The Latest: Trump insists US can break Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz without allies’ help

U.S. President Donald Trump fumed in a post Tuesday, saying “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE” to break Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz. As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran rages, analysts say it’s extremely dangerous for vessels to pass through the strait, where they’re vulnerable to attack from Iran’s anti-ship missiles, drones or mines. The effects are being felt in rising gas prices as sharply reduced energy supplies destabilize economies.

Israel announced Tuesday that its military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, and killed Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani as he met in a combat tent with commanders of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force. Iranian state media later confirmed their deaths. Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January.

Gulf Arab nations faced more missile and drone fire Tuesday from Iran, which has been targeting regional oil infrastructure. Israel also launched new strikes on Iran and Lebanon. In Iraq, officials say drones hit the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, where an Associated Press journalist saw a massive fire.

The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.

Here is the latest:

According to a statement released by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Larijani was killed along with his son Morteza Larijani and the head of his office, Alireza Bayat, as well as several guards.

Israel said Tuesday it had struck and killed Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force.

Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.

A former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, he had advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role “coordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.

The non-combat fire in the laundry room of the Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, rendered more than 100 beds unusable and led to about 200 sailors being assessed for smoke inhalation, two military officials told The Associated Press.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the details with the media, said that the fire was extinguished in a few hours, while broader damage control took around 30 hours. Sailors spent the bulk of that time watching for flareups, draining water and clearing damage.

The officials said some sailors had to sleep in temporary accommodations, like cots. All crew have returned to duty except for one sailor who was evacuated Friday in stable condition, the Navy said. The New York Times was the first to report details of the fire.

— By Konstantin Toropin

According to the American Automobile Association, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped to $3.79 on Tuesday, up from $2.98 before the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran. That’s the most expensive since October 2023.

State averages for regular gas now range from about $3.21 to more than $5.54 a gallon, per AAA data.

With diesel rising to about $5 a gallon around Philadelphia, bricklayer Jeff Jones is considering raising his prices. History shows Middle East conflicts often last longer than expected.

“I fear for the young people in our military that could then have to spend more time there, then obviously that equates to casualties,” said Jones. “I don’t particularly like the fact that we’re there, but I think it’s necessary.”

The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that the widening war is disrupting health care inside Iran and across the Mideast, with facilities forced to close, ambulances struggling to reach the wounded and attacks on health care increasing.

“These attacks are not isolated incidents, but part of an concerning pattern of violence against health care,” an agency statement said. “Injured people, displaced families, patients with chronic diseases, pregnant women and older people must be able to reach life-saving health services.”

The WHO cited a Monday attack on a hospital in Kabul that Afghan authorities said killed more than 400 people, one of six such attacks in Afghanistan alone. It said health care workers have been attacked or killed in Sudan, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. WHO also said airstrikes on oil infrastructure have released pollutants linked to illnesses, and strikes on desalination plants stress life-sustaining systems.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff provided an update on “how discussions are going with different entities” during a meeting with a small bipartisan group of senators. She said the session was intended to provide “an overall readout” on the war and give lawmakers a chance to ask Witkoff questions.

The senator said Trump’s envoy did not offer a timeline for ending the war, and the discussion was not focused on underlying causes.

“This was a separate meeting just to see where we are and how discussions are going with different entities,” Ernst said. “It was, I thought, a good meeting.”

Asked whether those entities were in the United States or Iran, Ernst responded: “Many different organizations and countries.”

The Israeli military says it struck the posts across Tehran in recent hours as part of ongoing operations against Basij units. An increase in Israeli strikes on Basij security checkpoints in Iran is part of a push to undermine the state’s ability to contain unrest, an independent monitoring group said last week.

Israel’s military said the rockets were fired toward several locations in the country’s north and were being intercepted. Israeli warplanes immediately began striking Hezbollah launchers and other targets in Lebanon, the army said.

Israel’s emergency responders said there were no immediate reports of casualties Tuesday evening.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began launching missiles into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

A few minutes before Tuesday’s rocket salvo, Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military “is deepening operations in Lebanon to protect northern communities,” with another army division joining the “limited ground operations.”

More than a million people in Lebanon have been driven from their homes by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders during the war, and nearly 900 Lebanese killed. A dozen Israelis have also been killed.

Iranian American Ariana Afshar has tried to produce commentary about the war based on the perspectives of people in Iran. But the New York-based social media creator keeps running into an obstacle: An internet blackout imposed by the government in Tehran has stifled almost all communications from the country. That makes it nearly impossible to reliably survey perspectives inside Iran, where Afshar lived as a teenager and still has family.

