The Iran War entered its 102nd day Tuesday as Israel continued its military campaign in Lebanon — a key sticking point in ceasefire negotiations — two days after Iran struck Israel over its bombing of Beirut Sunday and continued occupation of southern Lebanon.
The Financial Times and other outlets have reported “friction” between President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the challenges posed to the peace process to end the Iran War, which is now in its fourth month. Trump told FT in an interview Sunday that “I call the shots. I call all the shots. [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” and that ultimately the Israeli leader “won’t have a choice” but to accept a deal with Iran. In the same article, FT reported that the U.S. did launch interceptors to defend its troops in Israel from this week’s Iranian attacks.
Israel Hayom reported that the U.S. and Israel are “fully coordinated, both on the strikes in Dahiyeh in Beirut and on the Israeli response to the missile fire from Iran.” The outlet added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular played a “significant role” in getting Trump to back Israeli retaliatory strikes against Iran. According to Israel Hayom, “Israeli strikes were fully coordinated with CENTCOM, even though the Americans did not strike themselves” and “the same was true on the defensive side.”
The independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Monday that the Pentagon quietly deployed elements of an 82nd Airborne battalion to Israel in April, with a military source telling Klippenstein the deployment is tied to joint U.S.-Israeli contingency plans for capturing Iran’s Kharg Island and carving out Iranian territory.
Both Israel and Iran announced they were halting further strikes following Israel’s retaliation. But Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that “the halt in hostilities is conditional; if [Israel] commits further acts of aggression, an even more crushing response will follow.” Iran indicated that it has established “a new equation” for ending the conflict by extending its deterrence to Lebanon.
The Israeli military issued fresh forced displacement orders on Tuesday for several villages in and around the ancient southern Lebanese city of Tyre before bombing it, killing at least eight people. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes killed 29 people over the past 24 hours, raising the toll from Israeli attacks to 3,666 killed since March 2. The Israeli military reported that a gunman entered northern Israel from southern Lebanon and fired on Israeli soldiers, with no injuries reported.
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A U.S. Army Apache helicopter crashed in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, with no injuries reported. “The pilots are fine,” Trump told reporters at JFK Airport in New York City late Monday night. “Nobody was injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine.”
The price of Brent Crude oil was above $91 per barrel on Tuesday morning while gas prices remained elevated. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.16. Both values are below recent peaks as market actors remain hopeful of an imminent peace deal.
