Trump says Strait of Hormuz deadline delayed amid talks with Iran

A senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official told CBS News exclusively that “we received points from the U.S. through mediators and they are being reviewed.”

Mr. Trump said earlier Monday that the U.S. and Iran had “very good and productive conversations” in recent days. He backed off an ultimatum for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants, and said he thought a deal with Iran was possible. At the time, Iran denied that direct talks had taken place.

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U.S. Central Command says it has struck more than 9,000 Iranian targets and flown upward of 9,000 combat flights since the war with Iran began.

Those targets include over 140 Iranian naval vessels, as well as missile sites, drone and missile manufacturing facilities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence sites, the U.S. military said Monday.

Major stock indices rallied Monday after President Trump signaled he’s open to a deal of some kind with Iran.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.15%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite both jumped 1.38%. Markets still remain below pre-war levels — the S&P 500 index has fallen some 4.3% since the day before the war began on Feb. 28.

Earlier Monday, Mr. Trump delayed his ultimatum for Iran to either open the Strait of Hormuz by Monday or face strikes on its power plants, citing “very good and productive conversations” with Iran, though Iranian officials have denied that talks are taking place.

The president also told reporters, “There’s a very good chance we’re going to end up in a deal.”

The international oil benchmark, Brent Crude, fell more than 10% on Monday. It was trading at just over $100 per barrel as of 5:30 p.m. ET, up $28 from immediately before the war but down $18 from last week’s peak.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will continue to strike Iran and Lebanon as the U.S. considers a ceasefire.

Netanyahu says he spoke to President Trump, who told him “there is a chance” to leverage battlefield gains into an agreement that realizes the war’s objectives.

“At the same time, we continue to strike, both in Iran and in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “There’s more to come. We will protect our vital interests in any situation.”

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier arrived at a U.S. naval base on the Greek island of Crete on Monday for repairs after a fire broke out on board, the Navy said.

The 6th Fleet said in a statement that the Ford will undergo “efficient assessment, repairs, and resupply” while at the Souda Bay base.

A fire broke out in the carrier’s main laundry spaces earlier this month, injuring two sailors. The 5th Fleet said the cause of the fire wasn’t related to combat.

The Ford had been operating in the Red Sea as part of the war with Iran.

Amid Trump administration demands for Tehran to keep the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials have told CBS News that there are at least a dozen underwater mines through the vital passageway, according to current American intelligence assessments.

U.S. officials, who have seen current American intelligence assessments and spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters, said the mines currently employed by Iran in the strait are the Iranian-manufactured Maham 3 and Maham 7 Limpet Mine.

Another U.S. official said the count was less than a dozen.

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Pakistani officials are attempting to position themselves as brokers between the U.S. and Iran, according to two senior sources in Islamabad with direct knowledge of the situation.

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone Monday as part of the effort, according to the sources.

Given the nature of Islamabad’s relations with Tehran and Washington, Pakistan is in a good position to serve as a mediator between the two sides.

Iran and Pakistan share a long border with each other and vast trade in energy and commercial goods. While Pakistan is a U.S. partner, it is not one that hosts American military bases or infrastructure, which matters to Tehran.

Under President Trump, ties between the White House and Islamabad have warmed considerably, especially after Pakistan credited Mr. Trump with helping bring last year’s four-day war with India to a swift close and nominated the president for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has also spoken to his counterparts in Turkey and Egypt, who are pursuing diplomatic paths to end the war as well.

Pakistani officials have floated Islamabad as a potential venue for talks, sources said.

There has been no change in plans to send thousands more Marines and sailors to the Middle East, military sources told CBS News.

A second Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,200 Marines and three warships departed California last week, two U.S. officials previously said. It could take at least three weeks to be in place, although maybe more than that.

The first Marine Expeditionary Unit, coming from the Pacific, is still making its way toward the region.

Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division are also still ordered to prepare to deploy. President Trump has been deliberating whether to position ground forces in the region, sources have said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It was unclear under what circumstances he would authorize the use of troops on the ground.

