The Latest: UAE briefly closes airspace as Israel strikes Beirut and Tehran

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A drone attack in the United Arab Emirates sparked a fire at an oil tank farm Tuesday in Fujairah, an emirate on the country’s east coast with the Gulf of Oman that has been repeatedly targeted, the state-run WAM news agency reported. It said no one was injured in the blast.

The report came after a brief closure of the UAE's airspace when the military reported it was “responding to missile and drone threats from Iran.”

The Israeli military said Tuesday it had launched new attacks across Tehran and Beirut, with the strikes on the Lebanese capital targeting Hezbollah militants.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on the way” to help police the Strait of Hormuz. But he also suggested some countries’ reluctance showed a lack of reciprocity in defense agreements with the United States.

The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, at least 850 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.

Here is the latest:

Lebanon's army said five of its soldiers were hurt after the Tuesday morning airstrike on the village of Kfar Sir.

Two of the five soldiers were seriously wounded.

The army said the troops were hurt while travelling in a car and a motorcycle. They were all taken to hospital for treatment.

Iran and Iraq are holding talks about allowing transit of Iraq’s oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraqi

Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said Tuesday.

The comments were carried by the country’s state-run Iraq News Agency.

The war and the virtual closure of the strait have severely impacted Iraq, where the economy depends overwhelmingly on oil.

The news agency said Iraq’s oil production has been reduced to 1.2 million barrels daily, down from 4.3 million barrels daily prior to the war.

China is communicating with the U.S. about issues including a planned visit by President Donald Trump, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

“China and the U.S. are in communication on issues including the timing of President Trump’s visit to China,” Lin Jian said in Beijing.

Trump on Monday said because of the war he proposed a delay to the trip, which was scheduled for late March to early April.

Lin added that U.S. officials clarified “the visit is unrelated to the issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump told the Financial Times that he would like to know before leaving for Beijing whether China would help secure the strait.

A U.S. trade official on Monday walked back the statement, saying a postponement would be unrelated to China’s help in the strait.

The Israeli military says it conducted a “combined wave of strikes” against infrastructure in Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz on Monday.

The military says the strikes in Tehran hit command centers, launch sites and air defense systems.

In Shiraz, the internal security forces’ command center and a ballistic missile site were hit.

In Tabriz, the strikes “dismantled” additional air defense systems, the military says.

South Korea says 26 of its vessels and 183 crewmembers remain in waters around the Strait of Hormuz.

Park Il, spokesperson of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said Tuesday that officials are in close contact with port authorities in nearby countries to facilitate the provision of food and other supplies.

Park said they plan to take unspecified additional steps if the situation worsens.

South Korea has been cautious about discussing support for U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump urged several governments, including Seoul, to deploy naval assets.

“The government will maintain close communication with the U.S. side and conduct a close and careful review of the issue, taking into account various factors and the changing regional situation,” Park said.

Ali Mojtaba Rouzbehani, Iran’s ambassador in Turkmenistan, says it will defend the Strait of Hormuz and called for U.S. forces to withdraw.

“I have a proposal for Trump: if he wants stability and passage through the Strait of Hormuz, he must ensure that his military forces withdraw from the strait,” the ambassador said in Ashgabat on Monday.

“The Strait of Hormuz is not currently closed. But as a result of this aggression, no ships can pass through the strait, and we will defend its stability and security,” he said.

The ambassador added that U.S. and Israeli forces “have other targets in the region.”

“They’ve targeted water treatment plants, fuel storage facilities, and other facilities. These ongoing threats must end,” he said.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament told Iranian state television that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be “as it was before” as Iranian fire keeps nearly all traffic out of the strategic waterway.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the comment in an interview aired Tuesday as Iranian fire continues to target shipping in the region.

“They are flying, launching missiles, should we just sit back and do nothing in response, or not? Naturally, it is our undeniable right. We must do this,” Qalibaf said.

“Let me speak clearly, the Strait of Hormuz has always been important, one of the world’s key strategic chokepoints,” Qalibaf said. “But look at this strategic mistake by the Americans and the Zionist regime, this trap they set, and the recklessness they showed, has turned this potential into an active reality. This is a high-risk opportunity.”

The strait typically sees 20% of all oil and natural gas traded pass through it.

Australian and New Zealand government ministers agree the Middle East war should end as quickly as possible.

Australian and New Zealand foreign and defense ministers met for annual talks Tuesday in Australia’s capital Canberra.

“We discussed the escalating situation in the Middle East. We want this crisis to end as quickly possible and move to a negotiated solution,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told reporters at a joint press conference after the meeting.

Kuwaiti security forces arrested 16 people suspected to have links with Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group allied with Iran, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported.

The interior ministry said in a statement late Monday that the 14 Kuwaiti and two Lebanese suspects sought to “create chaos, and disrupt public order” during the war, the agency reported.

The ministry did not identify the people arrested. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

It said authorities found firearms, ammunition, weapons for training and assassinations and encrypted communication devices and drones.

The ministry said the suspects aimed to recruit others to join Hezbollah.

Kuwait has for years experienced attacks that authorities linked to Iran.

A Pakistani man was killed Tuesday morning in a missile attack on the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, authorities say.

The Abu Dhabi Media Office says the man was killed when shrapnel fell in the Bani Yas area while air defenses were intercepting a ballistic missile.

The death toll in the UAE since the start of the war is now at eight people including two soldiers, according to authorities.

In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses heard airstrikes in the night even as heavy rain and a thunderstorm swept across the area.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry says it's intercepting a dozen drones on Tuesday morning over the country’s vast Eastern Province, home to oil infrastructure.

A fire broke out in an industrial area on Tuesday morning in Qatar after a missile was intercepted over the gas-rich country, the interior ministry said.

An Associated Press journalist in Qatar heard explosions as air defenses near Doha worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire on Tuesday morning.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted a missile attack on the country a short time later.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai residents received a missile alert around the same time.