In a matter of days, US President Donald Trump has extended a hand to Iran and bombed Tehran's allies in Yemen. His administration has both demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear program and offered more flexibility.

Trump has for years dangled force as a means to get his way in negotiations.

But on Iran, some observers see less a strategy than mixed messaging, with a real debate on how the norms-breaking president will handle a US adversary of nearly half a century.

Iran became the second Asian side to secure their place at the 2026 World Cup after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Uzbekistan in Tehran on Tuesday, handing organisers a likely diplomatic headache.

Iran, the second-highest ranked AFC side in the FIFA standings, needed only a point to join Japan in qualifying for the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Iran will, however, head to North America with relations strained as US President Donald Trump takes a hard line over opening new nuclear talks with Tehran.

Israeli police released Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal on Tuesday, after detaining him a day earlier for "hurling rocks" following what activists described as an attack by settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Basel Adra, who worked with Ballal on the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land", posted a photo of Ballal on X after his release with blood stains on his shirt.

"After I won the Oscar, I did not expect to be exposed to such attacks," Ballal said in a video by AFPTV.

"It was a very strong attack and the goal was to kill."

US President Donald Trump downplayed a growing scandal Tuesday after a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat about air strikes on Yemen, denying any classified information was shared and defending a top aide over the breach.

Trump said he would "look into" the use of the Signal app as he put on a united front at a meeting with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who inadvertently included The Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg in the conversation of top national security officials.

A Sudanese monitor accused the army Tuesday of carrying out one of the deadliest air strikes in the country's nearly two-year war on a rebel-held town in the western region of Darfur.

The Emergency Lawyers, a group of volunteer legal professionals, said "hundreds of civilians" were killed in an "indiscriminate air strike on Tora market in North Darfur", while two residents who took part in burial operations said they had counted 270 bodies.

AFP could not independently verify a toll or reach local medics due to a telecommunications blackout in Darfur.

Israel's president said on Tuesday he was shocked that the issue of hostages being held by Palestinian militants in Gaza was no longer a top priority in the country, days after criticising the government's war policy.

"I am quite shocked how suddenly the issue of the hostages is no longer at the top of the priority list and at the top of the news," Isaac Herzog said in a video issued by his office, adding it was important to keep working towards "bringing the hostages home, down to the last one".

Israel on Tuesday said it had killed an Al Jazeera employee in the Gaza Strip, accusing the journalist, Hussam Shabat, of being a "sniper terrorist" for Hamas.

The Qatar-based network said Shabat was killed Monday in an Israeli strike on his vehicle in northern Gaza, in an attack that media watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned as part of a "massacre of journalists" in the Palestinian territory.

Syria slammed Israeli attacks as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty after a deadly bombardment Tuesday in the country's south, where Israel's military said it had responded to incoming fire.

The violence near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

Top Trump administration officials texted a group chat including a journalist plans for strikes on Yemen's Huthi rebels, the White House said, an extraordinary security breach that shocked Washington's political elite.

US President Donald Trump announced the strikes on March 15, but The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote on Monday that he had hours of advance notice via the group chat on Signal, which included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.

An Israeli air strike killed a journalist working with Al Jazeera on Monday and the military issued fresh calls to evacuate parts of Gaza's north, as Israel pressed its renewed bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory.

Israel resumed intense air strikes across Gaza last Tuesday, followed by ground operations, after talks on extending a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached an impasse.

On Monday evening, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued "an early warning before a strike" in the northern area of Jabalia.