Trump hopes for Iran deal in 2 or 3 days, but war in Lebanon continues

At least eight people were killed and 32 others wounded Tuesday in Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli military spokesperson issued an evacuation order for the city, including its Christian quarter and surrounding neighborhoods. 

In a statement posted on social media, the Israel Defense Forces had claimed Iranian-backed Hezbollah was present in the Christian quarter and warned any building used by the group could be targeted.

The Lebanese health ministry said rescuers were still searching through rubble for survivors after the strikes.

Last week, Lebanon and Israel renewed a ceasefire agreement first announced by President Trump in mid-April, but the deal was quickly rejected by Hezbollah. Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire daily since the ceasefire – which Hezbollah was not party to – came into effect.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said Tuesday that it was investigating an incident the previous day near the Strait of Hormuz that resulted in an Apache helicopter crashing into the sea. 

U.S. military officials told CBS News the two crew members were rescued by a sea drone in the first such operation by the U.S. military.

The two U.S. Army soldiers on the Apache had been patrolling waters off the coast of Oman when the crash happened. CENTCOM said they were “rescued by American forces,” but the command did not elaborate on the operation or immediately confirm that it was carried out using an unmanned vehicle. 

It said they were rescued at about 7:30 p.m. Eastern on Monday, “within approximately two hours” of their AH-64 Apache going down. 

They were both in stable condition, CENTCOM said in its Tuesday statement on X, adding that “the cause of the incident is under investigation.”

Military officials told CBS News the pair were rescued by an unmanned surface drone operated by a special department called Task Force 59, based with the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. It was the first time a drone has been used for a water rescue, the officials said.

“The pilots are fine,” President Trump said Monday night after attending Game Three of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. “Nobody injured.”

Iranian soccer fans have had their ticket allocation for their country’s three 2026 World Cup games in the U.S. revoked by soccer’s global governing body FIFA, the Iranian national soccer federation claimed Tuesday.

Each federation for the 48 teams taking part is entitled to receive and distribute 8% of the stadium seats for the World Cup, adding up to several thousand tickets per game.

Just days before Iran is due to open its World Cup with a June 15 game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California against New Zealand, the Iranian federation claimed in a statement reported by state media that it was unable to provide any tickets to supporters.

FIFA did not immediately reply to a CBS News request for comment.

The report comes after weeks of turmoil between Iran’s national soccer federation, FIFA and the U.S., which is co-hosting the tournament along with Canada and Mexico. 

Before the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war with Iran on Feb. 28, Iran’s team had planned to train in Tucson, Arizona, but theyre using the Mexican border city of Tijuana as a base instead.

Some officials with the Iranian soccer federation have been denied visas to enter the U.S. The Iranian team is also set to play Belgium in Inglewood on June 21 and then Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

The national federations of World Cup teams typically sell their allocated tickets to ardent fans who attend games at home and away.

Iranian nationals have been barred from entering the U.S. since last year, and they are unlikely to get entry visas to attend the World Cup. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Iranian players will be welcomed at the tournament, but those with links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – which the U.S. has proscribed as a terrorist organization – could face restrictions when they try to enter the country.

At least two Iranian air defense personnel were killed in Monday’s Israeli strikes before both sides halted their fire, according to the country’s state broadcaster IRIB.

The announcement was Iran’s first acknowledgement of fatalities from the exchange of fire sparked over the weekend by Israeli strikes on a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital.

The Lebanese state broadcaster identified the two men as Bahman Hosseini and Ali Reza Abiri, and said they would be buried outside Tehran.

The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning for the southern Lebanon city of Tyre, including the Christian Quarter and surrounding camps and neighborhoods.

In a social media post, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee claimed Hezbollah was present in the Christian Quarter and warned that any building used by the group may be targeted. 

The evacuation order urges the population to head north of the Zahrani River and warns that any movement below that river would endanger their lives.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew a ceasefire agreement last week, but the Iran-backed Hezbollah paramilitary group quickly rejected it. Tehran has previously said any peace deal with the U.S. and Israel must include a ceasefire in Lebanon.

President Trump said Tuesday that negotiators were in the “final throes” of talks for a peace deal in the Middle East, after Iran and Israel said they were halting fresh hostilities that threatened to reignite the months-long war.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said a peace agreement with Tehran is imminent, but diplomacy has stalled and the two sides have traded fire despite a ceasefire in place since April 8.

Iran and Israel “were going back and forth and now they both agreed through me to stop and we’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” Mr. Trump told reporters after attending the third game of the NBA Finals at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Asked whether it would be a matter of days or weeks, he said it would take “two or three days.”

Tehran has repeatedly said any deal must include Lebanon — where Israel has been pressing its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah — and fired missiles at Israel on Sunday.

That prompted Israeli retaliation, despite U.S. pressure for restraint.

Iran fired another salvo before announcing it was ceasing military action, and hours later Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the “fire on that front is contained.”

Tehran said on Monday it would attack again if Israel persisted with its strikes in Lebanon, while Netanyahu warned in turn that should Iran “make the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full force.”

A U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, and President Trump said its two pilots were “fine” after the incident involving the waterway that remains under a chokehold by Iran.

The crash’s cause remained unclear Tuesday morning in the Middle East, which was still reeling after Iran and Israel exchanged fire the previous day in the biggest strain yet on the nominal ceasefire in the Iran war.

Iranian state media, relying on foreign reporting, acknowledged the crash, without elaborating.

Mr. Trump spoke to journalists at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after attending Game Three of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

“The pilots are fine,” he said. “Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine.”

The New York Times was first to report that a U.S. helicopter had gone down near the strait, in unclear circumstances.

President Trump predicted the U.S. would be able to “declare total victory” over Iran within the next two weeks, saying Iranian negotiators were “willing to give us everything.”

“You’re really gonna win this over the next two weeks when we declare total victory. It’ll be a total victory, it will happen very soon, and oil prices will come tumbling down,” the president said during a Monday evening tele-rally for GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and gubernatorial candidate Pamela Evette, both of South Carolina.

Mr. Trump has frequently made sweeping predictions that the U.S.-Iran war could end in a matter of days or weeks, starting when the war began in late February. It is unclear, however, where negotiations between the two countries stand.

President Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday morning, a White House official confirmed to CBS News.

It was the second phone call in two days between the U.S. and Israeli leaders, as Mr. Trump urged Iran and Israel to halt their exchange of fire over the weekend. Early Monday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that the two countries “must immediately stop ‘shooting.'”

In an interview with Axios, Mr. Trump said he informed Netanyahu that several countries in the region wanted Israel to halt its strikes on Iran, and that Iran  — which had launched missiles at Israel — “called us and said that they are not doing any more attacks and asked us to tell Israel not to do any more attacks.” He said he also warned the Israeli leader: “Bibi, you better be careful, or you will be on your own very soon.”

Both countries said later Monday they had halted their military operations.