The Latest: US deploys more troops to Mideast as Trump considers 'winding down' military operations

People take shelter in an Underground tunnel as air raid sirens signal a warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2026. Credit: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg
President Donald Trump said his administration was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East even as the United States announced it was sending more warships and Marines to the region and Iran threatened to attack tourist sites worldwide.
The mixed U.S. messages came after another climb in oil prices plunged the U.S. stock market, and was followed by a Trump administration announcement that it will lift sanctions on Iranian oil loaded on ships, a move aimed at wrangling soaring fuel prices.
The war, meanwhile, has shown no signs of abating.
Israel said Iran continued to fire missiles at it early Saturday, while Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in just a couple of hours in the country’s eastern region, which is home to major oil installations. The defense ministry said there were no injuries or damage.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,300 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members in the region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Iran's president says his country doesn't have “any dispute” with its neighbors
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media Saturday that the "only beneficiary of our differences is the Zionist entity,” referring to Israel.

A bride and her family in the midst of a wedding photo session take cover in a bomb shelter after an alert from Israel's Home Front Command warned of missiles fired from Iran toward central Israel, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, March 19, 2026. Credit: AP/Oded Balilty
Iran holds funeral services for intelligence minister, Revolutionary Guard spokesperson
Iran held a funeral service Saturday for Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib in the holy city of Qom, a center of Shiite Muslim shrines and scholarship, the Islamic Republic’s state-run media reported.
Khatib was killed in an Israeli strike last week. He was one of the top Iranian officials killed in the war including the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
A funeral procession was also held Saturday for Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini, who was killed a day earlier in an Israeli strike, according to Iran’s state-run media.
Iran’s state TV and other semiofficial outlets aired footage showing funeral prayers they said were for Naini.

Israeli security forces inspect an apartment struck by an Iranian missile that killed two people in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Credit: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg
Sirens sound in Israel
Sirens sounded in Israel Saturday morning as the military said it was responding to a missile attack from Iran.
Israel strikes targets in Tehran and Beirut
The Israeli military said early Saturday it was striking targets in Tehran.
The announcement came shortly after the military said it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah positions across the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.
Hours earlier, the army renewed evacuation warnings for seven neighborhoods in Beirut’s suburbs, prompting some residents to fire gunshots to alert families who had returned to flee.
No casualties were immediately reported.
United Airlines prepares for oil to reach $175 a barrel
The airline’s CEO said the company is also preparing for oil to not return to $100 a barrel until the end of next year.
Scott Kirby said in a message to United employees on Friday that jet fuel prices that have more than doubled in the last three weeks already would cost the airline $11 billion a year if they remain where they are now.
The price of Brent crude has zigzagged from roughly $70 per barrel before the Iran war began to as high as $119.50 this week.
Of United’s worst-case assumption, Kirby said, “I think there’s a good chance it won’t be that bad, but ... there isn’t much downside for us to preparing for that outcome.”

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LI village wants safer roads ... Home prices rising ... Building docks with LI Works ... Trying Irish cuisine in Long Beach ... NewsdayTV stories you may have missed this week



