Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that the strategic Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the United States meets Tehran's demands, including lifting a naval blockade.

"I want to state clearly that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the American commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding... are implemented," Ghalibaf said in a speech broadcast on state television. He listed the removal of the blockade, the lifting of oil sanctions and unfreezing of Iran's assets abroad among the demands.

Syrian state media said three people were killed on Tuesday in an explosion of unknown origin at a power plant on the country's Mediterranean coast.

News agency SANA reported "an explosion in the thermal power plant in Banias", with the cause under investigation. It cited a regional health official as saying the blast resulted in three deaths.

Hamas said Tuesday it remained committed to a Gaza peace deal backed by the United States after envoy Jared Kushner spoke to Israel about pressuring the group on disarmament.

"Hamas is committed to this agreed-upon process. It is clear that, so far, the Israeli side has not given the mediators clear approval of the roadmap," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP.

A Syrian court on Tuesday issued a death sentence to detainee Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad who was himself sentenced to death in absentia a week ago.

Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Wassim al-Assad was convicted of multiple murders and "murder accompanied by torture and brutality... classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes", adding that "he is therefore sentenced to death".

Firefighters were making a potentially decisive push on Tuesday to encircle the massive wildfire burning in Belgium's High Fens nature reserve, despite unfavorable weather hampering air support operations, authorities said.

"We are trying to definitively encircle the fire today," regional government spokesperson Nicolas Yernaux told AFP, saying all focus was on "reinforcing our eastern defenses" with the arrival of "sustained winds" blowing towards the German border a stone's throw away.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis targeted an oil refinery on Saudi Arabia's southern Red Sea coast on Tuesday, rebel media reported, as the rebels ramp up attacks on the kingdom.

The Houthis "targeted the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a number of drones... in response to airspace violations over the governorates of Saada and Hajjah" in Yemen, Houthi news agency Saba said, citing a military source.

Japan's defense minister said Tuesday that cooperation between his country, the United States and South Korea was "critical", after U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back military drills with Seoul.

"As Japan faces the most severe and complicated security environment in the post-war era, the cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea is critical to the peace and stability of the region," Shinjiro Koizumi said in Australia after talks with his counterpart Richard Marles.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned a drone attack that targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister's office, state media reported.

Baqaei denounced the attack, "describing it as a highly suspicious development that requires vigilance and careful attention", according to a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on Monday with U.S. envoy Jared Kushner that a U.S. general should supervise Hamas' disarmament and said Israel would not pull troops from Gaza until then, an Israeli official told AFP.

The two sides "agreed that the first step toward the demilitarization of the Strip would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general," the Israeli official said.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea, as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.

Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthis, said they had "succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles".