Iran launched fresh waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, setting off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and central Israel, as Washington pressed a proposal to end the war and Iranian officials publicly denied that any direct negotiations with the United States were under way.
Israeli media reported damage in Tel Aviv and other urban areas after the latest strikes. There was no immediate authoritative casualty toll, but the barrages underscored Iran’s ability to keep up missile attacks despite weeks of heavy US and Israeli strikes on its military and energy infrastructure.
The renewed attacks came a day after US President Donald Trump said Washington and Tehran had held “very good and productive” conversations on a “complete and total resolution” of the conflict and announced a five-day pause in planned US strikes on Iranian power plants.
US officials have said the United States has sent Iran a 15-point plan aimed at ending the war, though the contents have not been made public. Iranian officials have publicly rejected the suggestion that direct talks are taking place.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, said on X that “no negotiations have been held with the US” and accused Washington of spreading “fake news” to manipulate oil and financial markets and to escape what he described as a military quagmire.
The public denial has sharpened the gap between the two sides’ messaging. While Trump has presented the war as moving towards a diplomatic breakthrough, Tehran has sought to project defiance and to avoid any impression that it is negotiating under fire.
At the same time, Iranian officials have signalled that proposals may still be circulating through indirect channels. Iran’s foreign ministry has acknowledged that a US proposal is under review, suggesting that back-channel contacts may be active even as Tehran rejects the idea of face-to-face talks.
Tuesday’s volleys appeared intended to show that Iran remains capable of striking repeatedly across the region. The US and Israel have spent weeks targeting Iranian missile sites, naval positions and energy infrastructure, including attacks on Kharg Island and the South Pars gas field, in an effort to degrade Tehran’s ability to sustain the war.
US officials have argued that the campaign has reduced the pace of Iranian missile launches from earlier peaks. But the latest barrage indicated that Iran still retains the capacity to mount large, repeated attacks and to keep military pressure on Israel and its regional partners.
The conflict, which began on 28 February with large-scale coordinated US and Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread far beyond the Israeli-Iranian front. Iran has fired missiles and drones at Israel, Gulf states and shipping lanes, while the Strait of Hormuz has become a parallel flashpoint with major implications for global energy markets.
British officials have said that by 9 March Iran had launched about 500 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,000 drones across the region since the war began. The United Arab Emirates has said it alone faced 314 ballistic missiles, 1,672 drones and 15 cruise missiles between 28 February and 17 March.
Attacks on Gulf territory and maritime traffic have raised concern in London and other Western capitals about the risk of a wider regional war. Britain has already said its forces have intercepted Iranian drones and missiles over Qatar, Iraq and Jordan, and ministers have authorised the United States to use British bases for operations described as defensive.
That British role widened on 20 March, when the government approved the use of UK bases for strikes on Iranian missile sites threatening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Ministers have continued to insist that the UK’s role is focused on defending British nationals, military personnel and maritime traffic, but the decision has intensified political scrutiny at Westminster.
The government has also activated contingency plans for what could become a large-scale evacuation of Britons from the Gulf if commercial air routes remain disrupted. UK officials have previously warned that hundreds of thousands of British nationals, residents and tourists could be affected if the fighting deepens.
Trump has linked the diplomatic push directly to the threat of further escalation. On 22 March he warned that the United States would “obliterate” Iranian power plants within 48 hours unless Iran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz. A day later he suspended those planned strikes for five days, saying there had been progress in contacts with Tehran.
Markets reacted sharply to that announcement, with oil prices falling and equities rising on hopes that the crisis might ease. Iranian officials, however, have said reports of direct talks were being used to influence markets and shape perceptions of the war rather than reflecting any formal negotiation.
For Israel, the renewed missile fire is another reminder that the campaign against Iran has not yet removed the threat to its cities. For Washington, it complicates an effort to argue simultaneously that military pressure is working and that diplomacy is within reach.
The immediate question is whether indirect contacts can be turned into a framework for de-escalation before Trump’s five-day pause expires. With no published text of the US proposal, no acknowledged direct channel and missiles still being fired, the prospect of a quick settlement remains uncertain.
For now, the contradiction at the centre of the crisis remains unresolved: Washington says a plan to end the war is on the table, while Tehran says no direct talks are happening and continues to launch missiles across the region.
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