Trump warns Iran of attack it 'has not seen', says 8 pm deadline stands

The Wall Street Journal, quoting Middle Eastern officials, reports that Iran has only cut off its "direct" communications with the US not its talks with ceasefire mediators.

While the move has temporarily complicated efforts to make a deal by Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline, it hasn't ended the talks, the report said.

"Iran intended to send a signal of disapproval and defiance by severing communications," one official was quoted as saying.

Iran's state-run Tehran Times later reported that "diplomatic and indirect channels of talks with the US are not closed."

The Tehran-based paper had earlier reported that Iran had cut "all diplomatic and backchannel talks" with the US.

President Emmanuel Macron said French prisoners Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been released after more than three years of detention in Iran and are on their way back to France.

In a post on X, Macron thanked Oman for mediating their return.

The two were arrested in 2022 on espionage charges they denied, in a case Paris has described as politically motivated and part of a broader pattern of detaining foreign nationals.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the two French nationals had left Iranian territory under an understanding between Tehran and Paris.

According to the report, France committed in return to fully release Iranian citizen, Mahdieh Esfandiari, and to withdraw its complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice.

US military strikes are the most likely outcome ahead of a deadline set by Donald Trump for Iran, the The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The report said options include no action, progress toward a deal or talks, or strikes, but noted Trump rarely sets deadlines without following through.

It said he could still delay action if negotiations advance, but may order strikes shortly after the deadline if he views Iran as stalling.

Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday strikes on Kharg Island targeted military sites and did not mark a change in strategy.

“We were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island, and I believe we have done so,” Vance said.

He added the United States was not targeting energy infrastructure at this stage.

“We're not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don't make a proposal,” he said.

Separately, a US official told Reuters the strikes did not affect oil infrastructure and included targets that had been hit previously.

Vance said the strikes did not represent “a change in strategy,” adding Washington was still seeking a response from Iran by a deadline set for later on Tuesday.

Donald Trump said on Tuesday “we will find out tonight” what happens in Iran, calling it “one of the most important moments” in world history.

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

He also warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” while raising the prospect of “complete and total regime change.”

Trump said “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen,” adding that decades of “extortion, corruption, and death will finally end.”