Iran War - LIVE UPDATES

Iran said on Friday that its response to any new US threats would be "devastating" after Washington pledged ​to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.

U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said he would give details on Monday of the ‌planned sanctions, which follow a warning from President Donald Trump of economic consequences against any country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran."

The chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic's reaction would be broad and decisive.

"With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran's armed forces will respond to the enemy's new threats with crushing, punishing and devastating responses," Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Iran's parliament speaker, ​Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the country's main negotiator in mediated talks with the United States, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct military confrontation.

A new US aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, the US military announced Thursday, after conditions aboard a long-deployed carrier provoked fresh criticism of President Donald Trump's war against Iran.

"The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in Middle East during a scheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday," Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US forces in the Middle East, said in a post on X.

The update comes just days after media reports on grim conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier -- deployed since November 2025 -- had created an unwelcome distraction for Trump in his attempt to sell the already unpopular war.

Several outlets, including specialist military publications, quoted relatives of crew members as saying that living conditions had deteriorated on the Lincoln, with food shortages and broken plumbing.

Notably, there have been reports of several suicide attempts.

Trump dismissed the concerns but confirmed another carrier would swap out with the Lincoln.

Iran accused the United States of "economic terrorism" and "crimes against humanity" on Thursday, after Washington said it would ramp up sanctions to heap pressure on Tehran.

"Undoubtedly, the US economic sanctions against Iran, which have targeted the fundamental human rights of every Iranian citizen, are a case of 'economic terrorism' and 'crimes against humanity', and the perpetrators and instigators of these sanctions are deserving of trial and punishment for committing such heinous crimes," Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

The United States announced new sanctions Thursday against an alleged Hezbollah financing network, while highlighting the Lebanese armed group's close ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Hezbollah's legal designation as a terrorist organization has been amended to note that it operates in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," particularly the elite Quds Force, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The change comes as the US facilitates direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, which remain technically at war. Hezbollah rejects these talks.

U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said the United States will impose "the toughest sanctions in history" on Iran, a move he suggested would lessen the need for new major military operations.

Bessent's ​comments on Thursday followed President Donald Trump's threat a day earlier of "Economic Warfare" and warning of economic consequences against any country that provided "any type ‌of lifeline to Iran." Bessent promised details next week.

Oil prices rose to more than a three-week high on Thursday following those U.S. threats of financial penalties aimed at forcing an end to a nearly six-month-old war that has stranded millions of barrels of Middle Eastern oil.

"I'm not sure why oil has popped up on this," Bessent told CNBC. "If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that ​means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart," he said, using a term referring to military force.

Thousands have been killed in the conflict, ​which drew in Gulf nations and shocked markets as Iran flexed its ability to curb shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a ⁠waterway that carried about a fifth of all traded oil before February.

Iran denied launching missiles towards the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday after Abu Dhabi accused Tehran of firing two ballistic missiles at shipping in the Gulf.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei "categorically rejected the United Arab Emirates' claim that Iran had launched a missile toward that country", calling it harmful to regional trust and security efforts.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump's economic punishment plan for Tehran as a continuation of "failed policies", which he said would bring Washington "further defeat".

"The so-called 'Economic D-Day' is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat -- and enmity of Iranians," Araghchi said in a post on X.

"US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide."

In a post on his Truth Social, Trump said he was announcing "the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale."

"ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences," he said.

War broke out between Iran and the United States on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks which triggered Iranian retaliation across the region.

An April 8 ceasefire put an end to the intense bombardment but sporadic clashes continued in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit which Iran has blockaded and has since become flashpoint in the conflict.

US President Donald ​Trump warned of economic consequences against any country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran" as the United States looks to resolve a ‌war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.

Thousands have been killed in the war, which quickly drew in Gulf nations and shocked global markets as Iran flexed its ability to curb shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of the world's traded oil before February.

The U.S. and Iran have twice announced ceasefire deals, in April and June, aiming to ​restore the free flow of shipping through Hormuz on a path towards ending the conflict, but both quickly crumbled, even as Israel has largely withdrawn ​from the fighting.

Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces has warned the southern Persian Gulf states against providing assistance to or facilitating the use of their territories by the US military in its aggression against Iran.

“Those southern Persian Gulf countries that issue various statements claiming they will not allow the United States to use their territory against Iran should know that nothing escapes our attention,” Major General Ali Abdollahi wrote on his X account on Wednesday.

He said it seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly aerial refueling aircraft, could be stationed at regional bases without the knowledge of the host countries.

“We warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressive US military will be regarded as participation alongside US military forces,” Abdollahi warned.

Washington: US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was launching a major new campaign to target Iran's economy, threatening "tremendous" punishment on any country that helps or does business with the Islamic republic.

The intensified economic pressure campaign comes as the war nears its sixth month with no immediate diplomatic or military off-ramp in sight and the vital Strait of Hormuz still significantly choked-off.

With November elections quickly approaching, Trump is also facing renewed domestic scrutiny over the war's costs on US consumers and toll on the military.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) defense ministry said on Tuesday ​that it had detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, ‌the first such incident reported since a May 4 strike on the Fujairah port.

In a statement later, the ministry said the missiles targeted "maritime traffic" based on its assessments. ​Both missiles fell into the sea, it said.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed, data showed on Wednesday, as most shipowners avoided the ​key waterway because of a lack of clear signalling ‌on its reopening from a blockade during the Iran war.

Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, Kpler data showed by 0258 GMT, down from ​nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily ​average of 11.

Two medium-range fuel tankers and a post-Panamax vessel exited the strait.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said no talks were taking place with ​Iran and insisted the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting ​Iran's assertion that it remained shut to shipping.

The waterway handled a fifth of ‌the ⁠world's shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

As security concerns curb oil shipments to the world's largest importer, two Chinese shipping giants that used to carry half its imports ​of Middle Eastern ​oil before ⁠the war have kept their tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since ​late July, say tanker tracker Vortexa and a ship ​broker.

 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that no talks were taking place with Iran and none were scheduled, and he insisted that the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting an earlier Iranian assertion that the critical waterway remained closed to shipping.

The receding prospects of a deal to end the nearly six-month conflict drove up oil prices again on Tuesday, while stock markets sagged and borrowing costs for major economies including the U.S. hit multi-decade highs, amid concerns about the long-term inflationary and fiscal impact of the crisis.

A temporary ceasefire agreement expired on Monday and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that his country was moving to a “fully offensive” military posture ​due to the diplomatic stalemate, though there were no reports of fresh strikes by either side on Tuesday.

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, ​with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“The Naval Blockade remains in full force ⁠and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated,” he added.

On Monday, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy, had sounded ​an optimistic note, saying talks with Iran were still under way and were “probably more robust” than they had ever been.

The Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the U.S. meets the conditions ​of an interim deal signed with Iran in June, the top ‌Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments published by state media on Tuesday.

These conditions include ​the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports, lifting ​oil sanctions, releasing Tehran's frozen assets, and ending threats and military ⁠operations on all fronts, Qalibaf told parliament.

DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Iran will shift to a "fully offensive" military ​posture because efforts to negotiate a permanent end to the war with the U.S. have stalled, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, as Washington ruled out extending ‌a temporary ceasefire agreement.

Outward progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, threatening to extend the conflict that the U.S. and Israel launched with attacks on Iran on February 28.

"Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as Iran will be ready to make decisions and take action on difficult decisions," the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran would conduct a "timely and precise" military ​attack to break the U.S. naval blockade if diplomacy failed.

A memorandum of understanding signed in June to end the war had given Iran and the U.S. until Monday to reach a final ​peace agreement.

Signed on June 17, the memorandum set a 60-day time frame for a broader deal on Iran's nuclear programme and U.S. sanctions.

The agreement, which declared ⁠the "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts," quickly unravelled over a dispute about control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied ​natural gas flowed before the war.

Asked by reporters on Monday if the U.S. was seeking to extend June's interim agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump said no.

Hong Kong: Oil prices extended gains and stocks stuttered Tuesday as a US-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remained distant, a day after the deadline for a truce between the foes expired.

While soft US data this month has eased concerns that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates soon, traders still expect inflation to remain high for some time as the Middle East crisis continues and crude stays stuck around $90 a barrel.

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it "gets in the way" of a US deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender.

"If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them," Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks

Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements through the shipping route, and the foreign ministry in Tehran said earlier Monday that the two sides were working on a joint declaration.

Iran said on Monday that two French embassy employees involved in a diplomatic dispute last ​month would not be allowed to return ‌to Iran.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the two had violated the Vienna Convention - which defines the rules ​and privileges of diplomatic missions - engaging in activities ​supporting Iranian civil society.

"Insisting that these individuals were ⁠engaged in activities related to supporting civil ​society is itself an admission that the Vienna Convention ​was violated," Baghaei told a weekly press conference, without elaborating.

Oil prices rose on Monday as fading expectations of a U.S.-Iran peace breakthrough and slower tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reinforced geopolitical risk concerns in the market.

Brent crude ​futures rose as much as 1% to $89.40 per barrel and were last trading ​up 72 cents at $89.20 by 0229 GMT. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures ⁠rose 44 cents to $82.83 a barrel.

Both contracts gained more than 5% last week ​following attacks on tankers operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Hormuz ​strait and on a Saudi Aramco refinery.

Over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the U.S. while U.S. President Donald Trump urged Americans to accept ​slightly higher gasoline prices while the conflict continues.

“Oil prices have now rebounded almost completely ​from the lows seen in early August, as hopes for a more permanent resolution between the ‌U.S. ⁠and Iran have faded and geopolitical risk premiums have returned to the market,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights for Phillip Nova in Singapore.

Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army, Major General Amir Hatami, has issued a stern warning against any military mischief by the United States, saying the only way for the Americans is to leave the region as they would not be allowed to re-establish bases that aim to threaten and attack the Islamic Republic.

t a ceremony honoring journalists on Sunday, General Hatami addressed a number of issues, particularly the persistent American military threat and the recent provocative rhetoric by US President Donald Trump.

Referring to the US defeat and the devastating blows dealt by the Iranian Armed Forces, he said the Americans have effectively been expelled from the region and would no longer be allowed to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, or the Strait of Hormuz.

Everyone should know that the US bases can in no way return to their previous status, and Iran will never allow centers to be established in its neighborhood that aim to threaten the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he explained, emphasizing that the only way forward is for the Americans to leave the region.

The top commander also rebuked the US president for his recent remarks, saying Trump’s backtracking after declaring the Strait of Hormuz part of American territory showed that he remains delusional and is trying hard to portray himself as a winner, but in vain.

The Saudi civil defence agency issued an alert on Sunday warning of "potential danger" in southern Jazan province along the border with Yemen that has been targeted by Yemeni rebels recently.

"A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in the Jazan Province to alert of a potential danger," read the statement by the agency, with similar alerts usually issued ahead of potential strikes targeting an area.

The Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly targeted energy and petroleum installations in Jazan in recent weeks.

A years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month as fighting between regional allies of the United States and Iran flared.

Iran's military announced on Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman.

Army chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following a "large number of requests" to participate, according to the IRNA state news agency.

There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, with the exception of a rescue mission in April for a downed American airman.

Hatami did not provide any details on where or when the killing or capturing of US soldiers was expected to take place.

"Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army," Hatami said, using an informal unit equivalent to 10,000 Iranian rials.

"Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward," he added.

Hatami repeated Iran's call for the US to leave the Middle East, and said "they no longer have permission to enter the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz".

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was pleased by the recent signing of a defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan.

"Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way," he wrote, calling it a "BIG, BOLD, IMPORTANT FIRST STEP."

Flights at the port city of Bandar Abbas resumed on Saturday after repeated interruptions during hostilities with the United States, state media reported.

Kazem Tavassoli, director general of airports in Hormozgan province, said "scheduled flights at Bandar Abbas International Airport on high-traffic domestic routes resumed today," according to the IRNA state news agency.

The reopening comes "following limited flights in recent days", Tavassoli said, adding that passengers can now buy tickets for the Tehran-Bandar Abbas, Mashhad-Bandar Abbas and Bandar Abbas-Isfahan routes, in both directions.

The airport "handled 35 to 40 domestic and international flights per day" before the war, Tavassoli said. The airport has been repeatedly closed since the conflict with the United States began in February.

Qatar has categorically denied holding Iranian pilots.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X: "We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots & are surprised by these misleading statements."

Qatar rescuers "carried out their duties to the fullest" searching for the pilots, he added.

It had "communicated with the Iranian side to coordinate the handover of the remains of one of the pilots who was found", said Ansari.

"Qatar also issued an invitation for an Iranian team to visit the Qatar to be briefed on the details of the search & rescue operations in April, but the Iranian side has yet to respond to the invitation," he added.

Donald Trump's envoys meet with Egyptian, Qatari and ​Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, a diplomatic source said, in a bid to advance the ‌U.S. president's Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes in the enclave.

Hamas officials were present at some of the meetings between mediators and with Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Nickolay Mladenov, Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, the diplomat said.

A ​senior Israeli official said that Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister ​Benjamin Netanyahu, who on August 9 said Trump's latest roadmap for Gaza peace was 'unacceptable'.