“I think it’s a huge problem among the Iranian diaspora, where they speak for Iranians a lot. I don’t want to fall into that,” said Afshar, who has roughly 350,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Content creators “cannot thoroughly access the people’s opinions in Iran,” she said.

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The Republican president has complained on social media about stories he doesn’t like and berated a reporter on Air Force One.

This week, Trump’s top media regulator said broadcasters risk losing their licenses if they don’t stay away from “fake news.” Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have questioned the patriotism of some news outlets.

Antagonism between presidents and the press isn’t unusual, but Trump’s team has shown a hostility toward the very idea of being questioned.

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The wrangling between Iran, FIFA and Trump over the World Cup shifted Tuesday to Mexico.

Iran’s embassy in Mexico City said Iran is negotiating with FIFA to move its three group-stage matches from the United States to Mexico after Trump last week discouraged the team from attending the 48-nation tournament.

Trump cited safety concerns. Iran says the U.S. hasn’t been cooperating on visas.

FIFA responded in a statement saying that planning continues and “FIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on Dec. 6, 2025.”

The State Department has reached out to numerous countries seeking their support in isolating Iran by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations even though Trump says the U.S. doesn’t need military help.

A cable sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions on Monday told American diplomats in countries that have not yet made such designations to urge them to act quickly to do so.

“Such designations will intensify the pressure on the Iranian regime and limit its ability to sponsor terror activities across the globe that jeopardize the safety and security of your populations,” the cable advised U.S. diplomats to tell their host governments.

“We assess that the Iranian regime is more sensitive to collective action than unilateral actions and that joint pressure is more likely to compel change by the regime than unilateral actions alone,” said the cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The images give a glimpse into the toll, with ships ablaze in an Iranian port and destroyed buildings at an American base.

Such information has been scarce, particularly from inside closed military facilities. These images come from Planet Labs PBC, a San Francisco-based firm used by media outlets including The Associated Press. Planet Labs imposed a two-week delay to avoid having its imagery used by “adversarial actors.”

High-resolution images also have been published by competing firms, and providers including the U.S. Geological Survey have been publishing lower-resolution imagery.

The U.S. and Israel have been striking a wide variety of targets, including leadership figures, military bases, missile and air defense sites and positions of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer force, the Basij. Iran has responded with drone and missile fire targeting Israel and nearby Gulf Arab nations.

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Two drones were shot down by the defense system at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, while a third drone crashed inside the embassy compound, two Iraqi security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.

An AP journalist in the area saw a massive fire that appeared to be engulfing a structure in the compound.

There was no immediate statement from the embassy.

U.S. facilities in Iraq have frequently come under attack by Iran or Iran-backed Iraqi militias since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, triggering the ongoing war in the Middle East.

State television is showing crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the killed supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

State media has also been warning Iranians to refrain from taking to the streets for Tuesday night’s Fire Festival that marks the end of the Persian year, warning that the normally rowdy celebrations could be used by “rioters.”

Iran has also stepped up security forces’ presence on the capital’s streets amid the war and warned against any anti-government protests.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described “Israel’s political assassinations” of top Iranian officials as unlawful and illegal, saying: “They must come to an end as soon as possible.” He spoke hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at weakening Iran’s government. Fidan said he would embark on a visit to regional countries to “discuss steps that can be taken to stop the war.”

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The escalating war with Iran is pushing parts of the world into energy triage, forcing governments to choose where to cut demand or absorb costs while prioritizing dwindling supplies.

Asia is the most exposed since it relies heavily on imported fuel, much of it shipped through the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz.

Governments in the region are scrambling to adjust — tallying oil reserves, conserving energy, competing for supplies and trying to blunt prices. That brings difficult trade-offs: Saving power may slow business activity. Prioritizing cooking gas for households can hurt restaurants and other businesses.

Analysts warn the same hard choices could soon spread beyond Asia to fuel-importing economies in Africa and elsewhere as countries compete for scarce supplies.

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The trip to China had been planned for months but began to unravel as he pressured Beijing and other world powers to use military might to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Tuesday while meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office that he would be going to China in five or six weeks’ time instead of at the end of the month. He said he would be “resetting” his visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, without elaborating.

Soon after pressing China and other nations to send warships to secure access to Middle Eastern oil over the weekend, Trump indicated his travel plans were up in the air, though he also indicated Tuesday that the U.S. didn’t need any help after being rebuffed by other allies.

Trump complained about NATO’s refusal to join the U.S. in the war, calling the decision “disappointing” and bad for the “partnership.”

