President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
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President Donald Trump said he believes the Strait of Hormuz will “automatically open” when the U.S. exits, he said in a phone interview with the New York Post on Tuesday.
“We’re not going to be there too much longer. We’re obliterating the s--- out of them right now, it’s a total obliteration,” he told the Post.
Asked about the Wall Street Journal report that indicated he was considering ending the war without opening the Strait of Hormuz, Trump sidestepped but argued that the Strait will “automatically open” when the U.S. leaves Iran.
“I don’t think about it, to be honest,” Trump said, according to the NY Post. “My sole function was to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. When we leave the strait will automatically open.”
Trump continued to shrug off responsibility to other countries to open the Strait.
“Well, I think it’ll automatically open, but my attitude is, I’ve obliterated the country. They have no strength left, and let the countries that are using the strait, let them go and open it… because I would imagine whoever’s controlling the oil will be very happy to open the strait," he said.
His remarks come despite his threats on Monday to bomb power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly, all of the country’s desalinization plants if the Strait of Hormuz did not “immediately” open.
“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!)" Trump wrote on social media.
Pakistan and China released a five-point peace proposal to end the war with Iran aimed at "restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry released in post on X.
The plan includes a call for an immediate ceasefire, starting peace talks immediately and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The initiative come hours after Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar arrived in Beijing and met with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi Tuesday.
-ABC News' Othon Leyva Jr.
The Israel Defense Forces issued a second warning to Beirut residents living in another neighborhood in southern Beirut. This comes hours after ordering another neighborhood to evacuate before strikes began.
The IDF said it is targeting Hezbollah there.
At least 1,268 people have been killed and 3,750 have been injured in Lebanon since Israeli strikes began on March 2, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed a video posted by President Donald Trump on Monday was an ammunition depot in Isfahan that was left destroyed by U.S. bombers.
"You don't get to see many of those videos, because, as a reminder, Iran has still shut off the internet to 99.9% of its population," Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine provided operational updates, noting the U.S. has begun B-52 bomber missions over Iranian territory, and noting for the first time the U.S. has targeted "nuclear weapons research and development labs."
"Given the increase in air superiority, we've successfully started to conduct the first overland B-52 missions, which allow us, as we've said before, to continue to get on top of the enemy,” Caine said.
The U.S. and Iran are discussing a potential deal that would involve a ceasefire in exchange for Iran re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations confirmed to ABC News.
Vice President JD Vance passed a message to Iran via Pakistani intermediaries as recently as Tuesday, a U.S. official and a Pakistani official confirmed to ABC.
At Trump's direction, Vance signaled privately that Trump was open to a ceasefire as long as certain U.S. demands were met, including the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said.
The vice president's involvement was first reported by Reuters.
Vance also delivered a stern message that President Trump was "impatient" and there would be growing pressure on Iranian infrastructure unless the Iranians made a deal, the U.S. source said.
-ABC News' Mariam Khan
