US prepares to send 3,000 more troops as Trump says Iran 'making sense'

The United States is preparing to order a combat team of around 3,000 US Army soldiers to the Middle East in case President Donald Trump orders ground operations against Iran, Al-Monitor has learned.

The news comes as Trump says talks with Iran are ongoing. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the president said, “They’re talking to us, and they’re making sense.”

Israel continued its strikes against Iran on Tuesday, saying its military hit a weapons production center in Isfahan. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said a projectile hit the site of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, though it was unclear who was responsible for the incident. Iran announced a wave of strikes on Israel and local media reported an impact in Tel Aviv.

In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has told International Maritime Organization member states that "non-hostile vessels” can pass through, the Financial Times reported. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said that it denied passage to a ship through the waterway on Tuesday, declaring that the vessel lacked the proper authorization.

Brent crude oil was trading at around $98.30 as of 4:30 p.m. ET after hitting above $104 earlier in the day as the unrest in the strait rattles markets.

In the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates said a civilian contractor working for its armed forces was killed in an Iranian strike on Bahrain. Saudi Arabia reported that it downed at least 30 drones in the Eastern Region.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Doha is “not involved” in any US-Iran talks.

Israel carried out more strikes in Lebanon, killing at least six people, while an Israeli was killed by Hezbollah rocket fire in the north. Earlier, an Iranian ballistic missile was intercepted over Lebanon, raising fears that the US Embassy was the targeted.