Trump hails Iran strikes as UN watchdog raises alarm over Tehran's unverified uranium stockpile

The United States has warned several Gulf Arab allies to prepare for a potentially brief but intense military campaign against Iran following the U.S. midterm elections, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Citing sources, the outlet reported Tuesday that American and Israeli forces are laying the groundwork for a new round of strikes.

The planned campaign is intended to apply decisive military pressure on Tehran to compel Iranian leaders to return to the negotiating table.

The warnings were conveyed through high-level diplomatic and military channels, the outlet said.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz rebuked the Iranian regime on Tuesday at a U.N. Security Council meeting on nonproliferation and Iran, declaring that “the United States and our partners will never let you obtain a nuclear weapon to terrorize the world.”

Waltz also called out Tehran's domestic crackdown and accused the regime of having “shamelessly massacred 40,000 of its own citizens” while the world watched.

The U.S. ambassador turned the focus onto Tehran’s regional aggression, charging that “what you didn't hear was the Iranian regime hitting hotels and restaurants and tourist sites and civilian neighborhoods, airports, civilian shipping across the Middle East.”

Addressing the nuclear watchdog's concerns, Waltz pointed out that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi had specifically demanded that Iran deliver “answers, not speeches.”

He also dismissed Tehran's diplomatic posturing, advising its envoy that “your lies are no good here.”

The Yemeni Armed Forces said Tuesday that they carried out 1,382 precision strikes, neutralized approximately 440 Houthi commanders and fighters, and destroyed 146 military vehicles.

Under its "Dawn of Yemen" campaign, spokesperson Majed Abdullah Al-Nuzaili said its units in Taiz worked alongside the Popular Resistance, with air support, to repel Houthi counterattacks, secure strategic hilltops and expand territorial control.

Meanwhile, its forces operating along the Bab al-Mandab, Dhobab, Al-Mudarabah, northern, northwestern and eastern Sana'a axes struck Houthi command centers, supply routes and weapons depots with artillery, armored units and drones, Al-Nuzaili said on X.

Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched toward Taif by Houthi forces on Tuesday night, according to the official spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition.

The coalition earlier neutralized multiple threats launched by the militia, including two ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh and four attack drones targeting the kingdom’s southern region, coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Malki said on X.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Washington is tracking and freezing the Iranian regime's cryptocurrency assets as it moves funds.

“They thought it was a workaround,” Bessent told Iran International.

Bessent also said the funds “belong to the Iranian people, not the corrupt regime,” adding that the Treasury was tracing money “whether it is crypto, whether it is expensive apartments in Iran” before placing it in escrow.

President Donald Trump floated renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself Tuesday during a rally in Texas, pointing to increased oil flows through the waterway.

"More oil right now is flowing out of the Hormuz Strait,” he told supporters.

“We're thinking of renaming it the Trump Strait. Should we do it?

“We did that with the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America!" Trump said.

“We did that with a little lake, one of the Great Lakes. Lake Ontario is now Lake America,” he added.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) showcased Marines sparring during a martial arts course in the Middle East, highlighting how the troops maintain their close-quarters combat readiness while stationed in the region.

“U.S. Marines spar during a Martial Arts Course at a base in the Middle East,” CENTCOM said on X.

“Training in hand-to-hand combat keeps warfighters' skills sharp while deployed,” the command said. 

Israelis turned out in exceptionally high numbers Tuesday for the country’s first national election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, with initial exit polls showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud emerging as the largest party but his governing coalition falling short of a parliamentary majority, potentially opening the door to a change in leadership.

The projections released by Israel’s three major television networks after polls closed at 10 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) showed Likud winning 25 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, compared with 23 seats for former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party in Channels 12 and 13 exit polls, and 21 seats according to Kan 11.

The projected parliamentary balance showed 50 seats for Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc, 53 for the main opposition parties and 17 for Arab parties, leaving neither major bloc with the 61 seats generally needed to form a government.

Although Netanyahu’s party is projected to remain the largest in parliament, his political future is far from secure.

The opposition parties, together with the Arab factions, would hold a combined 70 seats, although that does not mean they would necessarily agree to form a government together.

This is an excerpt from a report by Fox News Digital's Efrat Lachter.

President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that attacking Iran was one of the greatest things he had ever done while defending his decision to go to war with the country he described as "lunatic."