Jennifer Jacobs, James LaPorta, Eleanor Watson and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.

Britain is sending short-range air defense systems to the Gulf to help counter Iranian missile attacks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.

“We’re deploying short range air defense systems to Bahrain at speed,” Starmer told a parliamentary committee, adding that the U.K. was “doing the same with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.”

The U.K. is working with industry to “distribute air defense missiles to Gulf partners,” which have faced waves of Iranian barrages in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes, and has embedded airspace specialists there, Starmer said.

Defense minister John Healey told parliament the country would be deploying its Rapid Sentry anti-drone system to Kuwait. He called it a “battle-tested ground-based air defense missile system that has already proved highly effective for U.K. forces taking down drones in the region.”

A British warship, HMS Dragon, also arrived in the eastern Mediterranean to defend Cyprus, Healey said. Britain deployed the vessel following criticism over a perceived slow response to a drone attack on Britain’s Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28.

The U.K. now has more military jets in the region “than at any time in the last 15 years” and has boosted air defense personnel in Cyprus by 500, Healey said.

He added that U.K. pilots have spent nearly 900 hours flying in the region “in defense of Cyprus, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates,” as Iran has unleashed volleys of drones at countries in the region.

President Trump said on Monday that Iran has “agreed they will not have a nuclear weapon.”

“They want to – they want peace,” Mr. Trump said of Iran. “They’ve agreed they will not have a nuclear weapon you know ecetera, ecetera. But we’ll see. You have to get it done. But I would say there’s a very good chance.”

Iran has made no such assertion publicly.

“I think there’s a very good chance we’re going to end up in a deal,” the president said, saying he’ll give it five days. “And then we’re going to see where that takes us. And I would say at the end of this period I think it could very well end up being a good deal for everybody.”

President Trump said Monday that Iran is “not threatening us anymore.”

Speaking at an anti-crime event in Memphis, Tennessee, the president said Operation Epic Fury has taken out Iran’s political leaders.

“In other words, we’re systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America,” he said. “They’re not threatening us anymore.”

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday urged against attacks on civilian infrastructure, saying that “war on essential infrastructure is war on civilians.”

“We are seeing energy, fuel, water and health-care infrastructure damaged and destroyed,” Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.

She said “what we have seen in recent days in the Middle East risks reaching a point of no return” and warned of potential “irreversible consequences” if nuclear facilities are harmed, “whether deliberate or incidental.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied on Monday any direct negotiations with U.S. officials, but said “friendly countries” had conveyed messages from Washington seeking negotiations.

“In recent days, messages were delivered through certain friendly countries indicating that the U.S. sought negotiations to end the war. These messages were appropriately addressed in line with our country’s principled positions,” Esmail Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told the country’s state news agency IRNA on Monday. “In our responses, we issued firm warnings about the severe consequences of any attack on Iran’s critical infrastructure, emphasizing that any action against Iran’s energy facilities would be met with a decisive, immediate, and effective response from our armed forces.”

President Trump told reporters on Monday that there had been direct communications with an unidentified “top” Iranian official, and he claimed it was Iran that had made the initial outreach.

Multiple Israeli and international media outlets, citing anonymous sources, identified the interlocutor in Tehran as Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. The Reuters news agency cited an unnamed Iranian official as saying the White House had proposed a direct meeting between Qalibaf and U.S. officials on Saturday, but that Tehran had not yet responded.

Baqaei denied any direct negotiations between Tehran and American officials since the U.S. and Israel launched their strikes on Feb. 28, and he said Iran’s position regarding the Strait of Hormuz and the conditions for ending the war remained unchanged.

China urged all parties involved in the Iran war, but particularly the U.S. and Israel, to halt military operations on Monday.

“The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it,” China’s special envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun told reporters at a briefing after visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in recent days.

Separately, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian warned that ongoing military action would only contribute to a “vicious cycle” and said the war shouldn’t have been started in the first place.

“Should the hostilities continue to spread and intensify, the entire region will be plunged into chaos,” he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 1,000 points on Monday after President Trump postponed an ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The blue-chip index jumped 1,076 points, or 2.4%, to 46,654. Other indices also climbed, with the S&P 500 adding 138 points, or 2.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index gaining 2.4%.

