Trump claims Iran nuclear deal, denies talks as conflict escalates

Donald Trump stood before reporters at the White House on Tuesday and made a claim that would reshape the day's news cycle: Iran, he said, had agreed never to build a nuclear weapon. He spoke of a "present" that had arrived—something oil and gas related, worth what he called "a tremendous amount of money." The specifics remained vague. Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, responded within hours by flatly denying that any negotiations had taken place at all. "No negotiations have been held with the US," he wrote, calling Trump's statements "fake news" designed to manipulate markets and oil prices.

The contradiction laid bare a conflict now entering its fourth week with no clear path toward resolution. The war between the US, Israel, and Iran had already claimed over 1,000 lives in Lebanon alone, more than 1,500 in Iran, and displaced more than a million people. Israeli strikes had damaged or destroyed over 82,000 civilian structures across Iran. In Lebanon, the health ministry reported 1,072 dead and 2,966 wounded since March 2nd. The toll continued to rise on Tuesday: at least six killed in Tel Aviv, fifteen in Iraq's Anbar province, two more south of Beirut. The Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and gas normally flows, had been effectively shut since the conflict began on February 28th, sending energy prices soaring and threatening economic stability across the globe.

Trump's claim of productive talks contradicted not only Iran's denials but also the military reality on the ground. Even as he spoke of negotiations, the US was preparing to deploy more than 1,000 additional soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East—elite rapid-response troops trained to parachute into combat zones and secure high-value targets. The full brigade numbers over 3,000; this deployment would be fewer than half that, but the orders were being written and troops could be sent within days. The Wall Street Journal reported the administration was considering deploying roughly 3,000 troops total, with a brigade combat team order expected imminently. The news sent stock markets lower and oil prices higher, erasing gains that had come Monday when Trump first announced the supposed talks and postponed a threat to strike Iran's power grid.

Pakistan had offered to host direct negotiations, and three Pakistani officials told Reuters that US Vice President JD Vance, along with Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were expected to meet Iranian officials in Islamabad as soon as this week. The White House confirmed Trump's call with Pakistan's army chief. But Iran's military remained defiant. Major General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, commander of the country's armed forces, issued a statement vowing to continue fighting until achieving "complete victory"—a term he did not define. He mocked the United States as a "hollow" nation that had been "brought down in front of the world," with Trump now "trying to escape from the war" he had started.

The human toll extended far beyond the battlefield. In Lebanon, Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders for residents of seven neighborhoods in Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs, warning them to leave immediately to avoid harm. The orders collectively covered fourteen percent of Lebanon's territory, displacing roughly one in five Lebanese people. Many who received the orders chose to stay rather than abandon their homes; others had nowhere to go due to poverty or medical vulnerability. Médecins Sans Frontières warned that the bombardment and forced displacement were "severely" impacting access to healthcare. Since March 2nd, civilians had faced "increasingly dire conditions" as escalating attacks forced people from their homes and disrupted their ability to reach hospitals and clinics. The organization called for protection of civilians and medical structures, and for an end to measures that forced people indefinitely from their homes.

Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, announced that the military would take control of southern Lebanon all the way to the Litani River, roughly thirty kilometers from the Israeli border. All five bridges over the river used by Hizbullah had been destroyed, he said, and the Israeli Defense Forces would control the remaining crossings and the security zone beyond. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese residents, he added, would not be allowed to return south of the Litani until security was guaranteed for Israel's northern residents. Hizbullah's top lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah described any Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon as an "existential threat" to the Lebanese state and vowed the group would fight to prevent it.

Global leaders scrambled to manage the crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iran to engage in good faith negotiations and to stop attacks on countries in the region. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the global energy situation was now "critical" and that it was time for negotiations. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, lamented that "hatred is increasing, and the violence is getting worse and worse," and renewed his appeal for a ceasefire achieved through dialogue rather than weapons. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the US-Israeli war on Iran "a breach of international law," saying that trust in American power politics had been lost not only among allies but worldwide. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a fresh call for "maximum restraint to avoid nuclear safety risks during conflict" after reports that a projectile had struck the grounds of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said the US and Israel had attacked the vicinity of the plant on Tuesday evening, though it reported no technical damage or casualties based on initial reports.

Back home in Ireland, the government announced a €250 million package aimed at cushioning the worst impacts of the energy crisis. Excise duty on petrol would be cut by 15 cents per liter and on diesel by 20 cents, effective from midnight Wednesday through May 31st. Additional cuts to the National Oil Reserve Agency levy would bring the total reduction to 17 cents on petrol and 22 cents on diesel. The fuel allowance season would be extended by four weeks, providing an additional €152 to the 470,000 households receiving it. Opposition parties criticized the measures as inadequate. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the government had "literally abandoned" the 750,000 households relying on home-heating oil, calling a two-cent cut "an insult" when heating oil prices had doubled. Labour's Ged Nash called the package "timid, anaemic, and underwhelming." Yet even as these measures took effect, uncertainty remained about how quickly price cuts would reach consumers. Kevin McPartland, chief executive of Fuels for Ireland, cautioned that not all petrol stations would see reduced prices immediately—fuel already on forecourts at midnight would still carry the old excise, and smaller rural stations might not receive new deliveries for a week or more.