President Trump said Monday that negotiations with Iran were in their "final throes," with a deal possible in "two or three days," even as fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah continued in Lebanon.
Trump has voiced similar optimism repeatedly over the last two months, according to CBS News, and it remains unclear how much closer the two sides are to an agreement. The war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran is now in its 102nd day.
At least eight people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said. Those strikes were preceded by an IDF warning ordering all Tyre residents to evacuate their homes and move north. The Israel Defense Forces said separately that troops killed one person after coming under fire in the Ramim Ridge area near Israel's northern border. "Soldiers returned fire and eliminated a terrorist in the area," the IDF said, adding that no Israeli troops were known to have been injured.
Vice President JD Vance, a veteran of the Iraq war, pushed back Monday on comparisons to past prolonged U.S. conflicts. "I feel extremely confident that we are not going to be talking about America's involvement in Iran even a year down the road, but certainly not years down the road," Vance told USA Today. He acknowledged the possibility that diplomacy could collapse. "If this diplomacy ultimately falls apart, then the president has further tools at his disposal," Vance said. "But so long as we keep this thing anchored to the core mission — prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon — it's not going to become a quagmire."
On the diplomatic front, France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Norway announced new sanctions Tuesday against Israel's far-right Finance Minister and West Bank settlers.
Italy added to international pressure on Israel from a different direction. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called comments by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir "unacceptable" after Italy announced it was investigating Ben-Gvir over his treatment of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla. A widely shared video showed the minister mocking and mistreating activists who were kneeling on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs at the port of Ashdod.
Ben-Gvir had responded to the Italian investigation by saying the "land of the boot has become the land of the flip-flop," a reference to Italy's geographic shape. Tajani addressed the Israeli minister directly in Italy's Senate. "These are unacceptable words that we reject; they are unworthy of a minister," Tajani said. "Ben-Gvir's words demonstrate the political and moral level of this gentleman."
More than 430 activists from dozens of countries were detained by Israeli authorities last month after being intercepted in international waters while attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. France opened its own investigation into allegations of war crimes and torture last week. The European Union is considering sanctions on Ben-Gvir, though EU officials have so far failed to reach a consensus. Tajani said Tuesday that Rome would continue pushing for the bloc to act.
Despite the tensions, Germany and Italy remain the two European countries blocking a bid to suspend a key trade agreement between the EU and Israel. The EU is Israel's largest trading partner, accounting for more than 30 percent of Israel's total trade in goods in 2025.