Before Mr. Trump announced the delay on social media, futures had pointed to an almost 1% decline in stocks.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a U.K. parliamentary committee on Monday that his government was aware of ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran, as announced earlier in the day by President Trump, and that he welcomed the dialogue.

“We were aware that that was happening, and the immediate priority has to be a swift resolution of the conflict,” Starmer said.

The Iranian regime is “fragmented” due to strikes on the country – so fragmented that its own foreign ministry “probably doesn’t know” who in the country is talking to interlocutors or to the U.S. directly, said retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, a CBS News contributor.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of this kind of confusing reporting because the Iranians are so fragmented from these strikes,” he said.

President Trump said Monday the U.S. is talking to a “top person” in Iran, but that the person is not the supreme leader. Mr. Trump declined to identify who the U.S. was speaking to, “because I don’t want him to be killed.”

“We’re dealing with the man who, I believe, is the most respected, and the leader,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s a little tough – we’ve wiped out everybody.”

President Trump said Monday the U.S. is speaking with the “most respected” person and the “leader” in Iran, but that it’s not the supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

“A top person,” the president told reporters on the tarmac at West Palm Beach International Airport. “Don’t forget, we’ve wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two and largely, phase three. But we’re dealing with the man who, I believe, is the most respected, and the leader. It’s a little tough – we’ve wiped out everybody.”

The president was asked if he meant the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

“No, not the supreme leader,” he said.

The president said he can’t name the person the U.S. is speaking with “because I don’t want him to be killed.”

Mr. Trump said “we have not heard” from Mojtaba Khamenei, although he did not name him, referring to him only as “the son” and “the second supreme leader.”

“We don’t know if he’s living,” Mr. Trump said.

Egypt says it has been holding “intensive conversations with all concerned parties” in an effort to prevent the conflict in the region from worsening.

“Egypt continues its efforts, in cooperation with regional and international partners, to de-escalate tensions and calls for seizing the latest initiative of U.S. President Donald Trump to prioritize dialogue,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.

Egypt condemned the attacks by Iran targeting Gulf states and Jordan, and warned of “grave consequences of the ongoing escalation on regional security and stability, as well as its economic and trade repercussions affecting the region and the world as a whole.”

The U.S. State Department says it is organizing buses for Americans to travel from Israel to the international airport in Amman, Jordan, starting on Monday.

The service is being offered as Israel is limiting the number of flights leaving Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to a maximum of one per hour with 50 passengers, starting on Monday evening.

Citizens who are interested were asked in a security alert to fill out an online form. The State Department said it will send passengers date and time departure details, and that the buses will be scheduled. They will leave from the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv areas.

“The security situation in Israel continues to make travel out of the country difficult, and the U.S. Government is working with commercial airlines and the Government of Israel,” it said.

The embassy said the fastest option for leaving Israel is to take an overland route like those that are available to Egypt and Jordan. From there, “commercial air opportunities are readily available.”

“Americans seeking assistance on commercial flights should contact airlines directly,” it said.

President Trump said Monday that Iran and the U.S. are going to speak “today,” and will probably meet soon in person. If talks don’t go well, he said, “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.”

“We’re going to get together today, by probably phone because it’s very hard to find a country, it’s very hard for them to get out, I guess,” Mr. Trump told reporters at Palm Beach International Airport. “But we’ll at some point very, very soon meet. We’re doing a five-day period. We’ll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we’re going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.”

Disputing Iranian state television reporting that talks are not happening with the U.S., President Trump on Monday morning insisted talks with Iran are going “perfectly.”

“We have had very, very strong talks,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the airport in Palm Beach, Florida. “We’ll see where they lead. We have points, major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn’t been conveyed. The communication, as you know, has been blown to pieces.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday he was “grateful” to US President Donald Trump for delaying previously threatened strikes on Iranian power plants.

