Iran, Israel Trade Strikes Amid Talks  03/24 06:10

   Airstrikes battered Iran's capital and Iranian missiles and drones targeted 
Israel's Tel Aviv and sites across the Mideast on Tuesday, even as President 
Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to 
end the war.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Airstrikes battered Iran's capital and 
Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel's Tel Aviv and sites across the 
Mideast on Tuesday, even as President Donald Trump said the United States was 
in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.

   With thousands more U.S. Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides firing 
intense barrages and Iran denying any negotiations are taking place, the war's 
tempo remained high a day after Trump delayed his self-imposed deadline for 
Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran's chokehold on that crucial 
waterway has snarled international shipping, sent fuel prices skyrocketing, and 
threatened the world economy.

   Any talks between the U.S. and Iran -- which appeared at the most tentative 
Tuesday -- would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington's shifting list 
of objectives -- particularly over Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear 
programs -- remain difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, it's not clear who in 
Iran's government would have the authority to negotiate -- or be willing to, 
particularly as Israel has vowed to continue taking out leaders after killing 
several.

   Iran also remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under 
the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, 
including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

   Iran's military has conducted strikes on the orders of local commanders, 
rather than from the political leadership, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said 
early in the war. It remains unclear whether Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba 
Khamenei, who reportedly was wounded and has yet to be seen publicly, is 
issuing orders to Iran's regular military or its paramilitary Revolutionary 
Guard, which answered only to his late father.

   Mixed signals on negotiations amid deep mistrust

   While Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the idea of 
negotiations with the U.S. "fakenews," Araghchi's office acknowledged the 
foreign minister has been talking about the war this week with his counterparts 
in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and 
Turkmenistan.

   Talk of negotiations briefly drove down oil prices and boosted stocks. But 
that respite was short-lived, with the price of Brent crude, the international 
standard, nudging back over $100 a barrel Tuesday, up nearly 40% since the war 
started.

   Iran's 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 
current war. Iran was also in talks last year when the U.S. and Israel attacked 
its nuclear facilities.

   Iran named a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander as the new 
secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday, 
replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike. Iranian state 
television identified the new secretary as Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who 
reached the rank of brigadier general in the Guard.

   Marines are on the way to the Persian Gulf

   Trump's announcement also comes as a contingent of thousands of Marines is 
on the way to the region, raising speculation that the U.S. may try to seize 
Kharg Island, which is 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 to mine the Persian Gulf if the U.S. appears to be on 
the verge of landing troops. That would complicate an amphibious assault and 
also imperil all shipping in the area.

   Trump said he would hold off on a threat to bomb Iran's power stations while 
talks unfold -- a delay that 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 hits Israel and Gulf neighbors while Israel attacks Beirut

   As airstrikes hit Tehran, Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel 
early on Tuesday.

   In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 100 kilogram (220 pound) warhead evaded 
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. Four 
people suffered minor wounds, rescue service worker Yoel Moshe said.

   Emerging from a 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.

   In Kuwait, power lines were hit from air defense shrapnel, causing partial 
electricity outages for 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.

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Israel will 
continue to strike Iran and Lebanon even as the U.S. considers a ceasefire.

   "There's more to come," he said.

   Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburbs Tuesday 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 three people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to the Lebanese 
Health Ministry. Another five people were killed in the south.

   Meanwhile, Lebanon ordered Iran's ambassador to leave by Sunday, declaring 
him persona non grata. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Denise Rahme told The 
Associated Press that Iran's embassy will still have a charge d'affaires to 
head its diplomatic mission.

   The Lebanese government has been critical of Iran and accuses its elite 
Revolutionary Guard of operating in Lebanon alongside the Hezbollah militant 
group, and dragging the country into another war with Israel.

   Israel has said that some of its strikes have targeted Guard officials 
operating in the country.

   Authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in 
Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.

   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.