He floated the idea of having the U.S. withdraw from the alliance as a result. “It’s certainly something that we should think about. I don’t need Congress for that decision,” Trump said, adding: “I have nothing currently in mind but I’m not exactly thrilled.”

NATO exists as a defensive alliance, not an offensive one, and has said it has no plans to get involved in the U.S.-led war with Iran. However, NATO troops did deploy for 18 years to Afghanistan and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, the president said two top Iranian officials were killed, including one he said was responsible for the deaths of 32,000 Iranian protesters in recent weeks.

“Their leaders are gone,” Trump said. “It’s an evil group.”

He made the comments after Israel said its overnight strikes killed Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force. Iran did not immediately confirm either death.

The president said Joe Kent was a “nice guy” but “I always thought” he was “very weak on security.”

Trump said that Kent leaving his post was “a good thing” since he disagreed with Kent’s assessment on the threat from Iran. “We don’t want those people,” he said.

The vessel-tracker MarineTraffic said Tuesday that the ships included eight bulk vessels, five tankers and two liquefied petroleum gas carriers.

Iran has nearly halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

The European Union’s top diplomat says the 27-nation bloc rejects Trump’s demand to send warships to the Straits of Hormuz.

“This is not Europe’s war. We didn’t start the war. We were not consulted,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told lawmakers on Tuesday, a day after chairing talks among the member countries about Trump’s warship demand.

“We don’t know what are the objectives of this war,” Kallas said. “The member states do not have the wish to be dragged into this.”

In a lengthy statement on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt aggressively disputed Kent's argument that Iran did not pose an imminent threat.

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt said. “This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”

As for the allegation that Trump acted against Iran under the influence from Israel, Leavitt called it “both insulting and laughable.”

Days after launching the war, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike against the U.S.

Israel’s military has ramped up operations near the Lebanon-Israel border since Hezbollah began firing rockets southward in the early days of the Iran war.

Although Israel has maintained a presence and carried out strikes in the area since a 2024 ceasefire, in recent weeks it has deployed tanks and intensified strikes it says are aimed at neutralizing the Iran‑backed Lebanese militant group, in what it has called a “limited and targeted operation”

The fighting has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon and killed at least 886, according to Lebanese authorities. In northern Israel, residents have endured a steady stream of Hezbollah rocket fire from Hezbollah, sowing destruction and closing businesses already crunched by years of conflict.

The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the outbreak of the new Israel-Hezbollah war two weeks ago has risen to 912, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. That’s up from 886 killed as of Monday.

The death toll includes 111 children and 67 women. More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the conflict.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched missiles across the border into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, triggering the widening war in the Middle East.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is taking issue with Joe Kent, who said Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S.

“I got all the briefings. We all understood that there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability and they were building missiles at a pace no one in the region could keep up with,” said Johnson, who was asked about Kent’s resignation at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Johnson said he is convinced that if the president had waited “we would have mass casualties of Americans, service members and others, and our installation would have been dramatically damaged.”

Days after launching the war, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike against the U.S.

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Iran’s northern resort towns host thousands of families each year for the holiday. But now, many who regularly vacation near the Caspian Sea are there seeking respite from heavy bombardment in Tehran.

“This year has been a terrible year for all Iranians,” a 23-year-old university student who headed north with his family told The Associated Press.

Speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears, the student described a national “trauma,” with the war following the shootings of thousands of anti-government protesters in January. “Prices are destroying us,” the student added, calling the soaring inflation “backbreaking.” Even before the war, Iran's economy had been crippled by international sanctions.

The U.N. refugee agency says hundreds of thousands of Iranian households have been displaced during the war, with most fleeing north or into rural areas to escape intense strikes on major cities.

— By Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo.

More than three decades after Lindsey Graham first arrived in Washington, he has everything he could ever want. The senator from South Carolina has Trump’s ear, a war in Iran and a well-funded path to reelection.

Now it’s just a question of what those things will cost the Republican Party — and the rest of the United States — in this election year when control of Congress hangs in the balance. The conflict is already deeply unpopular with no clear endgame, as oil prices rise and fighting spreads throughout the Middle East.

But Graham, now running for a fifth term, defended pushing the U.S. toward war. “We haven’t underestimated Iran at all,” he said. “We’re crushing them.”

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Iran began airing footage of Tuesday's pro-government demonstrations on state television, which include images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a rarity in such demonstrations and a sign of the government wanting to warn any protesters off the streets.

“Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire in Iran, is to be marked on Tuesday night. There had been some fears from authorities any gathering could spark new protests against the theocracy.