Iranian media reported that the country's military had launched a "decisive operation" against U.S. targets in the region on Tuesday, as Washington carried out a fresh round of strikes.

The Tasnim news agency said a "decisive operation by Iran's armed forces in response to the U.S. enemy has begun. The U.S. bases and interests in the region are being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones."

The Iranian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that four people including a child were killed and over 50 people were wounded by a U.S. attack while attending a wedding in the south.

"Following a US missile attack, shrapnel hit a residential home in the city of Kuhestak, in Sirik county of Hormozgan province, where a wedding celebration was taking place," the Red Crescent said in a post on X.

US forces struck Iran on Tuesday and President Donald Trump vowed a "much harder" response to any counterattacks, as exchanges of fire between the two sides threatened to reignite their smoldering conflict.

China warned of "consequences" for Taiwan after officials from Beijing and Taipei attended a ceremonial event at a Pacific leaders summit, where major powers already had been urged to restrain from turning a meeting of mostly small island countries into a geopolitical sideshow.

The 18 member states and territories of the Pacific Islands Forum, which opened its annual summit in Palau's largest city Koror on Monday, do not include China, the United States or Taiwan. However, battles for influence over the lucrative oceans and strategically important locations of the forum's members this week threatened, as they have before, to overshadow its summit.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will face lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the first time since becoming U.K. leader six weeks ago, with wars in Europe and the Middle East weighing on his promise to kick-start the economy and ease the cost of living.

Since taking office on July 20, Burnham has traveled around the country promising to deliver renewed national optimism after the downbeat two-year tenure of predecessor Keir Starmer.

With the end of France's summer vacation season, the election campaign to replace Emmanuel Macron as president next May is bursting to life.

An unusually large and broad field of candidates is forming to lead the European Union's largest country, its second-largest economy and only nuclear-armed power, their appetites whetted by the fact that Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive presidential term himself.

Russia launched a large aerial assault in and around Ukraine's capital overnight into Tuesday morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than a dozen others, including three children, local authorities said.

Ukraine's air force said that Russia began the attack at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were reportedly jet-powered.

Turkey's top diplomat stressed Monday the regional defense pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was not aimed at any particular country and open to others, including Egypt.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States will hit back against Iranian attacks on U.S. targets in the Middle East, as the war flared after a prolonged pause, according to Fox News.

"We're going to hit them hard," Trump said, according to a Fox News reporter who said he talked to Trump briefly.

Japan plans to use drones, artificial intelligence and new methods of warfare as it adapts its defense strategies to suit changing times, according to details of an 8.9 trillion yen ($55.6 billion) budget request for the coming fiscal year disclosed by the Defense Ministry on Monday.

The preliminary total is only a small increase from the 8.8 trillion yen ($55 billion) defense budget requested for this fiscal year. It will be much higher eventually, but further details will come later this year after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approves the new security and defense strategy aimed at strengthening Japan's counterstrike capability.