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday blamed Iran for attacking a vessel belonging to state-owned oil giant ADNOC in the Hormuz strait, the latest incident in the waterway at the centre of the US-Iran conflict.

Tehran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait, a vital shipping route for global energy supplies, carrying out strikes on commercial ships since the war began in February.

The Islamic republic has said it wants to charge users for passage, which Washington fiercely opposes.

The UAE's foreign ministry condemned what it called a "hostile Iranian attack that targeted a vessel affiliated with ADNOC", the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

It added that "targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps", the most powerful arm of Tehran's military.

Iran called on the U.S. to ​accept defeat on Saturday, while President Donald Trump blasted Tehran as "very evil" and told Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war.

Progress towards ‌peace talks and oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained halted, with no sign the warring parties were moving toward ending the conflict that the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28.

"This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran's command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

Trump, on the other hand, urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices while the conflict continues.

He told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is ​worth the cost of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the war.

"After we finish defeating Iran ... pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a ​territory of the United States," said Trump.

Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent.

In a trend that has sparked inflation and disappointed voters, the average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline was about $4.08 on Friday, up 29% from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.

GARDEN CITY, United States: President Donald Trump said Friday he would “finish defeating” Iran and “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory.

 Trump has repeatedly claimed that the key energy waterway, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war, is under US control — an assertion the Islamic republic denies

“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.

“It’s true,” he added.

Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it ​could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.

A senior Iranian source said on Wednesday that there had been no progress in talks to build on a June agreement to ‌end the war. As a ceasefire renewed then broke down, Iran has resumed attacks on ships it accuses of trying to transit the strait without its permission.

Two vessels from the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked transiting the strait on Thursday evening, UAE state news agency WAM reported. The United Arab Emirates government blamed Iran, which made no immediate comment.

Nine vessels passed through the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Gulf on Thursday, up ​from five on Wednesday but below the average for August of 12, according to ship-tracking company Kpler.

There were no visible crossings by vessels seen early on Friday, according to ship-tracking data.

Iran warned on Thursday of environmental degradation in the Strait of Hormuz after an oil spill reached its southern Qeshm island, calling for compensation from those responsible.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the slick had "degraded the waters" of the Gulf and Sea of Oman, claiming "preliminary evidence indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source".

TankerTrackers, a US-hosted website that monitors shipping movements worldwide, said however that the spill seemed to derive from an Iranian attack on bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer in Omani waters on August 3.

"The spillage then drifted across the strait over to Iran," it said.

Baqaei wrote on X that such spills have in "recent decades imposed trillions of dollars in damage on Iran's coastal areas", calling for compensation.

"Every party that benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz carries both a legal and a moral obligation to remediate the environmental harm inflicted," he added.

The spill had reached Qeshm island but had been "almost completely cleaned up by Wednesday evening", said Habib Masihi, head of the environmental protection department in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan.

The top US priority now in the Iran war is no longer its nuclear program but to bring gasoline prices down for American consumers, the vice president said Thursday, with the treasury secretary adding that new economic punishment to wear down Tehran is imminent.

The comments by Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent illustrate the powerful leverage Tehran has gained by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon -- consistently touted by President Donald Trump as his main reason for the war -- now takes a back seat to getting oil flowing again freely through the strait, Vance said on Fox News.

Vance's comments underscored the stark reality that the war now centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical fuel supply conduit that was open before Trump started the war along with Israel in late February.

Iran has all but shut it down in retaliation and thus found a crucial bargaining chip against Trump as he struggles to find a way out of the war and shies away from resuming large-scale attacks.

The 80-year-old president's approval rating is plummeting, the war is unpopular among Americans and midterm elections are approaching in November.

Republicans fear Trump and the war, which has caused gasoline prices to soar, will cost them their control of Congress.

The U.S. has received several warnings from Israel over the past year that Iran intended to assassinate President Donald Trump, ​including before a secret Air Force One ruse in Turkey, that U.S. intelligence officials could not independently verify, according to a current U.S. official and two former officials.

The warnings, passed to ‌U.S. intelligence agencies and in some cases relayed directly by Israeli officials to senior White House officials, included possible plots to shoot Trump with a sniper or recruit someone to attack him with a knife at a large public event, the sources said. The tips began in the lead-up to the 12-day war in June 2025 and intensified prior to the U.S. decision to go to war in Iran in February, the sources said.

The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July, the ​U.S. official and the other person familiar with the matter said. Israeli officials briefed the White House about intelligence that indicated Iran may try to kill Trump, potentially with a shoulder-launched missile, while he ​traveled on Air Force One for the summit, the officials said.

The U.S. intelligence community has long assessed that Iran wants to retaliate for Trump’s killing of Iranian ⁠military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020. But the Central Intelligence Agency has not been able to corroborate some of the specific threats against Trump's life shared by Israeli intelligence since early last year, the officials said.

The U.S. military has enough assets to maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, adding ships could be rotated in and out ​of the region as needed.

Hegseth's comments suggest he is advising U.S. President Donald Trump that the ‌U.S. military can keep applying economic pressure on Iran for as long as needed to help so-far failed negotiations to end the conflict, begun in February.

"Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we'll rotate ships in and out, as ​we have, and we'll continue to," Hegseth told reporters.

He spoke in Panama after addressing the crew aboard ​the USS Gridley, a guided-missile destroyer, which had previously deployed to the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management", ‌the recently appointed head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit said on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States had "total control" of the strategic waterway.

Hossein Taeb said the U.S. had sought to disrupt what he described as ​the Islamic Republic's popularity in the region by launching another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but ​had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force nor ⁠a navy.

Iran and the United States remain ​at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source, who ‌said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a time frame to implement it.

The comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump issued yet another broadside against Iran's leaders, dealing a further blow to hopes for a resolution to the crisis, following new attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday.

The deal agreed in June declared ​an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", but quickly unravelled, with Trump saying it was "over" on July 7 and Iran's foreign ​ministry declaring it "suspended" a week later.

The U.S. accuses Iran of failing to honor an agreement under the deal to reopen the ⁠vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Tehran says Washington has reneged on its commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

"One ​of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a time frame for implementing the commitments. There has ​been absolutely no progress on this issue," the Iranian source said.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Iran set up to manage the waterway, has rejected Trump’s claim that the US fully controls the Strait of Hormuz.

“Claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality: the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted,” it said in a statement shared on social media.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has stressed that the Islamic Republic has never violated international law and has consistently sought to maintain and strengthen good relations with its neighboring countries.

“Iran has never sought unrest in the region. The US and the Zionist regime have disrupted peace and stability in the region by attacking Iran, assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, killing many civilians, including students of Minab, and destroying civilian infrastructure,” Pezeshkian said during a phone call with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday.

He expressed hope that Japan’s diplomatic efforts to promote peace and stability in the region would bear fruit and help prevent further crimes and the aggressors' expansion of the war.

Takaichi, for her part, reaffirmed Tokyo’s support for diplomatic efforts to end the war, stressing that a cessation of hostilities would serve the long-term interests of Iran and the wider region.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic destruction" in the country's south as a violation of international law, as Israel's defence minister said its military was "destroying all the houses" there.

Salam said Israeli "attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic destruction of homes", infrastructure, government buildings and places of worship "represent a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law and international humanitarian law".

Claiming that villages and towns "are entirely 'military facilities' does not stand up to any logic and cannot be used as an excuse for destroying them, displacing their inhabitants and preventing them from returning", he said in a statement.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" there and saying the Israeli military was "destroying the underground infrastructure" in the area and "destroying all the houses".

Oil prices eased on Thursday after gains in previous sessions, as attention turned ‌to expectations of weaker global oil demand this year, while there was no progress on opening the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Brent futures slipped 42 cents, or 0.47%, to $88.56 a barrel by 0405 GMT. U.S., trimming gains made over the previous six sessions.

West Texas ​Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 55 cents, or 0.66%, to $82.72, after advancing over the past five sessions.

Iran and the United States remain at ​loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source, who said there ‌had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a time frame to implement it.

The comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump issued yet another broadside against Iran’s leaders, dealing a further blow to hopes for a resolution to the crisis, following new attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday.

The deal agreed in June declared an “immediate and permanent ​termination of military operations on all fronts”, but quickly unravelled, with Trump saying it was “over” on July 7 and Iran’s foreign ministry declaring it “suspended” ​a week later.

The U.S. accuses Iran of failing to honor an agreement under the deal to reopen the vital Strait ⁠of Hormuz shipping route. Tehran says Washington has reneged on its commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

“One of the issues ​that is being discussed via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a time frame for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no ​progress on this issue,” the Iranian source said.

Four crew members were killed in an ​attack by Houthis on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, Yemen's transport ministry said, while the U.S. military said it struck a container ‌ship attempting to sail toward an Iranian port.

Two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed in the Bab el-Mandeb attack, Yemen's Coast Guard said.

The fatalities aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah, if confirmed, would mark the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began on February 28.

There have been no talks on extending ‌a ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. under an interim deal, with Iran saying that Washington must return to the pact and define a timeframe to implement its commitments, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The source's comments came after Turkey's Anadolu ​news agency, citing sources, reported that Tehran and Washington had agreed to extend a ​60-day ceasefire under their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

"One of the issues that is being discussed ⁠via mediators is the U.S. returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing its ​commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue," the source said.

The interim deal signed in June between ​Tehran and Washington declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", but quickly unravelled, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying on July 7 that the pact was "over". Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of consistently violating its commitments.

"There is no ​talk of an extension because ... the United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached ​and withdrew from it a few days later," the source told Reuters.

Oil and gold prices climbed on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions ratcheted up ahead of key U.S. inflation data.

The yen slid against the dollar, having unwound much of its gains following rare intervention in currency markets by Japan and the United States. ​The regional share benchmark rose, led by gains in South Korean stocks.

The U.S. and Yemen's  Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping, while Asia ‌was rattled by an early morning missile launch by North Korea. Markets remained focused on U.S. consumer price index data later in the session for signals of timing for a potential Federal Reserve rate hike.

"Market sentiment is lukewarm amidst lingering geopolitical risk and as market participants head into U.S. CPI data," Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note.

"The lack ​of substantial news or progress in talks, with Iran doubling down on its commitment to govern the Strait of Hormuz, is keeping the risk for ​oil prices skewed to the upside and U.S. indices on hold," he added.

U.S. crude rose 0.61% to $83.71 a barrel and Brent ⁠rose to $89.46 per barrel, up 0.62% on the day and poised for a sixth straight daily gain. Both benchmarks settled more than $1 higher on Tuesday, marking their ​highest closes since July 31 and extending gains after jumping about 5% on Monday.

Saudi crude ​exports from the Red Sea are increasingly vanishing from view as tankers switch off tracking signals to avoid attacks ‌by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, with analysts saying all recent Yanbu loadings have been conducted "dark".

The Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia on July 20, opening a new front against the United States and its allies in the Iran war.

The growing use ​of so-called dark voyages is clouding visibility into Saudi oil exports, making it harder to assess the ⁠degree to which the Houthi threats may be disrupting crude flows.

Ship-tracking firms have produced widely differing export estimates - data which is used ​by the International Energy Agency, OPEC and traders to assess global oil supply and forecast market trends.

In the week beginning August 3, data ​analytics firm Vortexa estimated Yanbu loadings fell to 2.38 million barrels per day from 2.71 million the previous week, while Kpler estimated a sharper drop to 1.78 million bpd from 4.04 million, and AXSMarine calculated a rise to 850,000 bpd from about 420,000 bpd.

A former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency on Tuesday said its spies had visited Iran's Fordow nuclear site "many times" in the past in order to better understand the facility.

In June last year, Israel launched a war against its arch-foe Iran with the stated goal of degrading its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, which it said posed an "existential threat".

The United States military briefly joined Israel during the 12-day conflict, and used its advanced aircraft to bomb three Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

"We toured the Fordow nuclear site many times to understand the site," Yossi Cohen, who led the Mossad between 2015 and 2021, said during a conference of local authorities on Tuesday, Israeli media reported.

He didn't elaborate on when exactly the visits took place or who made them.

According to Israeli media, Cohen said "the bombing of the site by the Americans was the fulfillment of all my dreams".

Iran's nuclear programme has long been a major point of contention between it and the West, including in negotiations aimed at ending the current war that Israel and the US launched against it in February.

Tehran has denied that it is seeking to produce a nuclear bomb.

The tally of vessels tracked in the Strait of Hormuz fell to a ​one-week low of eight on Tuesday, ‌shipping data showed, as owners avoided the key waterway amid continued hostilities in the Middle East.

The United States ​and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks ​as prospects appeared to dim for an ⁠end to the Iran war, with Tehran ​saying the strait would stay closed unless Washington ​accepted its conditions.

Tuesday's tally of eight vessels fell below a 10-day average of about 12, for the lowest ​daily count since August 5, Kpler data ​showed. Only one, a coal carrier, exited the strait, while ‌the ⁠rest were still making their way through.

The seven entering all took the Iranian route.

Separate LSEG data showed 11 transits on Tuesday, down from ​14 the ​prior day.

About ⁠130 to 140 ships typically transited the strait before Iran closed ​the waterway since the U.S.-Israeli attacks began ​on ⁠February 28.

