Image source, Reu

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US is exchanging messages with Iran and that an end to the war is in sight.

"There are talks going on," he tells Sean Hannity on Fox News. "There is the potential for direct meeting at some point. We're always going to be open for that."

But, he adds, President Trump is not going to allow "fake negotiations to be used as a delay tactic, to buy more time".

While he says he doesn't want to put a timeline on it, "we can see the finish line", Rubio tells Hannity during the interview.

The secretary also criticises Nato, saying the US may have to re-examine whether or not the alliance "that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose".

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Live reporter

A few hours ago, we heard from Donald Trump at the White House.

Here is a round up of what he said:

• Trump told reporters the US "will be leaving [Iran] very soon" and US military action could end as soon as "two or three weeks"
• He says the US has achieved the goals set before airstrikes against Iran began late last month in conjunction with Israel. He says the primary goal of curtailing Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon has been reached and the US was now "finishing the job"

• Trump says the US now dominates Iranian skies and has also achieved regime change following the killings of many senior political and military leaders. He described the new leaders in Tehran as "much less radicalised" and "more rational" compared to their predecessors
• He said once the US was sure Iran would not be able to "come up with a nuclear weapon" then "we'll leave whether we have a deal or not. It's irrelevant now, it's possible that we'll have a deal because they want to make a deal".
• He went on to say Iranian leaders are "begging to make a deal" with the US to end the war, which has previously been denied by Iran
• He adds that the war could end without a deal brokered between both sides
• On the war's impact on rising fuel prices, the president says they will come down as soon as the US ends its military actions

Image source, EPA

Lebanon's capital Beirut has been hit by heavy airstrikes in which Israel's military says it struck a Hezbollah commander and another senior figure.

The IDF says it conducted "two separate attacks" across Beirut overnight.

Smoke columns were seen rising from the Jnah neighbourhood on the outskirts of southern Beirut, while multiple "heavy" explosions shook parts of the city, according to security officials speaking to Reuters.

A car travelling south of Beirut was hit by multiple missiles launched by an Israeli drone, Lebanese state media reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanon's Ministry of Health said at least seven people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the country's south, including a paramedic.

The strikes are the latest in an escalating Israeli offensive in Lebanon which has killed at least 1,200 people and displaced 1.2 million others.

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, President Donald Trump is set to "provide an important update on Iran" on Wednesday evening, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The address to the nation will be at 21:00 ET (02:00 BST, 01:00 GMT).

Leavitt did not give any further information.

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli military has provided a statement relating to earlier strikes on a medicines manufacturer in Iran.

Earlier, a factory owned by the Tofigh Daru Research and Engineering Company was destroyed in an air strike, prompting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to accuse Israel of "openly and unashamedly bombing pharmaceutical companies".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says the manufacturer supplied fentanyl to the organisation behind Iran's nuclear weapons programme – SPND (Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research).

The IDF says the factory "presented itself as a civilian company" while it would "conduct research and development of chemical warfare agents".

Iran and Israel's statements have not been verified by independent sources.

John Sudworth
Senior News Correspondent

Iran has the "necessary will" to end the war with the United States and Israel as long as certain conditions are met, the country's president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday.

The comments, which boosted markets in the US, were made in a phone call between Pezeshkian and the President of European Council, and originally reported by Iranian state media.

Though the markets may have seen a glimmer of hope in the comments, especially as they came from a man long seen by many in the west as a moderate, the post of President is a subordinate one in a system long run by hardline clerics.

The claim there is a "will" to end the war anyway also came with heavy caveats - namely that guarantees are put in place that there will not be a return to conflict.

On the face of it, that doesn’t appear to change much, as calls for non-aggression guarantees had already been included in Iran's reported response last week to America’s 15-point peace plan.

And the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are certainly not offering olive branches, with new threats to widen the retaliation to include US tech companies.

Sakshi Venkatraman
US reporter

The war in Iran could be costing the US as much as $2bn (£1.5bn) per day, experts who tracks the economic toll of global conflicts tell the BBC.

Stephanie Savell, director of Brown University's Cost of War project, says between weapons and military spending, damage to US assets, and other line items, the war has already cost Americans tens of billions of dollars.

"Every day that the war is ongoing is adding a huge amount to the public debt," Savell tells me.

The Pentagon earlier this month told Congress that the first six days of the war had cost $11.3bn, US media reports. Savell believes that number is higher in reality.

Harvard University defence budgets expert Linda Blimes says the war is likely already costing around $2bn per day.

That level of cost is always passed down to the average American, Savell says, noting the war has already caused an "upheaval" to gas prices. There are also possible impacts when it comes to inflation, business uncertainty and insurance costs in the long run.

The White House also said earlier this month that it is seeking $200bn (£150bn) more for the war in Iran, which Savell said is a massive number.

"It really does cement that the war is ongoing," she said.

We heard from Donald Trump earlier at the White House Oval Office, where he vowed the US will leave Iran in "two or three weeks".

His media office has previewed a televised presidential address where Trump will "provide an important update on Iran" tomorrow at 21:00 ET (02:00 BST).

Here is what else has been happening recently as the BBC's live coverage continues:

• Trump says the US now dominates Iranian skies, has destroyed its navy and its leaders are "begging to make a deal". Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran has the "necessary will" to put an end to the war if certain requirements are met
• Iran says it will re-open the Strait of Hormuz "for those who comply with the new laws of Iran", as oil and natural gas shipments are effectively cut off under Iran's blockade
• Trump criticised US allies, telling them to "go get your own oil" from the Strait of Hormuz, saying countries like France can "fend for themselves"

• Israel struck a factory in Iran saying it was part of a production line manufacturing chemical weapons, which Iran says was a medicines factory
• In Iraq, US freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson has been kidnapped in the capital Baghdad and is suspected to have been abducted by a member of an Iranian-backed militia
• Meanwhile, strikes hit Lebanon's capital Beirut, where at least seven people were killed across the city and Jnah, a neighbourhood in the southern outskirts, Lebanon's Health Ministry said
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it "struck" a Hezbollah commander and another senior figure in Beirut during the overnight strikes

• A roadside blast killed two UN peacekeepers near Bani Haiyyan, southern Lebanon, for which the IDF has denied responsibility