U.S. stocks are slipping on Tuesday following signals that one of the U.S. economy's main engines, spending by households, is weakening while Israel's conflict with Iran may be worsening.

The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 129 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.

Israel stunned and hobbled Iran last week when it pulled off an intelligence and military operation years in the making that struck high-level targets with precision.

Guided by spies and artificial intelligence, the Israeli military unleashed a nighttime fusillade of warplanes and armed drones smuggled into Iran to quickly incapacitate many of its air defenses and missile systems. With greater freedom to fly over Iran, Israel bombarded key nuclear sites and killed top generals and scientists. By the time Iran mustered a response hours later, its ability to retaliate — already weakened by past Israeli strikes — was greatly diminished.

Iran has few viable options for striking back at Israel, largely because its key regional proxy Hezbollah has been "decapitated," according to Fabian Hinz of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank focusing on defense and security issues.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen, another of Iran’s allies, depend on long-range Iranian missiles but supplies are limited, Hinz said.

After Israeli strikes landed near the hotel where he was staying in the Iranian province of Qom, Aimal Hussein desperately wanted to return home. But the 55-year-old Afghan businessman couldn't find a way, with Iranian airspace completely shut down.

He fled to Tehran after the strike Sunday, but no taxi would take him to the border as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified.

Lebanon's president and prime minister have said that their country must stay out of the conflict between Israel and Iran because any engagement would be detrimental to the small nation engulfed in an economic crisis and struggling to recover from the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

Their remarks Monday amounted to a message to Hezbollah — an ally of both Iran and Hamas — to stay out of the fray.

Israel appeared to be expanding its air campaign on Tehran five days after its surprise attack on Iran's military and nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump posted an ominous message warning residents of the city to evacuate.

“IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” Trump wrote Monday night before returning to Washington early from a Group of Seven summit in Canada. “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” he added.

Roughly 24 hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering assault on Iran, Israel's opposition was scheming to bring down his government.

Now, just days into the ongoing operation against Iran, the opposition has closed ranks behind the effort, suspending months of bitter criticism against Netanyahu and his handling of the war in Gaza.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting Austria on Monday in his first trip to the European Union member country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Austria is famously neutral — a stance it declared in 1955 after World War II — and Vienna has come under heavy criticism since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war for maintaining ties with Moscow.

Former Syrian official and adviser to ousted President Bashar al-Assad has been interviewed in Beirut by the FBI and the CIA in April, in the presence of Lebanese officials, The Washington Post and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said Sunday.

According to the reports, Bassam al-Hassan told the FBI that American journalist Austin Tice was killed in 2013 on the orders of al-Assad, after Tice briefly escaped from his prison cell.

Protesters used water guns against unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona and on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Sunday as demonstrators marched to demand a rethink of an economic model they believe is fueling a housing crunch and erasing the character of their hometowns.

The marches were part of the first coordinated effort by activists concerned with the ills of overtourism across southern Europe's top destinations. While several thousands rallied in Mallorca in the biggest gathering of the day, hundreds more gathered in other Spanish cities, as well as in Venice, Italy, and Portugal's capital, Lisbon.