The tally of 30 vessels crossing the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of ⁠the ​Red Sea on Tuesday was ​above a 10-day average of 25, Kpler data showed.

A US helicopter fired missiles on Tuesday into the engine room of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that attempted to break the American blockade of Iran's ports, the United States military said.

The US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired on and disabled the M/V Vela Nova "after the ship's civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X, adding that the vessel "is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the US blockade."

It was the third time the United States, in a months-long war against Iran, has forcibly halted a vessel since reinstating the ports blockade on July 14.

CENTCOM said it has redirected 55 ships that tried to run the blockade and boarded two others as of Tuesday.

US forces previously blockaded Iranian ports from April 13 to June 18, during which they disabled nine ships and redirected more than 140, according to CENTCOM.

Warship builder TKMS is ​seeing increased demand from ‌the Middle East region in the ​wake of the ​Iran war, the group's ⁠CEO told journalists ​on Wednesday, singling ​out mine countermeasure technology as a field where ​this was playing ​out.

"We didn't have that before," ‌Oliver ⁠Burkhard said after presenting nine-month results. "We'll probably all agree ​that ​the ⁠security narrative in this region ​has shifted ​a ⁠bit."

Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he secretly switched planes because of a threat to his life, after the Washington Post revealed the US president was smuggled out of Air Force One to a different aircraft on a catering truck.

"They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane -- equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say," Trump told reporters during a gaggle.

"I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it."

The newspaper reported Monday that the secret operation reportedly smuggled Trump off Air Force One before the plane departed, still carrying journalists and top aides who remained at apparent risk of an Iranian strike.

Trump covertly exited the presidential plane while it was on the ground in Turkey on July 8.

Pakistan said on Tuesday the United States and Iran were close to "some sort" of deal, and fellow mediator Qatar said talks ​on managing the Strait of Hormuz were at an advanced stage, despite reports of new attacks on shipping in regional waters.

The comments offered some hope that Iran ‌and the U.S. can end a stalemate that has in effect blocked the vital waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war. Prospects for a deal had appeared to dim on Monday after the sides' latest remarks and demands.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said "things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal."

"The signals in the last two three ​days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement."

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to hold discussions with senior Iranian officials. According to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, the visit is part of Islamabad's ongoing diplomatic efforts to mediate and resolve the conflict between Iran and the United States.

The trip comes exactly a month after Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni traveled to Islamabad for bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to six on Monday, compared ​with a 10-day average of about 11 vessels, ‌shipping data showed, amid fading hopes of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.

Four commodity vessels, including two empty ​oil product tankers, entered the waterway, data ​from Kpler showed on Tuesday as of 0420 ⁠GMT. Two vessels — a small tanker laden with ​liquefied petroleum gas and another carrying residual fuels — exited ​the Strait, the data showed.

In pre-war days, about 130 to 140 ships typically transited the strait.

On Monday, 25 vessels transited the Bab ​el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea, broadly unchanged ​when compared with the 10-day average of nearly 24 ships, ‌Kpler ⁠data showed.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday responded to Iran’s conditions for a peace deal by laying out his own demands that Iran pay compensation for people ​killed in wars, ​attacks and ⁠protests.

The proposal was a response to Tehran's demands for compensation and an end ​to sanctions. The Iranian demands were largely ​in ⁠line with the terms of a preliminary peace deal signed in June, which has since broken down.

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei named Revolutionary Guards general Ali Abdollahi head of the country's armed forces on Monday, while also confirming a new commander of the Guards, putting his imprimatur on the country's military.

Abdollahi had previously led the Khatam al-Anbiya, Iran's inter-branch central military command tasked with coordinating operations.

An statement on Khamenei's website announced that "Major General Ali Abdollahi has been appointed chief of staff of the armed forces. Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi has also been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the rank of major general."

The pair represent Khamenei's first senior military appointments since being named supreme leader early in the Middle East war after the death of his father in US-Israeli strikes.

Abdollahi has issued bellicose threats over the course of the war, warning regional neighbours earlier this month that "any country serving as a defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war."

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. Navy has swept the "entire" Strait of Hormuz for mines, claiming that the crucial waterway is open and fully under United States control.

Trump made the remarks during a press availability at the White House as Tehran has reportedly said that the strait, a vital shipping route for oil, natural gas and other commodities, would remain closed until Washington agreed to its demands, including war reparations and the lifting of a U.S. naval blockade.

"It's open now. Look, the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the U.S. Navy," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday demanded Iran pay compensation for the people he said it had ​killed in wars, attacks and protests, raising the rhetorical stakes with Tehran as hopes faded for an imminent deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said he was ‌responding to Iran's earlier call for Washington to meet conditions, including recompensing Tehran for the damage caused since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on its territory more than five months ago.

"I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous," Trump wrote on his Truth Social service.

Oil prices, which had risen earlier on the Iranian comments, extended ​gains after Trump's post, with Brent crude up 4.25% at 1720 GMT.

Leaking crude oil from ‌a tanker grounded off a nature reserve in Oman has created a slick covering almost 400 square kilometres, the country's government said on Monday.

The Caroline Bezengi is loaded with close to one million barrels of Russian oil ​bound for Asia and first reported difficulties on June 8 off Yemen, with two maritime security ​sources saying initial assessments indicated a blast had occurred onboard.

No party has taken ⁠responsibility for attacking the vessel.

Oman, in its first public disclosure on the environmental impact, said on ​Monday it was seeking to tackle the oil leak near the Hallaniyat Islands.

Oman's Sultan Haitham bin ​Tarik issued a royal decree last year creating a nature reserve around the islands, an area that is home to wildlife including Arabian Sea humpback whales and Socotra cormorants.

The oil slick covers some 390 square km (150 square miles), ​Oman's Environment Authority said in a statement carried by the state news agency.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei has appointed former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaei as his representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

According to an official decree released on Sunday, the Leader praised Rezaei’s “valuable experiences” and described him as “one of the pioneers of the eight-year Sacred Defense” – the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

Rezaei, who commanded the IRGC from 1981 to 1997, currently serves as a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and Secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination.

The decree also extended gratitude to Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr for his “round-the-clock efforts” in the role, thanking the outgoing representative for his service.

“I hope you will achieve complete success in carrying out this important responsibility,” the Leader wrote in the decree, adding, “Under the blessings of our master, Imam Mahdi, may you always remain a devoted soldier for the proud nation of Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.

"I want to emphasise once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.

Oil prices rose on Monday on uncertainty over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz anytime soon, as ​Iran said a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes was ‌in its final stages but insisted the U.S. must still meet other conditions.

Brent crude futures rose 91 cents or 1.09%, to $84.46 a barrel by 0056 GMT, while U.S. West ​Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 61 cents, or 0.78% to $78.79 a barrel.

Both ​benchmarks had fallen more than 7% last week on hopes that ⁠Iran and Oman were close to reaching a deal that would result ​in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of ​the world’s oil before the war.

While Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman was in its “final stages”, it reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once Washington met other ​conditions, including U.S. compensation to Iran for its widespread attacks.

Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz ​but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats, before the strategic waterway is reopened.

A U.S. official told ‌Reuters on Friday that Iran and Oman were close to a deal that could pave the way for restoring safe passage through the strait, a major conduit for oil and gas shipping before Iran blocked Hormuz in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks on Tehran that began in late February.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday an agreement with Oman on the strait was in its "final stages" but reiterated comments made on Saturday that Tehran would not reopen the ​channel unless the U.S. met certain demands made by Tehran.

The deal with Iran would set out the new shipping lanes to be used once the U.S. fulfils those conditions ​and the strait is reopened, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

Tehran’s national security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr issued a list of demands for the US to fulfill before Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

State media published the list of requirements from Zolghadr, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. The list includes measures such as lifting the US naval blockade, withdrawing military forces and permanently ending the war.

Zolghadr also calls for the US to compensate Iran for damage caused by the conflict and release frozen Iranian assets.

“These are the demands of the Iranian people, which they have loudly proclaimed during 160 days of steadfast presence in the field and in the streets,” the politician said.

“Until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened,” his statement read. 

The head of Iran’s Media Basij Organization says 353 media employees have been martyred in three imposed wars on the country in the 1980s, 2025 and earlier this year. 

Morteza Karamouzian released the death toll on Sunday, saying that the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war left 333 Iranian media personnel dead and the illegal US-Israeli aggression in June 2025 killed 12 others, including two employees of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

Eight more media staff were martyred during the third imposed war, which was launched on February 28 by the United States and the Zionist regime and came to a halt in early April after 40 days, he added.

Karamouzian also noted that 268 media workers affiliated with the Resistance Front have been martyred, including six who were killed during the third imposed war.

Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz was in its final stages but reiterated ​that the waterway would only reopen once the United States met other conditions.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Friday that an agreement between Iran and Oman was close and could ‌soon reopen the waterway, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before Iran blocked it in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday an agreement on the strait that lies between the two countries was in the “final stages” but repeated comments made on Saturday that it would not reopen it unless other conditions were met.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, vital to the world economy, until the United States met Tehran's conditions set out the day before, including compensation for war damages.

Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait since the United States and Israel attacked in late February, and wants to charge tolls for passage, striking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.

Continued attacks in the waterway, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire. Mediators have urged both sides to return to the terms of a subsequent June memorandum that set out a path for peace talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were "approaching the final stages", but added that the reopening of Hormuz "is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation" of the June agreement.

He denied on Sunday that Iran was negotiating with the United States, saying they were merely "exchanging messages" via intermediaries.

Iran's security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday laid out a list of demands for reopening the strait, including an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq".

He also demanded the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, according to remarks reported by the Tasnim news agency.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast after the Gulf kingdom said it had extinguished a fire at the site.

The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone, and the strike was precise".

He added the attack on the facility operated by Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil firm was launched in response to incursions by drones from the Gulf monarchy into northwest Yemen.

A 2022 truce in Yemen's civil war, which Saudi Arabia entered more than a decade ago on the side of the internationally recognised government, appeared to collapse last month.

On Sunday two military sources with the internationally recognised, Aden-based government said the Houthis attacked the city of Mokha on Yemen's Red Sea coast with missiles and drones.

Residents in the government-controlled city confirmed to AFP they heard blasts in the area with one saying they heard "six consecutive explosions" in the port.

One of the two government military sources said air defences had engaged the Houthi attacks.

In July the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.

Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close but would not be enough to ‌free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran had hit another ship there.

Agreement between Iran and Oman over the strait is seen as vital to a wider deal to end the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 and led to Tehran establishing a chokehold over the major energy export route.

A U.S. official, who declined to be identified, had said on Friday that Washington anticipated an agreement soon between Iran and ​Oman, which sit on either side of the strait, so that normal oil traffic could resume.

Yemen's Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at displacement camps and residential neighbourhoods in the ‌city of Marib on Friday, killing two people and wounding 14, state news agency SABA reported, citing local authorities.

Yemen's army said early on Saturday it had responded against Houthi forces on several fronts along the lines of contact. The army did not give details of the operations or say when they took place, but said it would respond ​to any further targeting of its units with what it called necessary military measures

WASHINGTON/RIYADH: A U.S. official on Friday reported progress between Iran and Oman that could soon reopen the Strait ​of Hormuz, potentially restoring oil exports that have been disrupted by the five-month-old U.S. war with Iran.

The U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said Washington anticipated ‌an agreement soon between the two countries, which sit on either side of the strait, so that normal oil traffic could resume.

A deal between Iran and Oman over control of the strategic waterway is seen as crucial to a wider peace agreement.

"There is progress between Oman and Iran on the strait, and we expect a deal soon," a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday. "Once the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States ​will lift the blockade of Iranian ports."

Oil prices reversed course and climbed on U.S. job losses reported by the federal ​government and worries over talks between Iranian and U.S. negotiators to end fighting that has lasted five months.

Brent crude futures were ‌up 84 cents, or 1.02%, at $83.33 a barrel at 10:28 a.m. CDT (1528 GMT). West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 89 cents, or 1.15%, to $78.18.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement ​in Makkah on Friday, wedding Muslim U.S. allies alarmed at a regional conflagration that has rained missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters.

The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all, they said in a joint statement.

While the statement did not give specifics on the commitments or obligations each had accepted under ​what it called the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, it said the pact was aimed at strengthening their collective security and promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond.

A Turkish ​official said the agreement was defensive in nature, was not directed against any specific actor, was open to other regional countries, and did not abrogate or ⁠replace any existing bilateral or multilateral arrangements.

Saudi Arabia expects imminent ​coordinated attacks from Iraqi militias north of the Gulf state and from Yemen's Houthis from the south under ‌the supervision of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a senior Saudi official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late on Thursday that intelligence reports from Saudi Arabia, the United States and other regional countries indicated civilian and economic sites could be targeted, including energy infrastructure, ports and airports.

An attack by Yemen’s Houthis on southern Saudi ​Arabia wounded 11 civilians on Thursday, a military official said, as the kingdom warned that coordinated attacks by ‌the Houthis and Iraqi militias were imminent.

Major General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said early Friday the attack in southern Najran Province injured seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani national.

The victims included a 4-year-old child who suffered second-degree ​burns.

MarineTraffic data shows at least seven commercial ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the last 24 hours as Iranian and Omani officials near a framework for partially reopening the waterway.

