24 March 2026
23:00 GMT
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has claimed that the Pentagon has its own role in the alleged behind-the-scenes negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
“The air campaign that we’ve conducted, that Israel’s conducted alongside us, was one for the history books, truly,” Hegseth told reporters alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. “And it’s because we have a president of the United States that, when he sends his warfighters out to fight, he unties their hands to actually go out and close with and destroy the enemy as viciously as possible from moment one.”
And that’s why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.
22:54 GMT
Tehran will defend its sovereignty from the US-Israeli attack “until all objectives are achieved and the enemy is made to regret its violent aggression,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call on Tuesday.
Iran has closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz only to enemy vessels, in accordance with international law, while allowing coordinated passage for other nations, Araghchi added. He also accused Washington of abusing its status as a permanent UN Security Council member.
“Iran’s serious expectation from Security Council members, especially China and Russia, is to take a firm stance in condemning US and Israeli aggression and prevent the continued misuse of the Council by the United States,” Araghchi told Wang.
China’s top diplomat has in turn condemned the US and Israeli attacks, denounced violations of Iran’s sovereignty, and stressed the need to end “bullying behavior” in international affairs, according to Press TV. He also offered condolences for the recent assassination of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
22:42 GMT
The Iranian armed forces have “trained in asymmetrical warfare” for more than two decades in anticipation of an inevitable US-Israeli attack, a senior aide to Leader of the Islamic Revolution in the Defense Council, Ali-Akbar Ahmadian, warned Washington amid rumors of a potential ground troop deployment.
“We have been waiting for the arrival of Americans to designated regions,” Ahmadian wrote on X earlier on Tuesday – daring the American soldiers to “come closer.”
22:33 GMT
The US Department of War is preparing to send an emergency response team of around 1,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East “in the coming days,” a person with knowledge of the plans has told the Associated Press.
The force, trained to parachute into hostile territory to secure key airfields and other facilities, would allegedly include a battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team as well as Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the division’s commander, and division staff, according to the source.
22:02 GMT
President Trump has described the March 4 friendly fire incident in which the US lost three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets as a “little mishap.”
“Kuwait, they had a little mishap. They shot down three planes with our missiles. They happened to be our planes,” Trump told journalists, suggesting that the jets were downed by the US-made Patriot missile defense system.
“The Kuwaitis made a mistake; they thought they were firing at the enemy… But the pilots made it. Can you imagine – the pilots saw what was coming, and they said ‘those are Patriots, we are not gonna escape Patriots.’ Pretty amazing that they got out,” he said.
While early reports initially suggested the use of ground-based systems like Patriot missiles, later analysis pointed to the possibility that a Kuwaiti F/A-18 pilot may have fired air-to-air missiles after misidentifying the US jets.
https://www.rt.com/news/636078-us-to-send-thousands-more-troops-middle-east/