Pezeshkian says Iranians ready to ‘sacrifice their lives’ to defend Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post on X on Tuesday, “More than 14 million proud Iranians have, up to this moment, declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives in defence of Iran.”

“I too have been, am, and will be a sacrificer for Iran”, he added.

Since the war began on February 28, Israel has carried out multiple assassinations of Iranian leadership, such as that of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

According to Al Jazeera, at least 2,076 people have been killed in Iran and 26,500 wounded.

UNSC to vote on Iran-Hormuz resolution amid Trump ultimatum

The UN Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday for a resolution addressing Iran’s threats to the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic sources told AFP.

The latest draft, seen by AFP, demands Iran end its attacks on commercial vessels and halt “any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.

But objections from several veto-holding permanent members have seen the text watered down, and the latest draft does not expressly authorise force.

Meanwhile, at least three explosions were heard in Tehran as fighter jets flew above the Iranian capital, according to Al Jazeera.

According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, Iran’s Khorramabad airport has been targeted by a US-Israeli airstrike.

Pakistan peace efforts reach critical stage

Pakistan’s “positive and productive” efforts to stop the US-Israeli war with Iran are approaching a “critical, sensitive” stage, Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Damage reported in central Israel after Iranian attack

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli media reported damage in central Israel after Iran launched several projectiles, some of which were intercepted.

Israeli broadcaster Kan reported several impact sites. A vehicle overturned, but no injuries were reported.

The Times of Israel cited rescue services who said the damage had been caused by cluster submunitions from an Iranian ballistic missile.

The news outlet said Rosh Haayin and Ramat Hasharon were among the areas hit across central Israel.

Hezbollah claimed attacks on Israeli settlements, military forces

The Lebanese armed group said its fighters launched two attacks on Shlomi and Even Menachem in northern Israel with rocket barrages, according to Al Jazeera.

The group also said its fighters targeted two Israeli helicopters with surface-to-air missiles over the southern Lebanese town of Biyyadah, forcing both aircraft to retreat from Lebanese airspace.

Prior to this, Al Jazeera reported the Lebanese group said its fighters launched two attacks targeting the Kiryat Shmona settlement in northern Israel with rocket barrages, alongside additional strikes on the Metula and Kfar Yuval settlements.

Hezbollah further said its fighters targeted an Israeli army force east of the Khiam detention centre in southern Lebanon.

Additionally, Al Jazeera reported two separate Israeli air attacks on southern Lebanon have killed five people and injured several, according to the country’s National News Agency (NNA).

Two people were killed when their home in the town of Maarakeh was hit, NNA reports. The attack left many others injured as well.

In a separate air attack on the town of Tayr Debba overnight, three people were killed, and two were injured, according to the report.

Synagogue in Tehran destroyed in US-Israeli attack

According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, a residential building in central Tehran was targeted in one of the latest strikes and a synagogue adjacent to the residential building was also destroyed.

The report said that due to the narrowness of the streets surrounding the building that was targeted, the exterior and interior of the nearby buildings were also “severely damaged”.

There was no immediate report on casualties.

Additionally, Al Jazeera stated that Iranian state media reported that US-Israeli air attacks on residential areas in Alborz province have killed 18 people, including two children.

According to the state-linked Fars news agency, the deputy governor of Alborz province confirmed the deaths, adding that 24 others were wounded.

Israeli military warns Iranians against using trains

The Israeli army issued a statement warning Iranians against using trains for their “safety” until 9pm local time (10:30pm PKT).

“Your presence on trains and in the vicinity of railway lines endangers your life,” the military said on its Persian-language X account.

Seperately, Al Jazeera reported that the King Fahd Causeway Authority has confirmed the full resumption of vehicle movement across the strategic bridge linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain after a brief suspension earlier today.

IEA chief: current fuel crisis worse than 1973, 1979, 2022 together

The current oil and gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together”, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told Le Figaro newspaper.

“The world has never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper released in its Tuesday edition.

He said the European countries, as well Japan, Australia and others will suffer, but the countries most at risk were developing nations which will suffer from higher oil and gas prices, higher food prices and a general acceleration of inflation.

The IEA member countries agreed last month to release part of their strategic reserves. Some of this had already been released and the process continues, said Birol.

In reaction to the strikes by Israel and the US, Iran has almost entirely blocked the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of world oil and gas regularly flows, creating a surge in energy prices.