Six vessels moved into the Persian Gulf — five cargo ships and one tanker — while one cargo ship exited into the Gulf of Oman. 

Oil prices edged lower on Friday as investors weighed ​signals that Gulf states and Iran were closing in on a deal to reopen the Strait of ‌Hormuz under a temporary arrangement aimed at allowing for broader talks to bring the Iran war to a close.

Brent crude futures were down 57 cents, or 0.7%, at $81.92 a barrel at 1014 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $76.96.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States has a vast supply of munitions and threatened those who suggested otherwise with jail terms as his frustration with the Iran war boiled over.

The Republican leader lashed out on his Truth Social platform at media reports about the dwindling weapons stockpile, saying that the United States has "massive amounts of 'munitions' especially of certain types," without giving further detail.

"Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country's history," he said.

The Washington Post reported that Trump demanded answers about the munitions shortages from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth last Friday, when they attended a cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat.

Trump told Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue "had been fixed," the Post reported, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the exchange.

Trump railed against the media reports, threatening on Thursday that "the 'leakers' of these treasonous statements are being hunted down" and "Long term jail sentences will be sought!"

CNN also reported that shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors had affected Trump's strategy in the conflict with Iran, with the US military having "nearly exhausted 80%" of its stock of THAAD interceptors.

Yemen's Houthis on Thursday said they had attacked government positions in response to an alleged military buildup by neighbouring Saudi Arabia, while medical sources said at least 38 Yemeni troops were killed.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused the kingdom of a "large Saudi military buildup" to prepare for attacks. "Therefore, our armed forces conducted a large-scale and precise military operation targeting Saudi enemy troop concentrations," he added, referring to the Saudi-backed government's forces.

Oil continued its rise on Friday amid further concerns around the opening of the Strait of Hormuz as Iran, working with Oman, ​suggested banning vessels deemed hostile from the strait and heavily fining those ‌who violated the proposed rules.

Brent crude futures rose 99 cents, or 1.2%, to $83.48 a barrel by 0010 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 85 cents, or 1.1%, to $78.84.

Oil futures settled ​up at over $3 a barrel on Thursday as Iran reviewed a bill to ​ban U.S. and Israeli vessels from the Strait of Hormuz where ⁠roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transmitted before ​the war began at the end of February.

Prices fell earlier in the week as ​a possible solution to the ongoing conflict looked more likely but benchmark Brent breached $80 on Thursday after falling below that for the first time since July 13.

“Markets have already seen at least ​one short-lived arrangement earlier this year, so confidence that a new pact would ​fully restore normal tanker movements remains low,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, ‌noting ⁠skepticism had put a floor under prices.

Global crude prices have fallen back towards $80 a barrel on expectations that a U.S.-Iran dealwill reopen the Strait of Hormuz, echoing the market response before the largely failed mid-June ceasefire. But the global energy market is now far more precarious, making traders' optimism even less justified.

Brent crude oil has tumbled from its recent high of roughly $100 a barrel on July 23 to around $80 after U.S., Iranian and Gulf officials indicated they were closing in on a new ​arrangement that could restore at least partial transit through Hormuz. The critical waterway carried around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

Israel claimed two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday while Lebanese ​authorities said Israeli retaliatory attacks killed at least one person, a ‌flare-up in violence that coincided with the latest round of talks between the two countries.

The Rome talks, which began on Tuesday and are expected to continue through Thursday, come after ​the two countries agreed in June to a U.S.-brokered security arrangement ​intended to ease hostilities along the border.

US Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that deal negotiations with Iran would “be messy” and take time, saying that “the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people” with “a fractured system.”

“Our job is to navigate through that and get the best outcome for the American people, but for the President of the United States as well,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday evening. “And I do think that where we will ultimately land — it’s going to be messy, and it’s going to take some time to get there — where we will ultimately land, as you see, oil I think was at $79 today. Those oil prices are going to come down and stay down. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and the United States will be in a stronger position”

“But we’re kind of in the middle of the game, and I think people are trying to prejudge exactly how this is going to go,” he added. 

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that communication with the country's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was very "difficult at the moment".

Khamenei, who was wounded in the US-Israeli strike that launched the Middle East war, has not appeared in public since succeeding his father, who was killed in the same attack.

"It is very difficult to communicate with him at the moment, but in any case, his presence is a very great source of strength for us so that we can continue," Pezeshkian said.

The younger Khamenei has communicated through written statements but his low profile at a time when Iran is in conflict with the United States has led to speculation about his relations with other top officials.

He notably did not appear at his father's funeral ceremonies last month.

Pezeshkian defended his leader, however, insisting he had been able to hold productive meetings with him and been met with "kindness and very sound logic".

"Unfortunately, the current situation allows some malicious people to describe him differently and to present a different image of him," he said.

Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday that they attacked two Saudi oil tankers, as the rebels pressed on with their maritime blockade of the kingdom.

These were the eighth and ninth Saudi oil tankers targeted since the start of the blockade last month, according to figures given by a Houthi military spokesman.

Saudi authorities had no immediate comment on the report.

The group "successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker Wafa in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a number of ballistic missiles," Yahya Saree said, in a video statement.

In a later statement, Saree said the rebels targeted the "Saudi oil tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden with a ballistic missile", referring to the waterway that connects to the Red Sea.

Two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed during combat in southern Lebanon, the military said Thursday, where Israel has been fighting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The army identified them as Major Harel Birenstock, 34, a company commander in the 2855th Battalion of the 55th Brigade, and Sergeant Major Tamir Vaknin, 33, in the same battalion.

NEW YORK:  Oil prices edged lower on ​Wednesday on revived expectations of a de-escalation in Iran war hostilities that could restore shipping traffic in ‌the Strait of Hormuz and oil flows in the Middle East.

However, losses were capped by a maritime embargo declared by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi ports and vessels, heightening risks to Red Sea shipping.

Brent crude futures were down 60 cents, or 0.76%, at $78.76 a barrel by ​1:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell $1.19, or 1.57%, to $74.58.

Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on the geographic coordinates for a ​shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, and ‌a joint announcement is being finalised, provided certain third parties did not interfere, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on ​Wednesday.

Baghaei added that any such agreement between Iran ​and Oman would not, by itself, guarantee security ⁠in the strategic waterway.

The proposed deal between Iran and ​Oman would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf ​through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters on Wednesday, in one of the ​biggest concessions yet to Iran.

Despite the apparent step towards ​yielding to Iranian demands, the sources pushed back against assertions by ‌U.S. ⁠President Donald Trump that a deal reopening the strait was imminent, saying important details still had to be agreed.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei described the negotiations ​between Tehran and ​Muscat as "professional" ⁠and "moving forward", saying "the two sides had reached a mutual understanding on the geographical parameters ​of the route under discussion".

US President Donald Trump said his administration had "very good discussions" with Iran during all-day negotiations ​on Tuesday, fuelling expectations of an imminent end to the five-month conflict.

Oil prices fell and stocks jumped in Asian trade on Wednesday ‌after Wall Street hit record highs on hopes that a deal could soon be reached to restore traffic through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has ​often threatened massive strikes if Tehran did not reach an agreement and then cited progress in talks that have so far failed to ​end hostilities.

Axios, citing two regional sources and a U.S. official, reported the U.S. and Iran are closing in on an ⁠interim agreement to reopen the strait with the agreement of Oman, which controls part of the waterway. The report said Washington was aiming for an ​announcement on Wednesday.

However, Iranian state media, citing an informed source, said an agreement with Oman on the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of global ​oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, will be delayed "as long as the United States continues to threaten Iran."

Iraq exported over 30 million barrels of crude oil in one month through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler showed on Tuesday.

Before the Middle East war, which choked shipments through the vital waterway, Iraq produced around four million barrels per day, and exported an average of 105 million barrels per month, mostly from its Basra oil terminal via Hormuz.

Around 30 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil passed through Hormuz between July 4 and August 4, according to vessels detected by Kpler.

Ali Nizar, the head of Iraq's State Organisation for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), said in a TV interview Monday that Iraq exported in July "35.5 to 37 million barrels" via Hormuz.

Another seven million barrels were exported through an Iraq-Turkey pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Coast guards rescued the crew of an Indian-flagged commercial ship that sank in the Red Sea on Tuesday after an attack, a local official in the Yemeni city of Mokha said, with New Delhi condemning the "unprovoked" aggression.

Yemen's internationally recognised government blamed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the attack, according to the official Saba news agency.

Last month, the Houthis declared a Red Sea maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude, and have since claimed several attacks on oil tankers and infrastructure.

All of the MSV Faize Noore Oliya's crew members, comprising 13 Indian nationals and one Yemeni, were rescued after the vessel came under attack south of the port city of Hodeida, the official from Mokha said.

Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on X that the vessel was "hit by a projectile near Yemeni waters".

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Wednesday that they had attacked a Saudi oil tanker off Yanbu, in the Red Sea, as the rebels pressed on with their declared maritime blockade of the Saudi Arabia.

The group "successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker 'Wafa' in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a number of ballistic missiles," their military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement, adding this was the eighth ship they targeted since the start of the blockade on July 22.

US President Donald Trump said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as soon as Wednesday but warned Iran it would get "hit very hard" if negotiations fell through.

Transit of the waterway, a key conduit for global oil and gas supplies, has been a sticking point in talks and led to renewed fighting following an April ceasefire.

Iran has tightened its grip on Hormuz and wants to control the strait and charge tolls -- powers it did not exercise before the war began on February 28.

Trump said Tuesday a deal with Iran to reopen Hormuz could happen "tomorrow or the next day," telling reporters in California that negotiators "had a very good day."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is seeking a long-term agreement with Iran centred on denuclearisation, while efforts continue to secure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and ease pressure on global energy markets.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a deal could be reached as early as Wednesday, sending oil prices lower on hopes of reduced supply risks.

Meanwhile, Lebanon and Israel held US-sponsored talks in Rome as Beirut pushed for a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. 

DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Qatar said mediators were making progress in efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war on Tuesday, although Tehran ‌has denied President Donald Trump's assertion that talks are already under way.

Oil prices fell quickly after the comments from Qatar, with Brent crude down more than 2%, extending Monday's steep losses on hopes that an arrangement could soon be reached to unfreeze traffic through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. But for now, the strait remained virtually shut, with another ship reportedly coming under attack while trying to cross it.

Trump said on Monday that talks with Tehran had started and Iran faced ​a "last chance" to reach a deal. Iranian officials insisted no negotiations with the United States were taking place. Iran says its only talks are with Oman about the strait, and ​that no major meetings were planned this week.

"They are going on right now," Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event on Monday when asked ⁠about negotiations, adding that discussions were taking place at the request of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. "This is a last chance for them (Iran) to sign a good document."

Qatar's foreign ministry ​spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said diplomatic contacts had reached "very progressive stages".

Oil prices fell by around 4% on Tuesday to a three-week low after comments by Qatar and ‌U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict, which would improve oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Front-month Brent futures fell $3.11, or 3.71%, to $80.66 a barrel by 1159 GMT after hitting a session high of $86.33.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $3.58, or ​4.46%, at $76.76 a barrel after touching a session high of $82.33.

Both contracts fell to their lowest levels since July 13.

Earlier in ​the session, both benchmarks had risen more than 2% on uncertainty over prospects for a U.S.-Iran agreement.

President Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran's commitment to safeguarding its territorial integrity, while emphasizing that Tehran has no intention of widening the conflict.

He said the country's focus remains on strengthening national unity and resilience to prevent external interference, infiltration, and attempts to exploit internal divisions or undermine the nation's stability.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that its aerospace force shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz using a “modern and advanced” air defense system.

The IRGC stated Monday that further details would be announced subsequently. 

The downing, confirmed by the IRGC’s official Sepah News outlet, marks the latest in a series of devastating losses for the US military’s premier armed reconnaissance platform.

The MQ-9 Reaper, which the US Air Force has called the “most valuable player” of its campaign against Iran, has suffered catastrophic attrition since the war began in late February.

According to Bloomberg, Iran has destroyed over two dozen MQ-9s since the start of the terrorist US-Israeli war—nearly 20 percent of the Pentagon’s pre-war inventory. At $30 million per airframe, the total damage is estimated at approximately $1 billion.

Iran's foreign ministry said Monday there were currently no negotiations with the United States but talks were taking place with Oman on management of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"We are not currently negotiating with the United States. Our negotiations are with Oman to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing.

Iran has kept control of Hormuz since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28.

It has insisted that ships transiting the waterway, which is crucial for the global energy trade, should use a route designated by Iran after requesting permission and paying service fees.

Baqaei described the talks with Oman as "constructive", saying they were aimed at reaching an agreement on a new route.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that major oil companies are making "too much money" due to high prices stemming from the Iran war, seeking to address a political vulnerability ahead of midterm elections.

"I don't like it. They're making too much money, okay? Based on a shortage, they're making too much money," Trump told journalists at the White House.

High gasoline prices are a key political issue for Trump as his Republican Party heads into the elections in November, with Democrats seeking to wrest control of Congress from them.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States is up more than 37 percent since the start of the war, launched by Trump and Washington's ally Israel in late February.

