the four-decade low set under former President Joe Biden.
US officials continue to aggressively drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to cushion the blow caused by the war with Iran.
According to Energy Department data released on Monday, the SPR declined by another 7.9 million barrels last week, in line with the 8 million barrels released the week before.
That leaves the SPR with 349.2 million barrels of oil, the lowest since August 2023.
At this pace, the SPR will decline below 346.8 million this week, the Biden-era low from July 2023.
That would leave the US emergency oil reserve with the least amount of oil since the early 1980s, when the economy was smaller and consumed less energy.
When he launched his campaign for the White House in 2022, President Donald Trump blasted Biden for aggressively draining the SPR ahead of that year’s midterms.
But Trump is now releasing emergency oil at an even faster pace ahead of this year’s midterms.
The SPR is down by 66 million barrels since the war started in late February.
Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, has warned about the toll the Iran war is having on the SPR. Here’s what he told CNN about production around the globe:
Trump warns Netanyahu as Iran and Israel halt strikes. Catch up here
President Donald Trump suggested the US would be declaring “total victory” over Iran in the next two weeks. “They’re willing to give us everything, they’re willing to give us no nuclear weapon,” he said Monday at a rally.
It’s not the first time he’s made promises about significant progress in “two weeks.” The ceasefire with Iran was supposed to last two weeks while negotiators finished a deal to end the war.
Here’s what else to know:
- Israel was preparing for a significant attack in Tehran on Monday when Trump convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off, according to an Israeli source and a US official.
- Shortly after the call between Trump and Netanyahu on Monday, the Israeli leader announced his country had accepted the US request to halt strikes on Iran, but said attacks in Lebanon will continue.
- It was Trump’s second phone call to Netanyahu in a matter of hours. Trump told Axios that he warned the Israeli prime minister that he would isolate himself if he continued to strike Iran.
- Tehran warned it would resume attacks against Israel if its strikes continued in southern Lebanon. Within hours, Israeli strikes killed five people in southern Lebanon.
- Iranian official Ebrahim Azizi said Tehran has “no problem” pushing forward with peace talks with the US, but any potential agreement hinges on the US changing its behavior amid a climate of deep mistrust.
- Iran issued several warnings about its influence over oil trade. Tehran’s top foreign policy official pledged to maintain control over the critical Strait of Hormuz, criticizing fresh European Union sanctions. A top negotiator said Iran will “defeat” the US naval blockade of its ports. And the commander of Iran’s Quds Force said a “new security belt of the resistance” would be established from the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab al-Mandab — a gateway to the Red Sea.
CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Jennifer Hansler, Billy Stockwell, Aida Karimi, Kevin Liptak, Tal Shalev, Jeremy Diamond, Zachary Cohen, Oren Liebermann, Caitlin Danaher, Eyad Kourdi and Kit Maher contributed reporting to this post.
