AS IT HAPPENED: US and Iran 'very close to deal', but still not certain, says Vance; Iran fires 'warning shots' at ships; US official denies Iranian claim it downed American plane

Thanks for following our live coverage of US politics and the conflict in the Middle East.

Here is a recap of today's developments:

- A tentative agreement has been reached between the US and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and start nuclear talks, although it requires Donald Trump's approval.

- A rocket from Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has exploded on the launchpad in Florida during testing.

- The Australian sharemarket bounced back after yesterday's $45 billion financial boodbath, with investors buoyed by hopes a ceasefire extension is closer.

- Trump did not meet any US troops injured in the Iran war when he visited a military hospital in Washington DC for his regular health check. It is customary for US presidents to visit with armed service members wounded in battle.

- Despite hopes of a ceasefire extension growing, tensions remain high after Iran launched a missile towards Kuwait and Iranian drones flew towards the Strait of Hormuz.

A drone has crashed onto the roof of a 10-storey block of units in south-eastern Romania, causing an explosion and fire that injured two people.

News agency Reuters has reported the incident happened during a Russian attack on Ukraine.

The country's defence ministry said Romania has seen drones breach its airspace 28 times since Moscow started to attack Kyiv's ports across the Danube river.

The country shares a 650km land border with Ukraine.

A woman and her child were taken to hospital with minor injuries following the explosion.

New imagery shows Iran apparently unearthing its buried missile arsenal.

Satellite images obtained by CNN show bulldozers and dump trucks at the sights of US-Israeli attacks, working at unblocking the entrance to underground facilities where vast quantities of armaments were stored.

The missiles were trapped, but they were most likely intact.

The US and Israel, during the recent conflict, cut off Iranian access to their missiles by destroying the entrances to bases around the country.

CNN analysts claimed that out of 69 tunnels connected to 18 bases they had surveyed, 50 had been cleared.

Weapons experts have warned that Iran will take further measures to protect its arsenal from attacks.

US Central Command has also confirmed Iran did not shoot down a US plane.

"No US aircraft were shot down. All US air assets are accounted for," CENTCOM said in a post on X.

It follows a report by Reuters conveying the same denial from an anonymous military official.

A rocket from Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has exploded on the launchpad in Florida during testing.

Dramatic vision recording the test shows the so-called "megarocket" beginning to ignite before exploding in a huge nighttime fireball.

No humans were on board the rocket during the test.

Blue Origin was "static testing" its "New Glenn" series of rockets, which are being developed to function as a heavy-lift launch vehicle to transport goods, humans and machinery into orbit.

Bezos is in direct competition with fellow billionaire Elon Musk, and his space company SpaceX, in a race to commercialise space travel.

A former JAG officer who previously worked at US Central Command says "of course" the Pentagon knows what led to the horrific bombing of a girls' school in Iran in the opening days of the war.

So far, authorities have only described the investigation as "complex" and have offered no findings.

Rachel VanLandingham told CNN it was unlikely the answers weren't known.

"Of course they know what happened," she said..

"There's already been preliminary data that's been leaked that shows that … this was a case of relying on outdated data, 10-year-old intelligence.

"Where was the failure, why was 10-year-old intelligence relied upon? Pretty simple question, and I think there's a pretty simple answer.

"It's atrocious we haven't had an acknowledgement, an explanation, and an apology yet to date."

The Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG or JAG Corps) in the US is the military justice branch of the armed forces.

The Australian sharemarket is bouncing back after yesterday's $45 billion financial boodbath, with investors buoyed by hopes a ceasefire extension is closer.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.8 per cent in early trading this morning after it crumbled by 1.4 per cent yesterday when strikes between the US and Iran suddenly resumed.

The price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, has dropped to $US94 per barrel.

Donald Trump did not meet any US troops injured in the Iran war when he visited a military hospital in Washington DC for his regular health check.

The president met medical staff and armed service members when he attended the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre last week, but he did not see any of the 14 troops injured in the conflict he triggered with Iran who are also recovering at the hospital, according to the family of one soldier.

US Army Sergeant Cory Hicks was stationed at a base in Kuwait that was hit by an Iranian drone in March.

"I've come a long way — that's for sure," Hicks told CBS last month.

The White House confirmed Trump met with troops during his six-month check-up at the medical centre but repeatedly declined to say whether the president saw soldiers injured in Operation Epic Fury.

It is customary for US presidents to visit with armed service members wounded in battle.

An alleged pro-Iranian terrorist has been indicted by US authorities.

The Justice Department announced Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, is facing eight charges over his alleged activities as an operative of two US- designated foreign terrorist networks.

He is accused of being behind 20 attacks and attempted attacks in the United States and Europe.

"Al-Saadi has been directly involved in terrorist operations and military decisions to attack US and Israeli interests across the world and conspired with others to plan deadly attacks on American soil," said US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"Now that he has been removed from his perch as an alleged commander of Kata'ib Hizballah with close ties to the Iranian regime and its proxies around the world, we look forward to vigorously prosecuting him under American law in an American courtroom."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said overnight that he has directed Israel's military to take over 70 per cent of Gaza's territory.

During an interview at a conference in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said that Israel is "tightening" its grip on Hamas.

"We are now in 60 per cent of the territory of the Gaza Strip. We were at 50 per cent. We moved to 60 per cent," he said. "My directive is to move to - take it step by step - first of all 70. Let's start with that."

The seizure of more of Gaza would force about 2 million Palestinians into a shrinking fraction of the coastal enclave's shattered territory.

Under last year's ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces withdrew to a demarcation line known as the "yellow line" that left them in roughly 53 per cent of Gaza.