The war has seen Iran's retaliatory action target Washington's allies in the Gulf and virtually block the vital Strait of Hormuz, with both moves sending energy prices skyrocketing.

President Donald Trump lashed out Monday after Iran denied it was in negotiations with the United States, declaring in an angry social media post that a US military blockade will continue until there is a "Deal, or Total surrender."

Calling Iran "duplicitous" for "openly and proudly" saying it was not negotiating, Trump wrote: "Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades."

Iran said on Monday there were no talks under ​way with the United States and no plans for any meetings, contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump who had ‌cited talks he said would take place that afternoon as justification for calling off attacks.

Over the weekend Trump repeated a pattern that has emerged throughout the past five months: announcing plans for "massive attacks" on Iran, only to cancel them at the last minute.

"Would I rather make a deal? I'm not looking to kill people," ​Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

"Now what we're doing is talking to them, in the form of a ​negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon," he said, without identifying a venue or participants for such talks.

Iran's Foreign ⁠Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei rejected the claim, saying no negotiations with the United States were taking place and no meetings were scheduled. ​Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days, he said.

Baghaei added that all Iranian negotiators were ​currently in the country, apart from Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a religious pilgrimage in Iraq. The only talks under way, he said, were discussions with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices skidded and stocks wobbled on Monday as hopes of a peace deal in the Middle East grew, while the yen ​jumped suddenly again after the U.S. and Japan confirmed joint intervention to prop up the frail currency.

Brent crude futures sank more than 4% ‌to $83.88 after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran will happen on Monday. He had earlier called off an imminent attack on Iran to reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% while Nasdaq futures gained 0.8%. European futures were 0.7% higher.

Iran on Monday executed two men convicted of spying for Israel, the judiciary said, the latest in a wave of hangings over alleged espionage.

Since the start of the war with Israel and the United States in February, Tehran has ramped up executions, with many of the convicts accused of spying for Israeli intelligence.

"Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged this morning for transmitting the coordinates of sensitive military and security sites to Mossad agents," said Mizan, the media outlet for Iran's judiciary, referring to Israel's foreign intelligence service.

It did not specify when the pair were arrested or when they went on trial, but said they were convicted of "espionage and collaboration with the Zionist regime". -

"They helped the intelligence services achieve their objectives by providing them with information on military and security centres during the war," Mizan added.

The spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday that Tehran and Muscat were close to reaching a deal on a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz, separate from the existing corridors.

"We are now going to reach an understanding on a route acceptable to both sides -- neither the northern route nor the southern route -- but one that respects the sovereign rights of both sides and safeguards our national interests and security," Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with state television.

Details of the new route were not immediately clear, but Iran has effectively maintained control over the strategic waterway, through which around 20 percent of global oil consumption passes on normal days, since the outbreak of war on February 28.

Earlier, the IRNA state news agency quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that negotiations with Oman, the other littoral state on the Strait, "were on track for finalisation and were going through their final stages", without providing further details.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and US President Donald Trump held a call aimed at reducing regional tensions, the kingdom's official SPA press agency reported Sunday.

"His Royal Highness emphasised the necessity of prioritising dialogue to reduce tensions and the importance of exerting all possible efforts to achieve a truce that paves the way for diplomatic solutions," SPA reported after Trump said he had decided to hold off on renewed attacks on Iran after requests from Gulf countries.

A drone strike on gas vessels in Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta signalled a potential new front ‌in the U.S.-Iran war, raising the prospect of threats to navigation through the Suez Canal, a last remaining safe export route for Saudi oil.

The Egyptian cabinet said on Thursday that an initial investigation showed that an unidentified drone caused a fire on Wednesday on two vessels at Damietta port, near the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

It said no party had claimed responsibility and authorities were taking ​measures to protect Egypt's national security.

Trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone hit U.S.-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to ​another vessel.

Overnight, the U.S. military said it struck dozens of targets in Iran after Tehran fired at U.S. forces in the region.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has staged a retaliatory ballistic missile strike against an American airbase in Jordan, besides halting three trespassing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“In response to the aggressive actions of the child-killing US military, the brave fighters of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force launched several ballistic missiles at a US airbase and the US military's Central Command’s headquarters in Jordan,” the Corps said in a statement in early Wednesday.

Brent crude surged nearly 8% on Wednesday ​before pulling back slightly in Asian trading early Thursday.

Brent futures fell $1.29, or 1.42%, to $89.45 a ‌barrel as of 0110 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 56 cents, or 0.66%, to $83.90 a barrel.

Brent had settled up 7.91% in the previous session and WTI up 6.56% in one of the sharpest spikes of the Iran war.

Dozens of oil tankers continued to make their way out of the Middle East even as hostilities there escalated,

Thirty-nine commodity ​ships passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait into the Red Sea on Tuesday, the highest ⁠number since July 19, with only a few transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, preliminary shipping data ​showed.

The U.S. Central Command has now posted on social media saying it completed the latest strikes on Iran at 10 p.m. Wednesday in Washington (0200 GMT), two hours after they began.

"CENTCOM assets struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran," the statement said.

It added that the targets included "military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities."

It said all Iranian attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East on Tuesday were successfully intercepted.

The U.S. strikes in Iran on Wednesday followed Trump's vow earlier ⁠in the day to retaliate against Iran for firing on U.S. troops.

"So it's our turn," Trump told reporters at the White House, promising to "hit them very hard" even as he again said Washington would continue to aim for a ​peace deal with Tehran.

He also addressed the Reuters exclusive report that Iran may be receiving Chinese-made missile systems.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explored all ​paths to curb Iran's nuclear project in their meeting, including ‌diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu did not tell Trump that Israel's preference was for an attack on Iran, the ​official said in a briefing with reporters after the two men met ​in the White House on Tuesday.

In the end, it's ⁠his decision," the official said of Trump. Trump has three options ​and all three were discussed at length, the official said: "A deal, continuing ​the blockade and economic pressures, and a massive strike."

The official said that there were signs Iran's clerical rulers have been rattled by rising inflation and public frustration ​but that the impact on the global economy and oil markets ​was also a consideration.

Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes ‌since the ⁠war began on February 28, with a joint Israeli-U.S. aerial bombing campaign in Iran. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states.

Israel had not taken part in the latest two-week U.S. bombing campaign this ​month that provoked ​Tehran to fire ⁠on U.S. bases in response, but it has warned Tehran that it would respond forcefully if attacked.

On ​Wednesday, the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary ​groups in ⁠Iraq, and Trump vowed to "beat the fucking shit" out of Iran for firing on U.S. troops days after he halted air strikes.

CAIRO, July 29: A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt's Mediterranean port ​of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment on Wednesday, in a potential spread of the Middle East war.

The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that ‌then spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said.

A statement from Egypt's petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which the ministry said was dealt with immediately with no casualties.

Earlier on Wednesday the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq, and U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to "beat the fucking shit" out of Iran for firing on U.S. troops days after he halted air ​strikes.

Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.

"We'll be hitting them hard," ​Fox News quoted Trump as saying. "We're going to beat the fucking shit out of them."

Oil prices shot up Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the ⁠five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes over the weekend.

The abrupt resumption ​of attacks only days after they were suspended saw a return to the volatile on-again-off-again pattern of earlier phases in the war. Trump had said "Operation Epic Fury" would last only a few weeks when he launched it in February ​but fighting has now gone on for five months with no end in sight.

Oil prices jumped nearly 7% on Wednesday as major airstrikes resumed in the Middle East and dashed hopes ‌for an imminent end to the US-Israeli war with Iran, while industry data showed U.S. crude inventories fell.

Brent futures were up $5.70, or 6.8%, at $89.79 a barrel by 1335 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $4.94, or 6.2%, to $84.20 a barrel.

"Renewed military strikes in the Middle East and Iranian officials reiterating that they want ​to control shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz amid depressed oil flows through the Strait are lifting oil prices ​again," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can ​help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones.

Any crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension ‌to the conflict for the thousands of U.S. troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well.

Admiral Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing "reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops."

"The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured ​in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries," Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

He ​called on troops to "redouble our focus on operational security," without prescribing specific steps in the memo.

Yemen's Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade ​on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Iran-aligned Houthis on July 20 declared a maritime embargo against Saudi ‌Arabia, opening a new front against the U.S. and its allies in the Iran war and expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy and other supplies to waters beyond the Gulf.

The Houthis were looking into imposing fees on most traffic through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb gateway, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, the sources said. No timeframe was given ​at this stage for implementation, they added.

The Houthis' media office did not respond to a request for comment.

The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases, ​and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones.

Any crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension to the conflict for the ‌thousands of U.S. troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well.

Admiral Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing "reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops."

"The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of ​American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries," Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

He called on troops to "redouble ​our focus on operational security," without prescribing specific steps in the memo.

The United States and Saudi ​Arabia jointly struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq on Wednesday, the first U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East since President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. bombing campaign against Iran ‌last week.

Iran, for its part, rejected an Omani proposal to jointly manage the Strait of Hormuz and said it had fired on ships in the strait and at U.S. bases in Jordan.

Washington and Riyadh said they had jointly struck the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation ​for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.

Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the formal Iraqi security forces, said ⁠at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in U.S.-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.

Ukraine and Iran's foreign ministers spoke by phone on Tuesday, Kyiv said, adding it wants to avoid an "escalation" after a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.

Andriy Sybiga wrote on his X account that he had a "frank conversation" with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

"Diplomacy is about direct conversation, even when it's difficult. I stressed that our goal is to avoid unnecessary escalation."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said Kyiv had carried out long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels carrying military cargo involving Iran.

Sybiga said he reiterated to Araghchi that "all of Ukraine's actions are aimed solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and never intended to target civilian vessels or people".

Yemen's Houthi rebels said Tuesday they targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles for violating a blockade on the kingdom's ports announced by the Iran-backed group.

Saudi Arabia had yet to comment on the Houthis' claim, but reported having intercepted drones targeting oil facilities in its east, blaming pro-Iran militias in Iraq.

"The targeting of the Saudi vessel came after it ignored warnings," a Houthi military spokesman said, identifying the ship as the NCC Ghazal and adding it had been "forced to turn back".

The website MarineTraffic, owned by maritime tracking firm Kpler, listed the Ghazal as a Saudi-flagged tanker whose last known location was the port of Yanbu, the terminus of an important oil pipeline on the kingdom's Red Sea coast.

Last week, the Iran-backed Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have since claimed attacks targeting Saudi tankers and oil infrastructure.

The US military said Tuesday it had intercepted multiple missiles launched by Iran, ending a days-long respite in attacks between the foes.

"At 5:45 pm ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East," Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote on X.

"All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted," it added, without specifying the areas targeted by Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck and halted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported Wednesday, despite a lull in fighting between the Washington and Tehran.

The Guards' navy said "three violating oil tankers, which ignored our warnings and continued sailing an unsafe and illegal route, were struck and brought to a halt", the Tasnim News agency reported.

The US State Department confirmed that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Rome on August 4 through 6, as Israel prepares to withdraw from two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani first announced the next round of US-mediated talks last week, with a State Department official detailing the talks to AFP on the condition of anonymity.

"In Rome, technical groups will focus on advancing the full implementation of the framework agreement," the official told AFP, adding that the planned discussion "includes expanding the pilot zone process, resolving all outstanding border issues, and working on a comprehensive peace and security agreement."

DUBAI: Oman has presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using ​it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had yet to respond to the Omani proposals, intended to serve ‌as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week U.S. bombing campaign over the weekend in his latest strategic U-turn, said there were "good talks" under way with Iran but threatened to restart strikes unless negotiations deliver. Iran denies seeking to resume talks with the United States.

Washington launched its renewed bombing campaign earlier this month to break Iran's grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied ​natural gas flowed before the war.

Iran effectively shut the strait to ships other than its own after the United States and Israel attacked on February 28. A deal last month between the United States ​and Iran partially reopened it, but the agreement collapsed in early July after Iran fired on ships using a channel it does not approve.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his threats to target Pickaxe Mountain as well as bridges and other civilian targets if a deal is not made with Iran, adding in a Fox News interview that there have been good talks.

Iran's foreign ministry on Monday said it was not currently involved in negotiations with the United States, despite a halt in recent fighting between the two sides.

"At present, we are not engaged in any negotiations with the United States," said the ministry's spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei at a weekly press briefing, denying reports that Iran had requested talks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed developments in the Strait of Hormuz in separate phone calls with his counterparts in Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to the IRNA news agency.

In the calls with Oman’s Badr Albusaidi and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the diplomats “reviewed the latest bilateral and regional developments”.

The US president says talks with Iran are continuing during a pause in military strikes, adding he believes there is “a good chance” of a breakthrough but warning military action could resume if negotiations fail.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have met in Amman and discussed “the repercussions of the dangerous escalation the region is witnessing” as well as efforts “to restore calm and lasting security”, according to a Jordanian statement.

The two men on Monday “affirmed the importance of committing to the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, and resuming negotiations to reach a comprehensive solution that addresses all causes of tension and ensures freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law”, the statement said.

Jerusalem, Undefined: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday for the first time since the start of the Iran war, over which they have publicly disagreed.

Relations between Netanyahu and Trump have occasionally appeared strained in recent months, but both have sought to tone things down.

