Iran targets Israel and Gulf Arab states even as Trump says US is in
talks to end the war
[March 24, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and SAMY MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile slammed into a street in
central Tel Aviv as Iran kept up its barrages targeting Israel and Gulf
Arab states on Tuesday, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said the
United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.
Trump also delayed a deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of
Hormuz for shipping or see its power stations targeted by airstrikes,
briefly driving down oil prices and boosting stocks.
The delay offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over
the weekend of strikes that could have cut electricity to millions in
Iran and around the Gulf and knocked out desalination plants that
provide many desert nations with drinking water, while raising fears of
possible catastrophe if nuclear plants were hit.
But any information on the talks described by Trump remain in dispute
with Iran, which denied any talks had been held.
“No negotiations have been held with the US,” Iranian parliament Speaker
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X, adding that “fakenews is used to
manipulate the financial and oil markets.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel will continue
to strike Iran and Lebanon even as the U.S. considers a ceasefire.
“There’s more to come,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been talking about the war
this week to his counterparts in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan,
Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Turkmenistan, his office said.
Iran hits Israel and Gulf neighbors while Israel attacks Beirut
Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel early on Tuesday, with
reports of an impact in the country's north.
In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 100 kilogram (220 pound) warhead escaped
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.
“We saw destruction, smoke, and chaos,” rescue service worker Yoel Moshe
told reporters of his arrival at the scene minutes after the missile
struck. Four people suffered minor wounds, he said.
Emerging from the 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.
Earlier in the day, Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburbs saying that
it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah
militant group.
A strike on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital
killed at least two people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
In Kuwait, power lines were hit from air defense shrapnel, causing
partial electricity outages in 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.
Oil prices briefly fell below $100 a barrel after Trump claimed his
government was in talks to end the war. But that respite was short
lived, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, back
to $104 a barrel in morning trading, up more than 40% since Israel and
the U.S. started the war on Feb. 28.
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Rubble covers the furniture of a destroyed living room in a
residential building hit in an earlier U.S.-Israeli strike in
Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran skeptical of Trump's motives in deadline extension
Trump initially set a deadline of late Monday, Washington time, for
Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power
plants, but on Monday he gave Tehran five more days to comply.
Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the strait, which
leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but has said it will
continue to target vessels linked to the U.S., Israel or its allies.
Its leaders are wary of Washington's motives, in part because Tehran
was in negotiations with the U.S. before the surprise attack that
started the war. Iran were also in talks last year when the U.S. and
Israel attacked its nuclear facilities, starting a 12-day war.
“Trump, Netanyahu and the like are inherently liars and their nature
is to create division,” Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian
parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was
quoted as saying by the semiofficial Fars news agency.
“We must think wisely. Their nature is to sow discord so that they
can make people distrust officials and believe that such actions
have taken place, whereas no such action has occurred.”
Trump's extension of the deadline comes as a contingent of thousands
of Marines is on the way to the area, raising speculation that the
U.S. may try to seize Kharg Island, which is off of Iran's coast and
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 if the U.S. appears to be on the verge of
landing troops it could mine the Persian Gulf, which would
complicate an amphibious assault and also imperil all shipping in
the area.
The delay could be timed to coincide with the arrival of U.S.
Marines in the region, expected Friday, wrote the New York-based
think tank the Soufan Center in an analysis.
“As Trump has in the past, he could be moving military assets into
place, in this case to prepare for an invasion and seizure of Kharg
Island, while using negotiations as a cover until those assets are
fully combat-ready.”
However, the center also noted that “Trump could be actively seeking
an offramp. Whether Iran reciprocates is yet to be seen.”
Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but
has not ruled it out. Israel has suggested its ground forces could
take part in the war.
Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said.
In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. At least
13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a
dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press
writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Elena Becatoros in Athens,
Greece and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
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