October 1, 2026
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Airstrikes battered Iran’s capital and Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel’s Tel Aviv and sites across the Mideast on Tuesday, even as President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.
With thousands more U.S. Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides firing intense barrages and Iran denying any negotiations are taking place, the war’s tempo remained high. Tehran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has snarled international shipping, sent fuel prices skyrocketing, and threatened the world economy.
Any talks between the U.S. and Iran — which appeared at the most tentative on Tuesday — would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s list of objectives — particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs — remain difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, it’s not clear who in Iran’s government would have the authority to negotiate — or be willing to, particularly as Israel has vowed to continue taking out leaders.
Iran’s military has conducted strikes on the orders of local commanders, rather than from the political leadership, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early in the war. It remains unclear whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei who reportedly was wounded and has yet to be seen publicly, is issuing orders to Iran’s regular military or its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answered only to his late father.
While Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the idea of negotiations with the U.S. “fakenews,” Araghchi’s office acknowledged the foreign minister has been talking about the war this week with his counterparts in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.
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 $100 a barrel Tuesday, up nearly 40% since the war started.
On Tuesday, Iranian state television quoted Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters as saying, “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious, and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory.”
The general did not say what “complete victory” would look like, but it appeared likely Iran’s military was trying to warn against offering concessions in any possible negotiations with the United States.
Iran named a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander as the new secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday, replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike. Iranian state television identified the new secretary as Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who reached the rank of brigadier general in the Guard.
Trump’s announcement also comes as a contingent of thousands of Marines is on the way to the region, raising speculation that the U.S. may try to seize Kharg Island, which is vital to the country’s oil network.
The U.S. bombed the island in the Persian Gulf more than a week ago, hitting its defenses but saying it had left oil infrastructure intact.
Iran has threatened to mine the Persian Gulf if the U.S. appears to be on the verge of landing troops. That would complicate an amphibious assault and also imperil all shipping in the area.
As airstrikes hit Tehran, Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel early on Tuesday.
In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 220-pound warhead evaded Israeli defenses to slam into a street in the center of the city, blowing out windows of a neighboring apartment building and sending smoke billowing. Four people suffered minor wounds, rescue service worker Yoel Moshe said.
Emerging from a shelter, Amir Hasid said he expected the scene to be far worse. “It feels like you’re a (sitting) duck, waiting for the missiles to hit you, or someone next to you,” he said.
In Kuwait, power lines were hit by air defense shrapnel, causing partial electricity outages for several hours. Missile alert sirens sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 19 Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Israel will continue to strike Iran and Lebanon even as the U.S. considers a ceasefire.
“There’s more to come,” he said.
Israel pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, saying that it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah terrorist group.
A strike on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least three people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Another five people were killed in the south.
Meanwhile, Lebanon ordered Iran’s ambassador to leave by Sunday, declaring him persona non grata. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Denise Rahme told The Associated Press that Iran’s embassy will still have a charge d’affaires to head its diplomatic mission.
The Lebanese government has been critical of Iran and accuses its elite Revolutionary Guard of operating in Lebanon alongside Hezbollah terrorists and dragging the country into another war with Israel.
Israel has said that some of its strikes have targeted Guard officials operating in the country.
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