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President Donald Trump insisted again Tuesday that a deal to end the war with Iran could be just days away.
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Hours after the president’s latest optimistic assessment, Israel renewed its military assault in Lebanon, striking the southern city of Tyre and issuing an evacuation warning that for the first time included the port’s Christian quarter.
The attacks risked renewed fighting with Tehran, a day after exchanges that had threatened a return to all-out war. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it had used an unmanned boat to rescue two soldiers whose helicopter went down near the flashpoint Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” Trump said early Tuesday of talks to end the war that the U.S. and Israel began in late February.
He said the agreement would reopen the crucial waterway and ensure Iran would not be able to obtain nuclear weapons in “any way, shape or form.”
Asked about the biggest sticking point in negotiations, Trump said he didn’t “think there are any sticking points.”
“I think we’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” he said, adding that an agreement would be preferable to and “actually stronger than doing the bombing.
Trump has repeatedly suggested the two sides are close to a deal in the weeks since they agreed to a ceasefire, but so far no agreement has materialized.
His comments came after Israel and Iran agreed to step back from their first direct exchange since the April ceasefire, triggered when Tehran launched fresh strikes in response to an attack by Israel on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, over the weekend. Israel responded and the two sides exchanged attacks before stepping back after Trump’s calls for de-escalation.
Trump said Tuesday that he’d had a “very good conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the fighting. “He was hit, and he hit back, and I can’t blame him for that,” Trump told reporters, adding that both sides “agreed, through me, to stop.”
Trump had earlier said publicly that he’d urge Netanyahu not to retaliate against the Iranian strikes, amid questions about his influence over the U.S. ally.
Two members of an air defense unit were killed in the Israeli attacks, Iranian state media said Tuesday, with the semiofficial Tasnim news agency saying they were killed while “carrying out their mission to defend the country’s skies.”
Tehran’s announcement that it was halting attacks on Israel included a warning “that if aggressions and hostile actions continue, including in southern Lebanon, far more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.”
But Israel seemed undeterred Tuesday.
Its military issued fresh evacuation orders for Tyre, the fifth largest city in Lebanon, including the city’s Christian quarter that had until now been spared the destruction inflicted on much of the area.
The Israeli military said the Christian quarter had been included in the evacuation orders due to a Hezbollah presence in the area, without providing any evidence.
The Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli forces had launched a “heavy strike” on Tyre after issuing the evacuation orders.
Photos showed smoke rising over Tyre following a strike, while other images showed cars full of people appearing to make their way out of the city.
It comes after the Lebanese Health Ministry reported Monday night that an Israeli raid on Tyre had killed five people and left eight others wounded. It said the attack happened near a Red Cross center and that four paramedics were among the wounded.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military reported that it had received a report of shooting toward IDF soldiers in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. It said soldiers returned fire and “eliminated a terrorist in the area.” It said it was still investigating the matter.
It was not clear how Tehran — or Washington — might respond to Israel’s ongoing operations in Lebanon.
The president has repeatedly suggested that Washington and Tehran have been close to a deal to end the war and see the Strait of Hormuz reopened, but so far an agreement has yet to come to fruition.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
Ammar Cheikh Omar is a producer for NBC News.
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