The U.S. and Israel conducted joint airstrikes on Isfahan, Iran, early Monday, targeting a major ammunition depot and military infrastructure, including the Badr airbase, using 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. The strikes triggered massive explosions and secondary blasts, with President Donald Trump sharing a video of the fiery aftermath on Truth Social without comment.

According to U.S. officials, the operation was part of Operation Epic Fury, now in its second month, aimed at degrading Iran’s nuclear and weapons capabilities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine held a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday, confirming the strikes and stating that negotiations to end the war with Iran are “real” and “gaining strength.”

Hegseth disclosed he had recently visited U.S. troops in the Middle East and emphasized that the U.S. is maintaining strategic ambiguity about ground operations, saying, “Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are.” He also urged allied navies, particularly the UK’s, to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely closed, spiking global oil prices.

Iran and Hezbollah launched retaliatory attacks following the Isfahan strikes. Iran shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over Isfahan and launched ballistic missiles toward Israel, with explosions heard in Jerusalem and interceptors deployed over Tel Aviv.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, injuring three, prompting Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, Beirut, and the Beqaa Valley. Hezbollah framed its actions as defensive, citing Israeli aggression and occupation of Lebanese territories. The Israel Defense Force claimed to have killed senior Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in the strikes. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday, also announced plans to occupy Lebanon.

President Trump on Tuesday, has declared that European and allied nations should "go get your own oil" from the Strait of Hormuz, asserting that the U.S. may end its military campaign in Iran even if the strategic waterway remains closed. He emphasized that the "hard part" of the war—dismantling Iran’s military capabilities—has been completed, and suggested allies like the UK and France must now take responsibility for reopening the strait, accusing them of failing to support U.S. efforts.

The U.S. has signaled it will not lead operations to forcibly reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite its closure by Iran disrupting about 20% of global oil flow and pushing prices above $100 per barrel.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT," and warned that the U.S. "won’t be there to help you anymore." Hegseth echoed this during Tuesday's press conference, questioning why allies like the UK, with its "big, bad Royal Navy," aren’t stepping in.

Iran continues to block the strait, threatening to "completely close" it if U.S. attacks proceed. European nations, including Spain, Italy, and France, have refused U.S. military overflight or basing requests, deepening transatlantic tensions.

Iran has retaliated to U.S. strikes, by attacking oil tankers and listing U.S. companies like Apple and Boeing for targeting.

The U.S. has deployed additional forces, including the 82nd Airborne and the USS Tripoli, but Trump has ruled out extending the war beyond his four-to-six-week timeline.

Despite diplomatic overtures, including a peace plan from China and Pakistan, Trump suggested victory could be declared without securing Iran’s uranium stockpile or reopening the strait.

Trump said Tuesday, that the U.S. military campaign in Iran would end within "two or three weeks," asserting that the primary goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon had already been achieved. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump declared, "We'll be leaving very soon," and emphasized that the U.S. would withdraw "whether we have a deal or not," claiming Iran would be unable to develop a nuclear weapon for years due to extensive military strikes.

The president claimed the U.S. had "obliterated" Iran’s nuclear program, missile-making facilities, navy, air force, and leadership, asserting dominance over Iranian skies and describing the new leadership as "much more rational." He dismissed the need for a negotiated deal as essential, though he claimed acknowledged Iranian leaders were "begging to make a deal."

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said there is no ongoing direct negoiations with the U.S. "No negotiation has taken place, he told Al Jazeera. "We have not responded to the US proposal and we have not given a counter-proposal. Trust with the US is at zero. We are waiting for their ground troops."

Israel’s Knesset passed a law on Monday, making death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted of deadly terrorist attacks against Israelis, with the bill approved by a 62-48 vote.

The law, championed by Jewish supremacist and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, applies to military courts in the West Bank and mandates execution within 90 days of sentencing, with no right to clemency, though life imprisonment may be imposed in “special circumstances.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had previously expressed reservations, personally attended the session and voted in favor, calling it a fulfillment of coalition commitments.

Ben-Gvir and coalition lawmakers celebrated the passage with champagne and wore noose-shaped lapel pins, declaring it a historic deterrent against terrorism. The law is widely seen as discriminatory because it effectively excludes Jewish Israelis from facing the death penalty, as it applies only to acts intended to “negate the existence of the State of Israel”—a threshold legal experts say would rarely, if ever, apply to Jewish extremists.

Critics, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, have filed a petition to the Supreme Court, calling the law “discriminatory by design” and enacted without legal authority over occupied territory.

The law does not apply retroactively, excluding perpetrators of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks, and faces potential judicial and logistical hurdles before any execution can occur—Israel has not carried out a death sentence since 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was executed.

International condemnation was swift: the European Union, along with France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, issued a joint statement calling the law “de facto discriminatory” and a violation of democratic principles. UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that its application could constitute a war crime, while Palestinian leaders denounced it as “institutionalized extrajudicial killing.” The U.S. State Department said it respects Israel’s sovereignty but emphasized that any measures must uphold fair trial standards.

Iran and Hezbollah launched renewed missile barrages early Monday, targeting the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa, Israel, striking it with debris from intercepted missiles and causing fires and localized power outages, while no significant damage or casualties were reported at the facility.

The attack, which also hit radar systems at the Kiryat Eliezer base and the Stella Maris maritime monitoring facility, followed a series of strikes by Iran on energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including hits on Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery and Kuwait's power and desalination plants (which Iran denied doing), as Tehran retaliated against what it called Israeli and U.S. attacks on its South Pars gas field and nuclear sites.

Iran's IRGC confirmed targeting Haifa and Ashdod with Khyber-Shakan missiles in response to attacks on its energy infrastructure, while Hezbollah simultaneously launched precision rockets against Israeli air defense and surveillance sites.

In response, Israel and the United States continued their offensive against Iran, with B-2 stealth bombers striking ballistic missile facilities and the U.S. claiming the destruction of Iran's navy headquarters and multiple warships.

Power cuts were reported in Tehran and Alborz provinces after attacks on Iran's electricity infrastructure, though services were largely restored in most areas.

While President Donald Trump declared the war would end "pretty soon," U.S. Vice President JD Vance advocated for a rapid U.S. exit from the conflict, citing the high human and economic costs.

"The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.' This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year 'Reign of Terror.' Thank you for your attention to this matter."