Trump’s ultimatum

US President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to bomb Iranian power plants and bridges if it doesn’t by Tuesday, 8:00 pm EDT.

President Trump was on the verge of a crisis in the Iran war, faced with the rare instance of an American airman shot down and stranded ​deep inside enemy territory.

Then, the airman’s daring Easter weekend rescue gave the US president the chance to quickly flip the script.

Standing ‌before cameras on Monday, Trump recast the perilous operation as a providential military triumph, leaning in to its cinematic elements to project strength and command of a five-week-old war that remains deeply unpopular with US voters.

“We have incredibly talented people, and if the time comes, we move heaven and earth to bring them home safely,” Trump told reporters at the White ​House. “God was watching us”.

It was the second time in less than a week that the president had scheduled time to directly deliver ​his message on Iran to the public, taking on the role of executive producer and chief publicist of his ⁠presidency in his uniquely Trumpian way.

He has struggled to explain his rationale for the bombing campaign, including during a muddled prime-time address last week. His profanity-laced tirade ​on social media on Easter Sunday further pushed past the normal bounds of presidential communications and prompted questions from reporters about the 79-year-old president’s mental ​fitness.

Read: Iran rejects ceasefire as deadline nears on Trump ‘hell’ ultimatum

The scene in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Monday offered a familiar display of Trump’s political instincts: seizing a high-profile moment to tell the story on his terms and using it as a unifying rallying cry to win support from war-weary Americans.

He detailed an intricate rescue mission that he conceded was bolstered ​by luck. Trump administration officials, normally loath to discuss internal deliberations, over the weekend helped reporters write vivid accounts of the stunning operation.

Trump described a ​bleeding officer who evaded capture in Iran for two days, and search-and-rescue teams scaling mountains and trying to lift aircraft out of wet sand before destroying machinery that ‌might otherwise ⁠fall into enemy hands.

“Hundreds of people could have been killed,” Trump told reporters, noting that some military officials advised him against the operation.

“How many men did you send altogether?” Trump asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, who was standing nearby.

“I’d love to keep that a secret,” Caine said.

“I’ll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds and hundreds of these people,” Trump said.

Reporters squeezed into the crowded room, blocking aisles and ​an entryway, and verbally sparred with ​one another to gain a more ⁠advantageous position in the president’s line of sight.

Though Trump seemed to revel in the details of the military’s prowess – suggesting at a separate White House event earlier on Monday that the rescue might someday be depicted in a ​movie – he also threatened to jail a journalist at an unnamed news outlet who first reported that one airman ​had been successfully ⁠rescued before the second missing airman was found.

Trump continued to express frustration with the speed of diplomacy to end the war, anger at US allies who will not help and exasperation with the blocked Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies. He dismissed a question about his mental ⁠health, saying, “I ​don’t care about critics”.

Read More: Trump confirms Pakistan-mediated peace talks

Asked whether he planned to escalate the war or end it, Trump ​was noncommittal.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump said. “I don’t know”.

As he moved to wrap up the hour-plus news conference, Trump sought to portray victory as an all-but-foregone conclusion.

“We won, OK?” he said. “They ​are militarily defeated”.

Iran

The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, closed early Tuesday over threats from Iranian attacks.

The King Fahd Causeway Authority announced in a post on X.

It said vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The 25-kilometre (15.5-mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.

A US-Israeli projectile flattened a synagogue in the centre of Tehran, according to reported from the Iranian news agency Mehr. The report did not elaborate on the casualties from the attack.

Iran has conveyed its response to the US proposal for ending the war to ​Pakistan, rejecting a ceasefire and emphasising the necessity ​of a permanent end to the war, the official IRNA ‌news ⁠agency said on Monday.

The US and Iran weighed ​a framework plan to end their five‑week-old conflict, as Tehran ⁠said it wanted a lasting end to the ​war and pushed back against pressure to swiftly reopen ​the Strait of Hormuz under a temporary ceasefire.

The Iranian response consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait ​of Hormuz, ​lifting of ⁠sanctions, and reconstruction, the agency added.

Trump has threatened to rain “hell” on Tehran if it ​did not make a deal by 8:00 pm ⁠EDT (00:00 GMT) Tuesday that would allow traffic to start moving again through the vital route for global energy ⁠supplies.