Tuesday's meeting is expected to be dominated by the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, as Washington says it wants to give negotiations a chance.

Yemen's Houthis ​said on Monday they targeted a number ‌of sensitive crude oil supply and transport sites linking eastern Saudi Arabia to the critical Red Sea oil export ​hub of Yanbu.

Saudi state oil giant ​Aramco did not immediately respond to a ⁠request for comment.

Saudi Arabia has re-routed its crude output to Yanbu via its east-west ​pipeline to get around Iranian attacks on ​shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which began after ‌the ⁠U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran in February.

Last week, Iran's Houthi allies threatened to extend the disruption to global oil supplies ​to a ​second major ⁠waterway by announcing a blockade of Saudi Arabia's oil industry in ​the Red Sea, sending oil prices ​even ⁠higher.

Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes on what it said were Houthi military facilities in ⁠Yemen's ​Hodeidah port, saying it would ​protect shipping.

DUBAI, July 27: Iran said on Monday it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz and not seeking to resume peace talks with ​the United States, after President Donald Trump halted a two-week bombing campaign that his top brass told him had run its course.

Following 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing that ‌provoked Tehran to fire on U.S. bases in response, Trump halted the campaign over the weekend. Iran said it would pause its own attacks for as long as the U.S. pause in bombing endures.

Trump's decision to suspend the campaign reflected advice from his top brass that the bombing, aimed at breaking Iran's grip on strait, had reached the limits of what it could achieve, according to a U.S. official and widespread U.S. media reports.

The U.S. official told Reuters that military commanders had ​advised the president that they were running out of targets. The official said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, had also expressed concern over the depletion ​of air defence weapons used to protect U.S. bases in the region.

Similar reports indicating that civilian and military aides had advised Trump to halt the ⁠campaign were carried over the weekend by the New York Times, CNN, Axios and other news outlets.

Tehran: Iran and the United States held their fire Monday, handing Gulf shipping and the oil industry a respite from missile strikes as Donald Trump's UN envoy said the president was "giving talks some space".

Tehran said it had halted retaliatory attacks against Washington's allies in the Middle East, and US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told "Fox News Sunday" that, while forces remained "locked and loaded", Trump would give negotiations "a little bit of room".

Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, triggering a US air campaign and Iranian reprisals that expanded the conflict to shipping lanes, Gulf allies and military bases across the region.

HOUSTON, July 24 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures prices were more than 4% lower on Friday after sources said ​that China had initiated a push to resume stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran, but remained ‌on track for hefty weekly gains.

Both Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude have rallied this week as the United States and Iran exchanged missile strikes, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a trickle and Yemen's Houthis attacked shipping in the Red Sea.

Brent futures settled at $96.78 a barrel, down $3.91, or ​3.88%, having settled above $100 in the previous session for the first time since May. The contract remained on course for ​a gain of nearly 10% this week.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished at $89.31 a barrel, down $2.88, or 3.12%, ⁠on track for an 8.27% weekly rise.

"There's nothing this market loves more than hope," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital.

"Nobody ​wants to get suckered, so any hint this may get settled they will take," Kilduff said. "Nobody wants to think we're on a ​one-way course."

Energy markets were in a precarious state on Friday, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group.

"Overall stocks remain pretty tight — and that situation could turn on a dime, so it's worth keeping a close watch as things develop," Flynn said.

Tehran: Iran passed another night without US airstrikes on Sunday, as Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation.

The lull has revived hopes of a return to negotiations after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly US bombardments, although US media reported the pause could also reflect pressure on stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other defensive weapons.

Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, but the conflict then expanded beyond the vital energy corridor to include attacks on US bases, regional shipping and Gulf allies.

Yemen's Houthi militants fired on Saudi ​oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday and Saudi-backed forces bombed the Houthis, as the war in the Gulf that ‌has disrupted global supplies extended to a second front.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted and successfully struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu.

Video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan.

Two Asia-based trading sources said that they had been informed of potential damage ​to fuel and oil storage sites at Jizan. Aramco did not respond to requests for comment on the incidents.

In Yanbu, two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations ​were intercepted by a U.S.-made Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military under an agreement with Riyadh, Greek security sources ⁠said.

Yanbu is Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea oil port, where millions of barrels a day are loaded, and has become the main route out for Saudi oil skirting the ​Strait of Hormuz that has been blockaded by Iran. Jizan, which is located on the Red Sea close to the Yemeni border, is the site of a refinery with a ​capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.

Air defence systems in Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles ​from Yemen on Saturday targeting oil refineries in Yanbu, Greek security sources told Reuters, as Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis ‌exchanged fire in a new front of the Iran war.

Late on Friday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had struck Houthi military sites in the port city of Hodeidah linked to attacks on shipping by the group, which has declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said last week that all Saudi oil and other vital ​facilities would be targets for the group's missiles and drones if Riyadh escalated its involvement in the conflict.

Saudi Civil Defense, the state's ​emergency services, had issued warnings for Yanbu, on the Red Sea, and later said the danger had passed. Civil Defense also issued ⁠a warning for the port city of Jizan, home to a 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery.

There were no immediate official reports of damage, and Saudi state ​oil giant Aramco did not respond to requests for comment on the incidents.

Washington: The US military said Friday it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship that was attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports.

"We disabled the tanker after the crew attempted to run the blockade at least four times prior," Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesman for US Central Command, told AFP.

"The crew was repeatedly warned, didn't comply, and US forces on scene disabled the ship after firing into its engine room," he said. "The ship is no longer transiting to Iran."

WASHINGTON, July 24: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he does not believe China ​or Russia are "participating" in the ongoing Iran conflict, ‌but warned that if they did get involved "it would be very bad for them."

"President Xi, at our recent meeting ​in Beijing, China, told me that he would ​not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons ⁠to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that ​statement included Chinese Companies," he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump ​said Putin had also told him that he would not sell weapons to Iran and that he believed Russia and China ​were not participating in the Iran conflict.

"If they ​did, it would be very bad for them — Certainly not in ‌their ⁠best interests," Trump posted.

The United States and Iran have been at war since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes in February, killing senior Iranian officials, including ​the country's supreme ​leader.

Four people ⁠familiar with U.S. intelligence said Iranian strikes on CIA targets in the Gulf ​earlier in the war had prompted U.S. ​intelligence to ⁠investigate whether Russia was assisting Iran with targeting information or drone technology. The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment ⁠on ​the report.

The United States has sanctioned ​individuals and companies in Russia and China for helping Iran buy weapons.

US missiles struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as ​its Caspian coast, on Friday after President Donald Trump vowed "major military punishment" for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the Middle East war to ‌a second major shipping chokepoint, the mouth of the Red Sea.

Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the Iranian armed forces responded by firing at U.S. bases in neighbouring Arab countries and warning people there that they may strike non-military buildings used by US personnel.

The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, have announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which has diverted millions of barrels of oil each day by pipeline to ​the Red Sea to skirt Iran's near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The entrance to the Gulf has so far been the focus of a war that has killed thousands ​in almost five months, stoked global inflation and fanned fears of an economic downturn.

US President Donald Trump promised "major military punishment" for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.

Fears that disruption ​could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6%, piercing the level of $100 a barrel for the ‌first time since May.

Two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the U.S. military launched air strikes on Iran late on Thursday and early on Friday, for a 13th consecutive night of attacks, prompting Iran to fire at neighbouring Arab countries that host U.S. bases.

On both Thursday and Friday nights, Iranian state media said missiles struck Qeshm Island on the Strait of Hormuz, the virtually closed waterway that is the focus of a war well into its fifth month that has killed thousands and fanned fears of a global economic downturn.

Four people ​were killed and five injured in a U.S. missile attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, state broadcaster IRIB said.

Dubai: The master of a tanker off the coast of Oman has reported hearing an explosion near the vessel, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre reported Sunday.

"The vessel and crew are all reported as safe," said the UKMTO. The master is the highest-ranking person on an oil tanker.

The incident happened 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) northeast of Khasab, in Oman, the monitor added.

"Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity," the UKMTO advised.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns that using frozen state assets to pay for future claims sets a dangerous global precedent.

“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Araghchi wrote on X.

He cautioned that “those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”

Seizing another nation's assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent.

Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one's assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 24, 2026

CAIRO:  President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a ​deal can be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said late on Saturday on his Truth Social ‌platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to "the Immediate, Complete and Total" reopening of the vital strait and "an end to Iran's nuclear threat".

He did not name the countries in the post, which followed a call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally.

"Based on this request, I have agreed, ​for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able ​to rapidly make a DEAL," Trump wrote.

Israel "joins me in this commitment", he said.

Mark Cancian, a former Pentagon official, has told Al Jazeera that the US has used so many arms in the Iran war that it may have left itself vulnerable elsewhere.

‘We looked at seven munitions that have been used heavily against Iran and that would be used in a war in the Western Pacific, and [the US has] used between a third and half of those munitions,’ he said.

Cancian, who worked on the Department of Defense’s budget strategy and war funding while at the Pentagon, said it could take two to five years for US stockpiles just to reach pre-Iran war levels.

That leaves a ‘window of vulnerability’ in the case that another conflict starts elsewhere, for example, in Taiwan. He also said the kinds of weapons that the US uses are changing.

Iran's military accused the United States of "escalating tensions" in the Middle East on Saturday and warned countries in the region against cooperating with Washington during the ongoing conflict.

"The United States is rapidly moving down the path of escalating tensions in the region," said Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran's military central command.

"Any country serving as defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war," he said in a statement read on state television.

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats to hit Iran "very hard".

US media reported he was considering renewed heavy attacks as soon as this weekend, including against energy infrastructure targets.

The Iranian news outlet Tasnim reported on Thursday that a US missile had hit a site near the town of Suza on Qeshm Island, in the disputed Strait of Hormuz.

"The relevant authorities are currently assessing the extent of the incident and the possible level of damage," the agency said.

Under a blazing sun, clad in black and clutching portraits of their slain leader Ali Khamenei, Iranian pilgrims streamed across the border into Iraq to observe the Arbaeen, the most revered event in Shia Islam.

Some stamped on a portrait of US President Donald Trump, others raised their fists or flashed victory signs, as fresh strikes rattled the region, drawing Iraq back into the Middle East war.

Amir, a 55-year-old pick-up driver, has been attending the Arbaeen ceremonies in Iraq for years, but said that this time is different.

"The difference is that we are at war. Now, the United States is attacking us... yet this crowd that you see has left everything behind" to attend, the father-of-three added, at Iraq's al-Zurbatiyah border crossing.

Arbaeen, which means forty in Arabic, marks the 40th day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed and a founding figure in Shia Islam.

It is one of the world's largest religious gatherings, with millions flocking each year to Iraq to visit the city of Karbala, where Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried.

This year's pilgrimage comes amid a war launched by a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, which has not left Iraq unscathed.

The war erupted only weeks after Iranian authorities cracked down on widespread anti-government protests triggered by the high cost of living in a country enduring harsh US economic sanctions.

Just hours before Amir entered Iraq, US-Saudi strikes killed 20 militants, including five Iranians, across seven Iraqi province, after Riyadh accused pro-Iran armed groups of attacking its territory.

"There is anxiety and fear," Amir said, complaining that the Iranian economy is suffering. "We are standing against them, and we will resist, even if we have to survive on dry bread."

Oil prices surged Thursday as worries about attacks in the Red Sea exacerbated supply concerns in a petroleum market limited by the quasi-shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

Near 1820 GMT, Brent oil futures were up 8.4 percent at $101.93, rising above $100 for the first time since late May.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 7.6 percent to $93.44 a barrel.

US embassies in capitals across the Middle East on Saturday warned their citizens to beware of "unforeseen escalation" in the regional conflict and urged them to be ready to leave.

The warning, posted online by US embassies in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, came a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran "very hard".

Iran and the United States have been at war since February 28. A period of calm followed a ceasefire, though that collapsed with a return of strikes.

With no end in sight, the war has for months upended the lives of people across the Middle East and rattled global energy markets.

The United States military said Thursday it was attacking Iran for the 13th night in a row.

"U.S. forces started another night of strikes against Iranian military targets at 6:45 p.m. ET (2245 GMT) today," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said, adding that the "strikes aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping."

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States and Israel had agreed to hold off on new strikes on Iran -- provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is "rapidly" reached.

Fears had mounted that the fighting could escalate once again after Trump threatened to hit Iran "very hard" and was reportedly considering renewed heavy attacks, including against energy infrastructure.

Trump said the US was "locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran," but added that Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on fresh strikes.

"Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The US president said the deal would have to include the "Immediate, Complete and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat."

The US Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on six individuals and companies it said were aiding Mahan Air, an Iranian airline that is accused of facilitating Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The new sanctions include a China-based individual, as well as companies in China, Russia, Iran and Indian-administered Kashmir.

"Those who provide financial services, logistics, or commercial support to the IRGC or Mahan Air are helping sustain a terrorist enterprise," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives backed legislation on Thursday directing President Donald Trump to ​halt U.S. military action against Iran, the latest symbolic ‌rebuke of the Republican president from Congress.

The vote was 214-208 in favor of the war powers resolution as four Republicans joined Democrats in ​voting for it.