"We had to stop this lunatic nation from having a nuclear weapon," Trump said during a rally at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas.

"It's not like, oh, gee, let's not do it. If we did that, we might not be here right now, to be honest.

"But at some point in the not too distant future, really bad things would have happened," Trump added.

"Somebody asked me yesterday, it's very interesting, ‘If you had to do it again would you have attacked Iran?’

"I said, ‘absolutely.’

"I said, ‘one of the greatest things I ever did.’ Short term, short term pain," he added.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the war with Iran would end soon before claiming U.S. forces had destroyed hundreds of Iranian military aircraft and naval vessels.

“It's going to end very soon,” Trump said Tuesday during a rally at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas.

“They have no military. They have no air force.

“Their navy, 159 ships on the bottom of the sea.

“‘Sir, we've knocked out 159 ships.’ I said, ‘How many do they have?’ 159, sir.

“We've knocked out 288 jet fighters. How many do they have? So they have 288," he said.

“You know where their fighters are?” Trump asked. “They're scattered all over the runways,” he said.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is on the verge of victory over Iran, accusing past American leaders of lacking the courage or intelligence to confront Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.

“We're now in the throes of having an even greater victory against Iran and stopping them from ever having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during remarks at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas.

“And you've got to understand that America did not start the war with Iran. Iran has been waging this war against America since 1979, killing many, many of our great people," he added.

“They've killed thousands of our soldiers and wounded so many more,” Trump said, referring to injuries involving “the legs, the limbs, the face.”

“And those people are many of them are living now, but they're living a hard life."

“Past leaders should have settled this problem long ago, but they didn't have the courage or intelligence to do it," the president said.

The United Kingdom updated its travel advisory for Iran on Tuesday, warning of a high risk of sudden escalation in the Middle East and expanding its guidance to British nationals traveling in the region.

The British Foreign Office described the situation as “deeply unpredictable,” strengthening its previous description of “unpredictable.”

"Since conflict began in early 2026, Iran has stated its intention to target locations associated with the US and Israel, including, but not limited to, organisations, businesses, facilities, and institutions," the advisory states.

The updated guidance also refers to strikes and retaliatory attacks by “Iran and others,” rather than Iran alone.

The Foreign Office also reiterated its warning against all travel to Iran, urging British nationals already in the country to consider the risks of remaining.

 "British and British-Iranian dual nationals are at significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention," the advisory warns, adding that having a British passport or ties to the U.K. can be grounds for detention.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the agency cannot verify whether Iran has diverted nuclear material before urging Tehran to grant inspectors access to key nuclear facilities and stockpiles.

"One area of particular concern is Iran’s previously declared nuclear material — which includes 440 kg of high-enriched uranium,” Grossi said in a statement.

“The Agency has been unwavering in its efforts to engage with Iran so that Iran provides the necessary information and grants IAEA inspectors access to facilities to verify the status of this material, as is required under the NPT Safeguards Agreement."

"As of today, the IAEA has not been able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded under Iran’s CSA," Grossi said in a statement.

Grossi said Iran has repeatedly refused IAEA requests to access the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, which Tehran declared shortly before military strikes began in June 2025.

Grossi urged Iran to provide the information and access needed to verify its nuclear material and facilities, calling compliance with its safeguards obligations a legal requirement.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a founding pillar of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), telling delegates in Moscow that Russia remembers Iran’s former supreme leader "with gratitude."

"You have quite rightly mentioned the role of the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was indeed one of the most active participants in the establishment of our forum, and we rightly remember this with gratitude," Putin said, according to Iranian state-run Press TV.

Iran was central to the forum’s origins, with the initiative first proposed in Tehran in 2001 and the organization formally established in 2008.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Moscow to strengthen bilateral energy and economic ties.

“They discussed expanding political, economic, trade and energy cooperation, including joint projects in the oil and gas sectors,” the Iranian government said in a post on X.

Discussing natural gas exports, Pezeshkian highlighted Iran’s position as the world's third-largest producer, behind the United States and Russia and called for deeper strategic coordination.

"Pezeshkian emphasized that global developments necessitate joint technical-engineering cooperation and strategic governance across international energy markets," the Iranian government said in a later readout.

