Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday expressed hope that a deal to end the war in Iran was in the cards, stressing that Tehran must severely curtail its nuclear program before any sanctions are lifted.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States and Iran were speaking "continuously," denying reports that Tehran had broken off contact over Israel's attacks on Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would help to make Iran's "terror regime" disappear, as talks to reach a peace agreement between the U.S. and the Islamic republic appeared to stutter.

Two projectiles hit a container vessel in the Gulf as it was leaving port in Iraq, a Swiss-based company said Tuesday, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted the ship.

Israel and Lebanon could reach a peace agreement within days were it not for the obstacle posed by Hezbollah, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday, as the two sides began a fourth round of talks in Washington.

"Israel and Lebanon can do a peace deal tomorrow," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Hezbollah will not accept a "partial ceasefire" with Israel, a senior official from the Iran-backed group said Tuesday, refusing to halt attacks against northern Israel in exchange for Israel sparing Beirut's southern suburbs, although they appeared to have stopped on Tuesday.

In a south Lebanon hospital heavily damaged by deadly Israeli strikes nearby, Dr Nasser al-Masri held a new-born baby, calling him "a message of life and hope" despite the war.

Israel continued to strike southern Lebanon on Tuesday as Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked its troops there despite an apparent Washington-brokered de-escalation deal and a fourth round of U.S.-hosted talks between Lebanon and Israel.

The ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon began a new round of direct talks in Washington on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had received commitments from both sides to de-escalate.

Lebanon's health ministry said Tuesday that Israeli strikes a day earlier near a hospital in the southern city of Tyre killed four people and wounded 127 others, including 39 staff from the facility.

The ministry statement said the wounded staff at the Jabal Amel hospital were "four doctors, 27 nurses, and eight (administrative) employees -- four of whom are in critical condition and receiving treatment in intensive care".