The resolution, introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal, ​a Washington Democrat, directs Trump "to remove the use of ⁠United States Armed Forces from hostilities" against Iran unless ​Congress authorizes it.

However, it was largely symbolic. Lawmakers have passed ​similar resolutions repeatedly in recent months, but they have not led to cessation of the war.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Saturday it ​had received reports of two maritime incidents ‌off Oman, including one in which a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile.

In the first incident, a ​tanker was struck by an unknown ​projectile about 11 nautical miles northeast of Oman's ⁠Lima, damaging its engine room and leaving ​the vessel not under command, UKMTO said. There ​were no reported casualties nor environmental impact, it added.

Later, UKMTO said it had received a second report of ​an incident, 21 nautical miles northeast of Oman's ​Khasab. The master of a tanker reported seeing a large ‌splash ⁠and an explosion in close proximity to the vessel, though no damage was reported.

Lima and Khasab are on Oman's Musandam Peninsula at the ​entrance to ​the Strait ⁠of Hormuz, a strategic shipping chokepoint through which about a fifth of ​global oil consumption passes.

Shipping through the ​Strait ⁠of Hormuz has faced heightened risks in recent weeks, with vessels reporting security incidents and some ⁠shipowners adopting ​additional precautions as Iran ​and the United States stepped up hostilities.

A total of 25 commercial freight vessels passed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Thursday, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains low, with only two tankers transiting, according to Kpler shipping data cited by Reuters.

Of the 25 vessels in Bab al-Mandeb, 18 entered the waterway, and seven exited.

This included several oil tankers, among them two very large crude carriers (VLCCs), one Suezmax tanker, and five Aframax vessels.

Meanwhile, neither of the two ships that transited Hormuz had cargo on board.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Yemen's Houthis with "major military punishment" after they launched missile and drone strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea.

"The U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis themselves" should the rebels launch further attacks, Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Houthi militants, based in Yemen, claimed military strikes on two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia

The strikes advance a potential second chokehold on global oil supplies in the Red Sea, alongside Iran's effort to control the Strait of Hormuz

The Houthis, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the opposite end of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia

Kuwait’s military has successfully intercepted and destroyed hostile drones that breached the country's airspace, following earlier reports of air defenses being activated against "Iranian aggression."

According to official statements, the strikes targeted a government facility in northern Kuwait and civilian property belonging to a private company on Bubiyan Island. Authorities confirmed that while falling shrapnel and debris caused material damage, no casualties have been reported.

Oil prices dropped on Friday, though they remain on track for a monthly gain of about one-fifth.

Supply shipments increased through vital maritime passages despite a lack of progress in talks between Iran and the US.

Brent crude futures fell $1.03, or 1.2 percent, to $88 a barrel as of 02:15 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped $1.50, or 1.8 percent, to $82.09 a barrel.

In a statement, Oman's foreign ministry said the country was coordinating with Saudi Arabia, Yemeni parties and the U.N. special envoy for Yemen to return to the political track aimed at achieving security and stability in the region.

The statement stressed the need to avoid escalation and any threats that could worsen the situation in the Red Sea and endanger freedom of navigation.

In a separate post on X, Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said he had discussed key regional issues, including the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen, with his Pakistani counterpart. Pakistan has acted as a mediator between the United States and Iran.

Saudi Arabia spent years fighting the Houthis but failed to dislodge them from the Yemeni capital Sanaa and a swathe of territory they control. The rest of Yemen is controlled by an internationally recognized government.

A vessel belonging to a Saudi company was hit while transiting the Red Sea, Saudi state media reported Thursday citing an official source, after Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed it struck tankers in the waterway.

The source, quoted by state-run Saudi Press Agency, said "the vessel ENCELIA, belonging to a Saudi company, was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, resulting in a fire at the bow of the ship" but that all crew members were safe.

U.S. President Donald Trump at ‌Camp David told reporters that he does not think Iran is behind a ​cyberattack on Minnesota water systems, despite U.S. ​officials reportedly suspecting otherwise.

"We heard in ⁠Minnesota there was a cyberattack, ​and they blame it on Iran. ​I don't think so," Trump said during a cabinet meeting. "I think I blame it on ​Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent," ​Trump said, calling out Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, ‌a ⁠Democrat.

Trump's claim is at odds with a memo cited by Wired on Thursday which said that the Minnesota Fusion Center, ​a state-level ​intelligence-sharing ⁠entity, found that the hacks were “aligned” with an allegedly ​Iran-linked cybersabotage campaign. The New ​York ⁠Times, which cited unnamed U.S. and state officials, said Thursday that investigators believed ⁠the ​hacks were probably the ​work of Tehran.

The Iranian army says its forces targeted strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmed Al-Jaber airbase in a drone attack, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US strikes.

In a statement carried by Tasnim news agency, the army said the attack targeted hangars, satellite communication systems, and equipment warehouses using drones.

The strike, according to the statement, was carried out in response to a US attack on a residential home on Qeshm Island, adding that the Kuwait facility serves as a vital hub for US aerial surveillance and operational support in the region.

Iranian-aligned Houthi militants, based in Yemen, claimed military strikes on two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia

The strikes advance a potential second chokehold on global oil supplies in the Red Sea, alongside Iran's effort to control the Strait of Hormuz

The Houthis, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the opposite end of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia

The US military said on Wednesday it ‌launched a new round of strikes on Iran at President Donald Trump's direction, marking a 12th successive night of attacks

Brent crude futures rose more than $2 to $96.09 a barrel, holding at a six-week high following the news of Houthis striking two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

President Donald Trump convenes a Cabinet meeting on Friday at his Camp David retreat as he grapples with how to ​resolve his war against Iran and bring down gasoline prices ‌that are threatening Republicans in November midterm elections.

Unlike some past presidents, Trump has largely stayed away from the mountaintop presidential redoubt in western Maryland, preferring to spend time ​at his golf resorts when not at the White House. This ​will be his third trip to Camp David in his ⁠second term.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a ​briefing last week that this would be the 13th Cabinet meeting of Trump's ​second term and that it would be "a lot of fun and something different for the cabinet to experience together."

The agenda for the meeting will likely focus heavily on foreign ​policy. Trump is engaged in tit-for-tat strikes against Iranian targets with ​no end in sight to a conflict that the president initially projected would last just ‌a ⁠few weeks but is now five months old.

The war has sent gasoline prices spiraling and taken a toll on his standing. This week, a Reuters-Ipsos poll found just one in three Americans support the war, the lowest ​reading in the ​poll since the ⁠conflict's early days.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory in coordination with Iraqi armed groups, according to assessments by Saudi Arabia ​and regional partners, reflecting growing coordination among Iran-aligned militias, two officials in the region said.

The assessments, which differ from official accounts, indicate that members ‌of Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance have deepened their ties and ability to inflict damage to US allies in the region despite years of U.S and Israeli strikes on them from Lebanon to Iran after Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel.

The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported a US missile strike on the island of Larak in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday afternoon, saying residents heard a loud explosion there.

"At 2:48 pm, the island of Larak was targeted by an American missile," Tasnim said. "The competent authorities are currently carrying out an investigation to determine the scale of the attack, the exact point of impact and the extent of the potential damage."

The Iranian-aligned Houthis on Thursday claimed strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, saying the attacks were part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.

The tankers were identified as the Encelia and the Layla.

The Yemen-based militants control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the opposite end of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, they said they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move some analysts viewed as a tactic by Iran to gain more leverage in the war with the United States.

Five tankers had changed course in the ​Red Sea to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, and three tankers loaded with Saudi oil for China and India made U-turns on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has unveiled plans for a multinational maritime ​defence coalition aimed at protecting international shipping and energy supply routes in ‌the Red Sea region after attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis disrupted one of the world's busiest trade corridors.

The Saudi defence ministry said representatives from 43 countries and the European Union attended an international meeting ​that discussed the proposed coalition, including Saudi Arabia serving as its founding and ​leading state and hosting its headquarters.

The ministry said the coalition would ⁠strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation, secure international trade routes and energy supply ​lines, and protect shared maritime interests in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

​It said 14 countries, including Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Djibouti, issued a joint statement supporting the proposed coalition. Among the six Gulf Arab states, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were not listed ​among the countries backing the statement.

Iranian media said the three were killed in the northern Zanjan Province.

The US military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran, including military command centres and drone facilities

The two-hour operation came after US President Donald Trump vowed retaliation for Tehran firing ballistic missiles at US forces in Jordan

Iran's state media reported that three people were killed in US strikes on Qeshm Island

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran would respond in kind to any attack on its infrastructure, after Washington threatened to bomb a bridge or power plant for every ship targeted in the Strait of Hormuz.

"Our defence doctrine is clear: eye for an eye. Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response," Araghchi said on X. Iran's state broadcaster quoted the military as saying that US threats "will have no result other than the expansion of the war".

The U.S. Central Command said late on Wednesday that the U.S. military has completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday in Washington (0230 GMT Thursday).

The statement on X said the U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air defense assets.

It added that as of Wednesday, CENTCOM - which is blockading Iranian shipping even as Iran enforces its own blockade in the Strait of Hormuz - has redirected nine commercial vessels and disabled one to prevent ships from entering or departing Iranian ports.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday pledged that the United States would bomb Iranian civil infrastructure every time that Tehran fires at ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT," he wrote on social media.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday will attend a ceremony for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks in the Middle East, who will return to American ​soil in flag-draped caskets.

The ceremony, known as a "dignified transfer" of the bodies, comes ‌amid growing frustration with Trump's war against Iran.

The war has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $37.5 billion so far, has led to the deaths of 18 US service members and injured more than 450 troops. It has ​killed thousands of Iranians.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about the war, ​which has caused global oil prices to rise and shows no signs ⁠of ending. Since the war started in February, Trump has offered differing objectives for the ​war.

The U.S. president will travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the ceremony.

U.S. presidents, ​vice presidents and dignitaries regularly attend the solemn transfer ceremonies at Dover - home of the largest U.S. military mortuary - during times of war or conflict that result in the deaths of U.S. troops.

The three U.S. service ​members killed when an Iranian missile hit their sleeping barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base ​in Jordan on Friday were First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, 28, and Private ‌Isabella ⁠Gonzales, 19. All three were assigned to U.S. Army air defense brigades.

Oil prices are continuing their upward trajectory, with Brent crude futures gaining $1, or 1.1 percent, to $92.01 per barrel as of 03:30 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up 82 cents, or 1.0 percent, to trade at $85.16.

The gains came after oil settled at a five-week high on Tuesday, according to Reuters, in the wake of US forces attacking targets in southern and western Iran, and Iran striking US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington is open-minded on the war on Iran and willing to engage, negotiate, and settle differences.

“If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what’s necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” Rubio said in a meeting with Southeast Asian counterparts in Manila.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani releases a video statement calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to face trial for war crimes, citing the ICC’s arrest warrant.

But, after days of speculation, Mamdani says New York does not have the power to arrest Netanyahu.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Iran war has cost the United States $37.5 billion so far, up from a previous estimate of nearly $29 billion in mid-May.

"The estimate we have as of today is $37.5 billion," Hegseth testified during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing at which he defended a request for some $67 billion in supplemental funding for the Pentagon.

Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress the funding request is "urgent" and "necessary" to pay the Pentagon's costs for the Iran war through the end of September.

But Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen challenged that assessment, saying Hegseth still has $75 billion available in unspent funding.

"Why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don't support instead of asking for transfer authority for unspent reconciliation funding?"

Iranian state media said Wednesday that air defence was triggered across Tehran and reported strikes across the country.

"News sources reported minutes ago that air defence activity was heard in the west, east and northeast of Tehran," state TV posted on Telegram.

State media reported strikes in northwest and south Iran, and explosions in the city of Bushehr, which hosts a nuclear power plant.

US Central Command said Tuesday it has begun striking military targets in Iran for the "11th consecutive night," as attacks in the Middle East war intensify.

"The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said in a post on X, adding strikes began at 2300 GMT.

The strikes concluded Wednesday at 0015 GMT, the US military said in a follow-up post, adding its assets "targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure."

CENTCOM said Iran has attacked over 30 commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz within the past three months.

"The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation," CENTCOM said in a statement.

Iran’s attacks hit several power generation and water desalination plants in Kuwait on Monday evening for a fourth consecutive day, the Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ministry said on Tuesday.

The attacks caused fires at several facilities, which emergency teams extinguished in coordination with firefighters and security authorities.

The ministry said some generating units were taken out of service as a precaution to protect equipment and electricity and water systems.

Trump said the U.S. will be hitting the Pickaxe Mountain area, located near Iran's heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility, "pretty soon."

Linked to Iran's nuclear program, Pickaxe Mountain is a heavily fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes.

Trump had threatened to attack the site last week, saying the U.S. was "going to take out Pickaxe Mountain."

He also said on Tuesday that Tehran wanted to "desperately meet."

"Until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest," Trump said.

Qatar has condemned a statement by the Houthi military spokesman accusing Saudi Arabia of blockading the Yemeni people and preventing maritime navigation after he declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia on Monday.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities in implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions, foremost among them Resolution 2216 on Yemen and Resolution 2722 on the rights and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” a statement said.