“I expressed my concerns to him regarding the announced attacks on the power plants in Iran,” Merz told a Berlin press conference about their phone call the previous day. “I am grateful that he said today he is postponing them for another five days.”

Iranian state media cited the country’s Foreign Ministry on Monday as calling President Trump’s sudden move to drop his ultimatum for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, “part of efforts to lower energy prices and buy time for the implementation of his military plans.”

Referring to Mr. Trump’s claim of ongoing negotiations with Tehran, which he suggested in a social media post could yield a resolution to the entire conflict, the ministry said there had been multiple and ongoing “initiatives from regional countries to reduce tensions, and our response to all of them is clear: we are not the party that started this war, and all such requests must be referred to Washington.”

Speaking Monday morning to Fox and other news outlets, Mr. Trump insisted there had been negotiations as recently as Sunday evening, involving his senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, though he didn’t say with whom they had spoken.

Stocks look set to surge in early trading Monday after President Trump postponed his ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying the U.S. is engaged in “good and productive” negotiations with Tehran.

S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to 1.6% gains in Monday morning trading. Before Mr. Trump announced the delay on social media, futures had pointed to an almost 1% decline.

Oil prices also immediately retreated, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, both falling 6.2%.

Mr. Trump had set a deadline of Monday night for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, threatening to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it didn’t concede. Iran responded by threatening to attack U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure across the Middle East.

On Monday morning, Mr. Trump said the U.S. would hold off on strikes against Iranian power plants and other energy infrastructure for five days, seemingly easing investor concerns that the Iran war could escalate and deepen the growing global energy crisis.

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed claims that the country had attempted to target the joint U.S.-U.K. military base on the remote Indian island of Diego Garcia on Friday as Israeli “disinformation.”

Israel’s defense chief called the purported attempt by Iran to hit the base, more than 2,000 miles from Iranian territory, as evidence that Tehran poses a threat not only to its neighbors, but to European capitals, as the missiles required would have significantly longer range than the ones it has been firing for more than three weeks at Gulf states.

“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range extends to the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range,” Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Saturday night.

“They are putting everyone in their sights,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding a call for other countries to heed “President Trump’s call to have the international community confront this terrorist, fanatic regime of zealots.”

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei rejected the accusation, saying in a social media post that “even the NATO Secretary General (who is infamously pressing Alliance members to appease the U.S. and support their illegal war on #Iran) declines to endorse Israel’s most recent disinformation, speaks volumes: the world has grown thoroughly exhausted with these tired and discredited ‘false flag’ storylines.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on CBS’ “Face the Nation with Marget Brennan” on Sunday that the alliance “cannot confirm that at the moment, so we’re looking into that,” when asked about the alleged Iranian targeting of Diego Garcia.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported Monday that security forces had arrested “68 operatives affiliated with monarchist groups, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and espionage networks across the country over the past several days.”

The reference to “monarchist groups” indicates the detention of people deemed by Iran to back the country’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who has been a vocal critic of the regime since his father, the former U.S.-backed shah, was ousted amid the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s.

Pahlavi’s name was chanted by some demonstrators during the massive, nationwide anti-government protests that swept across Iran in January, and he has been spoken of by analysts as a potential interim leader if the current Islamic Republic is toppled, though the level of support inside Iran for the royal family is difficult to gauge.

The Iranian national police announced the arrests of the 68 alleged spies, according to IRNA, which said they had been caught monitoring sites struck by U.S. and Israeli missiles and transmitting video of those locations “to hostile media outlets.”

Iran’s official Fars news agency said Monday, citing an unnamed source, that the regime in Tehran was not engaged in any direct negotiations with the U.S. nor through intermediaries, contradicting President Trump’s claim of “in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, witch [sic] will continue throughout the week.”

Echoing an earlier statement by Iranian state TV, Fars cited its source as claiming Mr. Trump had “retreated” from his threat to bomb the country’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened by Monday evening due to Iran’s counter-threat to attack energy infrastructure across the Middle East.

Iran’s official state television network IRIB said on its official Telegram social media channel Monday that President Trump had postponed his deadline for the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international maritime traffic “out of fear of Iran’s response.”

