Israel and Iran traded strikes for the fifth day on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump weighs if the American military should get more involved in the conflict.
The president held a meeting with his national security team and sources say he is warming to the idea of US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. Israel officials, meanwhile, are waiting for Trump to make a decision — hoping the US will jump in.
Here’s what to know today:
Latest strikes: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel plans on striking key targets in Tehran. Israel’s air force is also targeting ballistic launching sites in Isfahan, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said. Meantime, Iran’s Cyber Security Command said that Israel launched “a widespread cyber war” against Iranian digital infrastructure. Additionally, The IDF said it has identified a new wave of incoming missiles fired from Iran and explosions were heard over Tel Aviv.
On the ground: At least 2,725 people in Israel have been evacuated from their homes since the conflict began, according to the country’s Government Press Office (GPO). As of Tuesday, the death toll in Israel remains at 24, but more than 647 people are injured, the government said. At least 224 people have been killed in Iran since hostilities began on Friday.
Situation Room meeting: Trump met with his national security team in the Situation Room this afternoon for more than hour, a White House official said. More than 30 US aerial refueling tankers have been surged to the Middle East to give Trump military options, two sources said. Though Trump’s thinking is shifting to using the US military to strike Iran, he remains open to a diplomatic solution, sources said.
What Israel is saying: Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone ahead of Trump’s Situation Room meeting, according to an Israeli source familiar. Senior Israeli officials are waiting to learn whether Trump will help them finish the job. Israel has asked the United States for a “defensive posture,” Israeli Ambassador to US Yechiel Leiter told CNN, and “that’s what the US has been providing” so far.
Trump’s warnings: The president wrote on Truth Social that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.” He also called Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei an “easy target” and saying that America’s “patience is wearing thin.” In a one-line followup post, Trump wrote on social media in all caps: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
Defending Trump’s stance: Vice President JD Vance defended the US president’s consistency on Iran policy. He said Trump “may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment,” but that he is “only interested in using the American military to accomplish American people’s goals.” He reiterated that Iran “can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
US intelligence: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard insisted she and Trump are “on the same page over Iran’s nuclear weapon timeline. She testified in March that the US intelligence community “continues to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.” But, on Air Force One this morning, Trump told reporters he believed Iran was “very close” to getting such a weapon.
Oil and gas prices: Oil prices surged on Tuesday to their highest levels in nearly five months. The surge in oil futures that began last week is also starting to drive up prices at the pump. The energy market remains on high-alert for potential supply disruptions caused by the Israel-Iran conflict.
CNN’s Elise Hammond, Alejandra Jaramillo, Sarah Ferris, Maureen Chowdhury, Natasha Bertrand, Tamar Michaelis, Dana Karni, Catherine Nicholls, Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins, Kylie Atwood, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Molly English, Manu Raju, Lauren Fox, Matt Egan, Nicky Robertson, Hira Humayun, Nechirvan Mando, Jeremy Diamond, Lauren Izso and Michael Rios contributed reporting to this post.