Vice President JD Vance defended President Donald Trump's bold midterm election year pressure on Iran's threats in the Strait of Hormuz, acknowledging its causing higher gas prices globally, but warning the U.S. cannot be held hostage every time a Middle East leader "throws a tantrum."

"I want to speak to the voters who are undecided: You'll hear many say that gas prices are too high," Vance told his rally in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday. "Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that it's true, but the deeper truth is that the price of gas goes up each time a foreign leader in the Middle East throws a tantrum.

"That's been true, by the way, since before I was alive, starting in the 1970s.

"But what's different? What's different about this country's and this leaderships' agenda?

"And what's different about the Democrats is that the Democrats talk about high gas prices, even though their policies have made us more vulnerable to the foreign despots in the first place."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling Tuesday aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump in his concurrent capacity as national security adviser, securing direct access to the commander-in-chief, an administration official confirmed to Fox News.

With Trump maintaining an active domestic travel schedule ahead of the midterms, the transit time provides a dedicated window for high-level national security consultations.

"He needs time with the president on all kinds of issues," according to a White House official.

"The president will be on the go, so being on the plane with him gives him a chance to talk to him about these items."

The in-flight briefings come at a critical juncture for U.S. Middle East strategy.

Over the last 24 hours alone, the White House has confronted an escalating maritime blockade in the Strait of Hormuz marked by active Iranian mine detonations, Houthi strikes targeting Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery, and the emergency evacuation of non-essential U.S. personnel from the kingdom.

Fox News' Gillian Turner contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump highlighted incoming shipments of Venezuelan crude Tuesday as a direct economic cushion against rising fuel prices spurred by the 9-month-old conflict with Iran, pointing to alternative energy imports during a campaign departure for Texas.

Speaking to reporters ahead of rallies alongside Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump praised recent surges in consumer confidence before confirming plans to showcase an arriving oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude destined for processing at Gulf Coast facilities.

"We took over Venezuela very successfully, and they've sent me as a gift, a boatload of a million barrels of oil, and I'm giving that to the United States of America," Trump told reporters on the tarmac from Joint Base Andrews, framing the imports as a tangible benefit of his administration's pressure campaign.

"We're going to accept a million barrels of oil, and I'm going to give it to you people to use it the way you want. And we're going to have oil prices are going to be dropping very sharply."

The administration has increasingly relied on Western Hemisphere energy flows to offset global supply contractions caused by maritime blockades in the Strait of Hormuz and repeated strikes by Iran-aligned proxies on regional Gulf infrastructure.

With domestic pump prices edging above previous-term averages just a week before the November midterms, the White House has maintained that foreign oil seizures, increased Caribbean imports, and record domestic production will neutralize temporary spikes until the Middle East war is resolved.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning about voter turnout in the elections underway Tuesday.

"We're at war for our home 🚨," Netanyahu added in a second post. "Muslim Brotherhood supporters are raiding the polling stations and stealing the elections.

"Go out and vote, recover it!!"

Cars flying Netanyahu's Likud party flags drove through Jerusalem blaring the Islamic call to prayer and urging supporters to cast their ballots because "Arabs are voting," witnesses said.

"If we don't wake up now, we'll find ourselves with a government of Mansour Abbas and Ahmed Tibi," Netanyahu wrote in a post, referring to two leading Palestinian Arab politicians in Israel.

Turnout reached 55.7% in the first nine hours of voting, the elections committee said, the fastest pace on record.

Arabs, mostly of Palestinian heritage, make up about 21% of Israel's population of 10 million and have traditionally voted at lower rates than Jewish Israelis.

Tibi, a candidate from an Arab party, said strong turnout among Israel's Arab minority would "pave the way for an alternative government and change the grave reality."

Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Arab Balad party, wrote on X that long lines outside polling stations should bring "pride and joy to anyone who believed in democracy."

"We are receiving all these inciting messages from the petty racists, Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu, and their partners," he added. "What are they afraid of? This is actually an excellent sight, it is good for democracy."

In a statement, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir described the level of Arab voter turnout as "crazy," urging supporters to vote for his Jewish Power party if they wanted the country to be Jewish and Zionist.

Smotrich's Religious Zionism party said the finance minister had suspended his election day campaigning to convene an emergency meeting to discuss what it described as unusually high turnout among Arab voters.

Reuters contributed to this report.