The U.S. military says Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain failed or were shot down, and says the U.S. launched strikes on an Iran facility in response. The attacks happened after Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel, according to reports Tuesday from two semiofficial Iranian news agencies. President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing. The reports come as Iran insists the fighting in Lebanon is part of the wider ceasefire talks with the United States over the war. Israel and the U.S. maintain Israel's fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he is optimistic about the potential for a resumption in nuclear talks with Iran despite a shaky ceasefire in the war looking increasingly in doubt. Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that the Iranians have agreed to negotiate on nuclear points they had not been willing to address in the past. He would not offer an assessment on what those talks might produce and added that it was no guarantee they would produce an acceptable deal. His optimism is running into two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reporting that Iran has stopped communicating with mediators after Israel threatened to bomb Beirut as it fights the Hezbollah militant group.

U.S. President Donald Trump says Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanon-militant group through mediators. Trump announced the development Monday in a social media post following a call with Netanyahu. Israeli forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter-century. Trump’s comments emerged after Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa.

U.S. President Donald Trump met with his advisers for about two hours but has not yet made a decision on whether to move forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the agreement has not been finalized. Ahead of Friday's meeting, Trump said he was looking to make a “final determination.” A senior administration official later said the roughly two-hour meeting with national security aides had concluded without a decision. The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with Pope Leo XIV, a lifelong White Sox fan, and gave him a Cubs hat. The pope humorously noted he's already wearing a cap, his white zucchetto, and said it was good that the meeting could unite Cubs fans and Sox fans alike. During their private meeting Thursday, Johnson invited the pope to visit his hometown next year. They also discussed immigration and war. Johnson, a progressive Democrat, has been a critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and applauded the pope's stance against the war in Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in India ahead of a meeting next week with his counterparts from India, Australia, and Japan, members of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad. The visit comes as Washington is seeking to stabilize relations with India after ties soured over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which raised duties on several Indian exports. Much of Rubio’s four-day visit, however, will focus on a multicity tour, along with a gala reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio already faced a difficult task in soothing NATO allies anxious about President Donald Trump's often-abrupt announcements. Then Trump did it again. Just hours after Rubio departed for Friday's NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sweden, Trump stunned virtually everyone by announcing he would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. The country was told just recently that it wouldn't be getting an expected deployment. At the meeting, Rubio tried to calmly explain the situation to Europeans who have been unnerved by Trump’s constant unpredictability. He says the U.S. remains committed to NATO but will adjust its military footprint in Europe, eventually meaning fewer American troops on the continent.