“Trump has withdrawn his 48-hour ultimatum,” the network said, referring to the timeframe Mr. Trump gave in a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday evening, demanding that Iran reopen the strait by about 8 p.m. Eastern time on Monday or warning he would order strikes on the country’s power plants.

President Trump said in a message posted on his Truth Social platform early Monday that his ultimatum for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was being shelved for at least five days after “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.”

He did not mention any agreement by Iran to ease its strikes across the region that have prevented oil tankers from transiting the strait for more than three weeks, or give any indication that the vital shipping lane would soon reopen, but he said his threat from Saturday to attack Iran’s power plants was on hold.

“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WITCH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” Mr. Trump said, without any further explanation.

Iran has not acknowledged any negotiations with the Trump administration, and its Security Council threatened earlier Monday to mine the entire Persian Gulf if the U.S. did strike its power plants.

The United Arab Emirates’ air defenses intercepted seven Iranian ballistic missiles and 16 drones on Monday alone, the country’s Ministry of Defense said, showing that while the U.S. and Israel insist the Islamic Republic’s offensive capabilities have been depleted, it still has weapons and the ability to launch them at its neighbors.

The UAE said it had intercepted a total of 352 Iranian ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,789 drones since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Feb. 28, drawing immediate attacks by Iran on U.S. allies across the Persian Gulf.

The strikes have killed eight people in the UAE, including two members of its armed forces, and left 161 others wounded.

Iran’s National Defense Council warned Monday that any further attacks on its power plants would be met with corresponding “decisive and destructive retaliation” on energy infrastructure across the Middle East.

In a statement conveyed by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the council also alluded to U.S. threats to expand attacks on Kharg Island, home to vital Iranian oil infrastructure, and the lingering threat of a possible U.S. ground invasion as more troops head to the region.

“Any enemy attempt to attack Iranian coasts or islands will naturally lead, following standard military procedures, to the deployment of various naval mines — including moored and drifting mines — across all access routes and communication lines in the Persian Gulf.”

“In such a case, the entire Persian Gulf would effectively face a prolonged situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz, and responsibility for this would lie with the aggressor,” the statement said, noting “the memory of over 100 minesweepers failing to clear a limited number of naval mines in the 1980s.”

“The only safe way for non-hostile countries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz is coordination with Iran,” it said.

The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command says Iran is “operating in a sign of desperation” by targeting civilian sites in the war.

In an interview with the Farsi-language Iranian opposition satellite network Iran International that aired early Monday, U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper said: “They’re operating in a sign of desperation. … In the last couple of weeks, they’ve attacked civilian targets very deliberately, more than 300 times.”

Cooper noted a slowdown in Iranian incoming fire across the Mideast as the war entered its fourth week.

“At the beginning of the conflict, you saw large volumes, in the dozens of drones and missiles,” Cooper said. “You no longer see that. It’s all one or two at a time.”

Cooper said the U.S. campaign against Iran was continuing “ahead or on plan,” targeting missile and drone manufacturing sites as well other military infrastructure.

“So it’s not just about the threat today. We’re eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles, as well as the navy,” he told Iran International.

Cooper said it wasn’t yet time for the Iranian public to come to the streets, citing the ongoing risks from the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes.

“They’re launching missiles and drones from populated areas and you need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper said.

Both the Israeli and U.S. governments have voiced hope that the Iranian public will rise up and topple the country’s nearly-half-century-old ruling Islamic theocracy, and Cooper said “there will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”

CBS/AP

After Iran threatened power plants across the Mideast, Iranian news outlets published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant. The report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, close to its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, appeared to be an indirect threat to the sites, including desalination plants in the Middle East.

The list also included the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which has four reactors out in the western deserts of the country near its border with Saudi Arabia.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also published the list.

The threat by Tehran puts at risk both electrical supplies and water in the Gulf Arab states, particularly as the desert nations commingle their power stations with desalination plants crucial for supplying drinking water.

It was Iran’s response to President Trump’s 48-hour deadline for the Islamic Republic to allow ships to freely transit the Strait of Hormuz, which expires just before 8 p.m. Eastern on Monday.

