Live Updates: Iran accuses U.S. of “grave violation” of ceasefire as Trump seeks “good deal or no deal”

An explosion 60 nautical miles east of Muscat, Oman, damaged a tanker near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to the U.K. navy’s Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO).

“The crew and vessel are safe, although the master reports some bunker fuel has discharged into the sea,” UKMTO added.

No further information on the incident was immediately available.

Before agreeing to a ceasefire with the U.S. on April 8 – and several times after – Iran attacked commercial vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz almost daily in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.

President Trump will hold a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Wednesday morning, sources told CBS News.

The meeting will include all Cabinet members, according to the New York Post, and will likely be dominated by the topic of the Iran war. 

Qatar has denied a report claiming it offered the Iranian regime billions of dollars to get it to sign a peace deal with the U.S.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported Monday that Qatar had offered Iran a loan worth $12 billion, but Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied the story.

“Reports claiming that the State of Qatar ‘offered’ $12 billion to Iran to secure the conclusion of an agreement are false and baseless,” he said in a post on X. “They are being circulated by parties seeking to derail the agreement and undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation and promoting stability in the region.”

The U.S. military launched what it called “self-defense strikes” overnight in southern Iran, which Iran has called a “grave violation of the ceasefire” between the two countries.

Despite the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said early Tuesday that a peace deal was still possible, but he added that President Trump is “either going to make a good deal or no deal.”

Internet monitoring group Netblocks said Tuesday that live data showed internet access in Iran being partially restored, after what it described as the “longest nationwide internet shutdown” ever seen.

In a post on X, the group said internet access had partially been restored in Iran on day 88 of the blackout – also day 88 of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran – “after 2093 hours of near-total isolation from international networks, the longest nationwide internet shutdown in modern history.”

Iranian telecommunications news outlet CITNA reported Tuesday that the country’s deputy minister of technology had announced a gradual restoration of internet access. 

Dr. Ehsan Chitsaz told the outlet that, “in 24 hours, all people will be connected to the international internet.”

Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters earlier Tuesday that the regime had decided to end the blockage after consultations with a “special task force” on cyberspace.

Iranian authorities previously shut down internet access during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in January, and restrictions had remained in place, but the total shutdown came again with the start of the war on Feb. 28.

Iranian authorities on Tuesday executed a man after convicting him of cooperation with and espionage for Israel’s Mossad spy agency, the judiciary said.

“Gholamreza Khani Shakarab was executed on charges of intelligence cooperation and espionage in favour of the Zionist regime,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported, adding that his sentence had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Tuesday hanging is the latest in a string of executions by the Islamic republic for security-related cases following the outbreak of war with Israel and the United States on Feb. 28.

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Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council, told the Fox Business Network on Tuesday that “energy prices are going to plummet like nothing you’ve ever seen before” as soon as the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

He said crude oil was essentially piling up in tankers and onshore in Persian Gulf nations currently unable to export their energy products due to the Iranian and U.S. blockades of the major shipping route.

Once the strait reopens, “I think that this thing can resolve itself much faster than people think,” Hassett said, adding that he believes the looming drop in oil prices will have an impact on consumer prices “right away.” 

“I think we should see, very quickly, energy prices, gas prices go back to where they should be,” he said.

Iranians will have their access to the internet restored in the coming days, a government spokesperson said Tuesday. Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters the decision came after consultations by a “special task force” on cyberspace.

“After holding several meetings, they reached the conclusion that internet access should be restored,” said Mohajeri, given what she described as the government’s commitment to “protecting people’s rights and preventing any form of injustice and discrimination.”

According to internet monitoring organization Netblocks, internet connectivity had been cut off in Iran for 88 days as of Tuesday – since Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war on Iran.

A previous blackout was implemented during Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests in January and restrictions had remained in place, but the total shutdown came again with the start of the war.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. on Tuesday of a “grave violation of the ceasefire” for launching attacks overnight on southern Iran, including strikes on boats in the Strait of Hormuz that state media said had killed at least four members of the Islamic Republic’s naval forces.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it carried out “self-defense strikes” to protect forces in the region, targeting missile launch sites and boats trying to lay sea mines.

Iran said the U.S. “committed a grave violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region” with the strikes.

“The commission of these acts of aggression, coinciding with the ongoing diplomatic process mediated by Pakistan, once again exposes the ill intent and bad faith of the U.S. ruling establishment to the people of Iran, the people of the region, and the international community,” the ministry said in its statement.

The ministry added that Iran “holds the U.S. regime fully responsible for all consequences arising from these acts of aggression. Undoubtedly, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave any act of hostility unanswered and will not hesitate in defending Iran’s sovereignty.” 

Iran’s response to any “future aggression” from the U.S. or Israel will take the war “beyond the region’s borders,” a spokesperson for the Iranian military has warned, repeating a vague threat by the regime to extend retaliatory attacks.