In an earlier statement conveyed by state media, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Monday a “decision that if the power plants are attacked, Iran will retaliate by targeting the power plants of the occupying regime and the power plants of regional countries that supply electricity to U.S. bases, as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares.”

“Do not doubt that we will do this,” the statement added

CBS/AP

Earlier this week, President Trump said NATO is a “paper tiger without the U.S.,” but NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Sunday that he had “several conversations this week with the president.”

“The good news is that, look, we had the U.S. for weeks planning for [Operation] Epic Fury and for reasons of security and safety, they could not share with European allies and allies around the world and partner countries what they were doing, because that would have jeopardized the effect of the first attack,” Rutte said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

Rutte said it was “only logical” that 22 nations — many of which are in NATO — needed some time to “come together.” He said he has been in phone calls this week with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, which helped lead “22 countries now signing up to this initiative.”

“Obviously, I cannot in a program which is aired around the world, and you have a lot of viewers, discuss with you what is discussed in secrecy, but I can assure you that, of course, and the U.K. is at the forefront of leading this effort of the 22 countries on the leadership of Prime Minister Starmer,” Rutte said.

Watch Margaret Brennan’s full interview with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte here.

Iranian strikes hit two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research center on Saturday night, wounding nearly 200 people in the country’s south. It was the first time Israel’s nuclear research center had been targeted during the war launched by the U.S. and Israel three weeks earlier.

The strikes came hours after Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility was hit in an airstrike, for which Israel’s military denied responsibility.

The Israeli military said it was unable to intercept the Iranian missiles that hit the cities of Dimona and Arad on Saturday night, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the fact that no one was killed was “due to luck.”

“If you want proof that Iran endangers the entire world, the last 48 hours have given it,” Netanyahu told reporters at the site of the Arad strike. “In the last 48 hours, Iran targeted a civilian area. They’re doing that as a mass murder weapon. Luckily, no one was killed, but that’s due to luck, not their intention. Their intention is to murder civilians.”

Netanyahu called on world leaders to join Israel and the United States in their war against Iran, saying he “can see some of them beginning to move in that direction but more is needed.” He said Israel and the U.S. were responding to Iran “with great force, but not on civilians.”

CBS/AP

When gauging a war, Americans consider at least two important things: what the goals are overseas and its impact back home.

Right now, Americans want a lot of things to happen in Iran: Most feel it’s important to stop itsnuclear program, ensure the Iranian people are free, and, now that the conflict is underway, that it would be unacceptable to leave theIranian regime in power at the end of it.

But it’s also important to end the conflict as fast as possible, they say, with growing economic pressure back home.

Rising gas prices are fueling some pessimism about the U.S. economy more broadly, with concerns about negative impacts on it in at least the near-term, if not the long term.

That uncertainty is underpinned by a rising number of people who feel the Trump administration hasn’t explained things. Most call it a war of choice, not of necessity.

In all, most Americans feel the conflict isn’t going well right now, though it gets continued support from most of the president’s Republican base, in part because they express a lot of confidence in him personally.

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Iran’s launch on Friday of two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the joint U.S.-U.K. military base on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia – more than 2,000 miles from Iran – has raised serious questions about both the reach and supply of its longer range missiles.

While the attack was unsuccessful, Iran had claimed previously that it wasn’t even working to develop missiles with a range greater than about 1,200 hundred miles, or what is typically called medium range.

The longer-range missiles used Friday could potentially put some European capitals, and more U.S. military bases, at risk.

U.K. officials did not give details on the unsuccessful Iranian strike, with the Ministry of Defense in London saying only that Iran was “lashing out across the region.”

“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range extends to the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range,” Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Saturday night.

“They are putting everyone in their sights,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding a call for other countries to heed “President Trump’s call to have the international community confront this terrorist, fanatic regime of zealots.”

Netanyahu said the war was not only for the “security of America and the security of Israel, it’s for the security of the entire world, and it’s time for them [other countries] to act.”

CBS/AP