Speaking Qatar’s state-owned Al Jazeera network on Monday, Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi also said Iran is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, arguing that the country’s conventional arsenal makes it unnecessary.

“Our response to any future aggression will be different from what came before and will go beyond the boundaries of the region,” he said.

“We are not seeking to build nuclear weapons,” Shekarchi added. “We possess conventional weapons that eliminate any need for them.”

He spoke hours before American forces struck sites in southern Iran. U.S. Central Command called the overnight attacks “self-defense strikes” carried out “using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

China on Tuesday urged “parties concerned” to respect a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war, after the U.S. military said it had conducted overnight “self-defense strikes” against missile sites in southern Iran, as well as boats purportedly trying to lay sea mines.

“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing when asked for China’s reaction.

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A Telegram channel affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) identified four navy personnel it says were killed in overnight U.S. airstrikes in southern Iran. 

It named the four men as Abbas Eslami, Ghodrat Zarangari, Abdolreza Golzari, and Hossein Sotoudeh. Sotoudeh had been “due to hold his wedding ceremony in the coming days,” according to the channel, which posted a photograph of him.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said early Tuesday that American forces had carried out “self-defense strikes … to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

CENTCOM said the U.S. strikes had hit targets including “Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines.”

Iran’s semi-official SNN news agency reported that the “American–Zionist enemy” carried out an attack on vessels south of the country’s Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.

“According to local sources, last night American–Zionist fighter jets targeted several Iranian vessels south of Larak Island,” SNN reported, adding that “several of our compatriots have been martyred in these attacks.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it had downed a U.S. drone and shot at other aircraft entering the country’s airspace.

US military aircraft “entered Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf region, and air defense units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … identified and shot down an MQ-9 drone,” the Guard said in a statement on its Sepah News website.

The Guards forces “also fired upon an RQ-4 drone and an intruding F-35 fighter jet,” the statement said, without specifying when the incidents took place. 

The U.S. has lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since the war began, and three U.S. F-15 fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a “friendly fire incident” early in the conflict, but there were no casualties. Depending on the variant, MQ-9 drones can carry a price tag of more than $30 million for the U.S. taxpayer.  

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Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Tuesday that “Death to America” and Israel would become “common slogans” worldwide and that countries in the region would no longer be “shields” for U.S. bases, in a written statement commemorating Hajj carried by state television.

“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.

He said the United States was losing influence in the region, “moving further and further away from its former status with each passing day.”

“In different parts of Iran and the world, and after these blessed days, ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ shall become the common slogan of the Islamic Ummah and the oppressed people of the world,” he added, “especially the youth.”

The remarks come as Iran and the United States continued exchanges aimed at reaching a deal to end the war that began on February 28 and spread across the region

U.S. intelligence shows that Khamenei is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

He was injured in initial U.S. and Israeli strikes in the Mideast war, U.S. intelligence has said.

CBS/AFP

An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, the country’s state-run National News Agency said Tuesday.

The strike late Monday in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley area came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorized more intense strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon. The Israeli military didn’t comment on this particular strike but said Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.

Rescue workers say a dozen bodies were pulled out of rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.

The intensified attacks come three days before Lebanese and Israeli military delegations are set to meet in Washington for direct talks.

Hezbollah is attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israeli towns and has vowed to continue fighting until Israel stops its daily airstrikes and withdraws its troops from the country.

The Lebanese government hopes that the direct talks with Israel, opposed by Hezbollah, will lead to a ceasefire.

Over one million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, which was sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Tuesday that the blockaded Strait of Hormuz will reopen “one way or the other,” after fresh U.S. strikes on Iran cast doubt on an accord to end the Mideast war.

“The straits have to be open. They’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,” Rubio told reporters in the city of Jaipur, during an official visit to India.

“What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable,” he said. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said early Tuesday that a deal with Iran was still possible despite new American strikes that cast doubt on their fragile ceasefire.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters in Jaipur during an official visit to India.

“The president’s expressed his desire to make it. He’s either going to make a good deal or no deal,” he said.

U.S. forces on Monday launched “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran, U.S. Central Command said.

“U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement. “Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

The strikes follow Hezbollah saying it staged several attacks on Monday on three barracks and a military post in northern Israel “in response to the violation of the ceasefire” by the Jewish state.

CBS/AFP

President Trump said in a Truth Social post Monday that he wants the International Atomic Energy Agency to be present if Iran disposes of its highly-enriched uranium inside the country or “at another acceptable location.”

“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” the president said in a post. 

A senior Trump administration official said over the weekend that Iran agreed in principle to dispose of highly-enriched uranium in negotiations with the U.S. and that officials were still working through details of the mechanism for the disposal. 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf are in Doha, Qatar for peace talks, a diplomat briefed on the visit and a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. 

Their visit comes as CBS News previously reported the details of a draft memorandum for Iran to review.