Eskandar Momeni, Interior Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who is on an official visit to Pakistan, called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister House, earlier today.

Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister Sen. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Interior & Narcotics Control Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar, Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr. Syed Tauqir Shah, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and other senior government officials were also present.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister welcomed the Iranian Interior Minister and his delegation to Pakistan. While recalling his visit to Tehran, earlier this month, to attend the funeral ceremony of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, the Prime Minister conveyed his respectful regards and good wishes for Supreme Leader His Eminence Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei and President Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Prime Minister shared his deep concern over the recent escalation in the Gulf region and urged all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could further destabilize the region. While emphasizing that Pakistan would continue to play its role as an honest and sincere mediator and facilitator, the Prime Minister reiterated Pakistan’s strong commitment to regional peace and stability.

اسلام آباد: 21 جولائی 2026۔

وزیرِ اعظم محمد شہباز شریف سے ایران کے وزیر داخلہ عزت مآب اسکندر مؤمنی کی وزیر اعظم ہاؤس میں ملاقات شروع ہوگئی ہے. pic.twitter.com/YmZVEpCdVC

— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) July 21, 2026

The Iranian army has announced that it targeted the US Sheikh Isa military base in Bahrain with drones, the state news agency Fars reports.

According to the army, the base is one of the key facilities for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is at the centre of US operations.

The Mehr News Agency says several explosions have been heard this morning in the city of Abdanan in Iran’s western Ilam province.

It cited Abdanan Governor Behzad Nourmohammadi.

The governor told Mehr that a facility in the Dinar Kuh area was targeted.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they hit US military targets including air defence systems in Bahrain and Kuwait, state news agency IRNA reported.

The Guards said they struck two air defence systems and a radar installation at two different US outposts in Bahrain, as well as missile defence systems and radars and satellite reception systems in Kuwait.

"With this radar sweep, the enemy should prepare for even more decisive and powerful waves of drone and missile attacks," the Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA.

The announcement came as the United States said it struck Iranian military command centres, air defence systems and missile launch sites in overnight attacks.

Iran's army said it targeted "three major US bases in Kuwait" with kamikaze drones.

The US State Department on Monday issued an alert urging American citizens around the world to "exercise increased caution" over the war with Iran.

The alert said that "due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation."

"Americans outside the Middle East should reconsider travel to and through the region," it said, while warning of the heightened possibility of attacks targeting US diplomatic facilities "or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday they stopped two "non-compliant oil tankers" attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, state news agency IRNA reported.

"Two non-compliant oil tankers attempting to pass through the unsafe southern route of the Strait of Hormuz were stopped after explosions caused extensive fires aboard them," the Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA.

The US military said Monday night it had completed its latest round of strikes against Iran, targeting various sites to counter Tehran's ability to attack ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

"US forces struck Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said in a post on X.

President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran would “pay” for killing U.S. soldiers after multiple service members were killed over the weekend as part of ​the United States’ war against Iran, marking one of the deadliest days for U.S. ‌forces since the war started in February.

The number of U.S. troops killed in the war on Iran rose to 17 over the weekend, with the remains of an additional service member being examined. Two of the personnel ​were confirmed to have been killed when Iran attacked U.S. personnel in Jordan.

“Every time ​Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times ⁠over,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, ​Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine.”

In March, six U.S. troops were killed ​when an Iranian drone slammed into a U.S. military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Roughly 430 U.S. troops have been injured in the conflict so far.

DUBAI: Mediators ​have passed ‌Iran a proposal to ​de-escalate ​the war with ⁠the ​U.S. that ​would offer a 10-day ceasefire ​to ​find ways to ‌revive ⁠an interim deal reached ​last ​month, ⁠a senior Iranian ​official ​told ⁠Reuters on Monday.

Brent crude hit on Monday its highest price since June due to renewed fighting between the United States and Iran, while Asian equities were mixed as investors weighed the fallout of a prolonged Middle East war.

Crude has surged over the past week as Washington and Tehran traded fire, raising fears of a sustained disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, which carries around a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.

Both Brent crude and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate extended their gains after climbing more than four percent at the end of last week. Brent rose above $91 a barrel, its highest price since June 11.

The latest moves came after another weekend of escalating fighting, with the United States carrying out fresh strikes on Iranian targets and Tehran responding with attacks on regional military assets in the Gulf.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Sunday its latest strikes on Iran targeted command centers and other military facilities in a bid to prevent Tehran from attacking vessels transiting the Hormuz strait.

"CENTCOM assets targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz," the US military said in a statement posted to X.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that two oil tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz "exploded and were brought to a halt".

"Late last night, two non-compliant oil tankers... attempted to enter and exit through what was described as the unsafe and hazardous southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, exploded and were brought to a halt," the Guards said in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday the latest military strikes on Iran were being carried out in honor of US service members killed in recent days.

"We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the, probably three, it's probably three great patriots," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington following the World Cup final.

Trump said "we feel very badly," when asked about the military fatalities, adding that those who died were fighting so that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."

Israeli and Jordanian forces intercepted an Iranian missile aimed at the Jordanian city of Aqaba on Sunday, the Israeli military told AFP.

When asked by AFP about reports of explosions near the Israeli city of Eilat, a military spokeswoman said both Israeli and Jordanian forces had intercepted a projectile.

Sirens sounded in the Jordanian capital Amman on Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, as the United States and Iran exchanged drone and missile attacks.

Jordan's state-run Al-Mamlaka channel also reported that "sirens have been activated in different parts of the kingdom".

Major-General Ali Abdullahi, the commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has warned the US, saying “any aggression or barbarism will be met with a decisive and devastating response” from the country’s armed forces.

In a statement carried by Iranian state media, Abdullahi described the US as “the Great Satan” as well as “the criminal, treacherous and deceitful enemy”.

He pledged to strengthen unity between the armed forces, the Iranian public and officials and pledged to “impose heavier costs” on the US than in the previous wars.

“The enemy, following successive defeats in the military conflict, has taken comfort in creating division and discord between the people and their leaders,” Abdullahi said.

Iraq’s Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair says the Iraqi government is conducting a study on the construction of an oil pipeline from Basra to Kirkuk and onward to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and Syria’s Baniyas.

Speaking to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) from Washington on Saturday, Khudair said the ministry “has a clear vision and strategy based on diversifying Iraqi oil export routes and not relying solely on the Strait of Hormuz”.

He said a memorandum of understanding had been signed with a consortium including US companies Chevron and TE Capital, alongside Qatar’s UCC.

“The ministry is currently conducting a study on how to construct a strategic pipeline extending from Basra to Kirkuk, and from there to the port of Ceyhan,” Khudair said, adding that the project also includes a study on extending a branch of the pipeline to Baniyas in Syria.

Iran's army said on Sunday it had targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones in response to American attacks on Iranian territory.

The Islamic republic's army said it carried out "large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones against the U.S. military's ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and the Patriot radar system and air surveillance radar at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait", according to a statement carried by the state broadcaster.

The US military said Saturday that it carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, with targets including units behind the attack that killed two American troops in Jordan.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it struck Iranian military facilities and "targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces that launched attacks against U.S. service members in Jordan on July 17."

The United States said airstrikes on Sunday aimed to "punish" Iran over the first US military deaths since renewed hostilities with the Islamic republic.

Iran rapidly announced its own retaliation, saying two US bases in Kuwait were targeted in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks -- which Tehran said included strikes on an airport, a railway station and bridges.

A preliminary deal aimed at ending the war has collapsed as the foes fight to break the deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway key to the world's oil supply.

The Iranian army announced on Sunday it targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones, hitting an ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and Patriot radar and air surveillance systems at the Ali Al Salem Air Base.

Tehran had also launched fresh strikes in Jordan, where the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said two service members were killed Friday as they "defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks."

It said another service member was still missing in action.

Those deaths brought to 16 the confirmed number of US military fatalities since US-Israeli strikes started the war on February 28.

The US military said that it carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, with targets including units behind the attack that killed two American troops in Jordan.

Iran launched more attacks on Washington's Gulf allies and Jordan on Saturday after a seventh straight night of ​U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, escalating the war one week after a ceasefire collapsed.

Kuwait came under sustained attack, with a desalination plant hit and operations at Kuwait International Airport ‌suspended due to repeated missile and drone threats.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a U.S. military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in "repeated Iranian attacks", causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency.

Kuwait's armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones early on Saturday, adding that a number of firefighters and ​oil sector workers had been injured while responding to the attacks.

Iran was responding to U.S. attacks on bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure.

Tehran: Iran's army said it struck US military targets in Kuwait and Jordan in response to American attacks, according to a statement carried by the Iranian state broadcaster on Saturday.

In Kuwait, Iranian forces targeted an ammunition depot at the Al-Adiri camp, the headquarters buildings and ammunition depots at the Ali Al-Salem base and several communication bridges.

In Jordan, fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq base were also targeted, the state broadcaster said on Telegram.

Kuwait's army wrote on X on Saturday that explosions may be heard as a result of "air defense systems intercepting hostile targets".

Air raid sirens were also sounded in Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base, according to the country's interior ministry.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday that attacks on civilian infrastructure are "unacceptable," after Iran accused the United States of targeting bridges and transport hubs.

"The Secretary General remains deeply concerned by the continuing military escalation between Iran and the United States of America," spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

"He's particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region. Such attacks are unacceptable," he added. The United States has not confirmed Iran's allegations that it targeted civilian sites.

The United States struck bridges and an airport in Iran on Friday, provoking Tehran to respond by hitting a power and desalination plant in Kuwait, as the warring foes risked further escalation by expanding their targets to ​include infrastructure.

At sea, where the renewed conflict has again cut off energy supplies from the Gulf, U.S. Marines boarded a tanker near the Strait of Hormuz. Another vessel was seized by armed men off ‌Yemen, raising concern over security in the Middle East's other big choke point for oil shipments at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.

As reports of Friday's escalation emerged, benchmark Brent crude oil prices surged by more than 3% to near $87, the highest level since an interim agreement a month ago aimed at ending the war. Global share prices fell, with Wall Street opening sharply lower.

U.S. President Donald Trump ​has threatened to launch broad-based air strikes on Iran's infrastructure and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran's coast or islands. U.S. officials have said attacks on southern Iran are designed in ​part to give Trump options.

Iran has been restricting passenger train departures from Bandar Abbas station due to the US attacks on a railway point in the Hormozgan region, the country’s Tasnim news agency reports.

The Hormozgan Railways Administration has directed passengers to take an intercity bus to the Fin station and catch their trains there.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy says one of its electricity generation and water desalination plants was targeted by Iran in the latest attack, resulting in fire and damage to the site.

The ministry said in a statement that firefighting teams have brought the fire under control, while technical teams continue to carry out repair work and restoring the affected units to service, alongside continued monitoring of the stability of the electricity grid.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had struck US military aircraft stationed in Jordan with ballistic missiles and drones in retaliation for overnight US strikes.

In a statement, they claimed to have destroyed "several US refuelling aircraft and fighter jets" and caused "serious damage to many more". They also called on Jordanians to target "the interests of the aggressive and anti-Islamic Americans" in their country.

Iran has said that its forces targeted the US air base in Al-Udeid, Qatar, in the 15th wave of attacks.

The IRGC said in a statement that the Iranian attacks destroyed a long-range radar system and several US strategic refueling aircraft, according to the country’s IRIB news agency.

Iran said Friday it had targeted US military infrastructure in Kuwait in response to American attacks on the Islamic republic.

Tehran has launched a barrage of strikes against US allies in the Gulf after it accused Washington of targeting an airport, a railway station and two bridges, killing seven people.

Iran said it had deployed drones in Kuwait to target "the deployment sites of US forces and the logistical support centers of the 'terrorist' and 'child-killing' US military", Iranian state TV reported.

"The attacks were in response to the crimes of the arrogant enemy and in revenge for the blood of the martyrs of the homeland," it added.

Kuwait said earlier Friday it was responding to missile and drone attacks, a day after the Gulf nation faced aerial attacks from Iran.

Gulf nations Bahrain and Qatar also reported attacks early Friday.

Qatar said Friday it had intercepted a missile attack, after AFP journalists in the capital Doha reported hearing several blasts.

"The Ministry of Defense of State of Qatar announces that armed forces intercepted missile attack which targeted State of Qatar," the defence ministry wrote on X.

Iranian state media reported explosions and US strikes in locations across the south on Thursday night, as hostilities between the two foes rekindled.

State TV reported two explosions in the city of Bushehr -- home to Iran's only civilian nuclear plant -- in a "continuation of the American enemy aggression", as well as a series of unattributed explosions in coastal Bandar Abbas.

The official news agency IRNA also reported "American enemy attacks on areas around Ahvaz", where fearful residents told AFP they had heard intense strikes for a second night in a row.

US forces launched strikes against Iran for a sixth night in a row on Thursday, the US military said.

The strikes -- which began at 1800 GMT -- were carried out to "further degrade Iranian military capabilities," US Central Command said in a post on X.

US President Donald Trump remains open to diplomacy with Iran, the White House said Thursday, adding that Washington is still talking to Tehran despite the renewal of hostilities.

The comments come a day after Trump thanked Iran for freeing a US citizen detained since December 2024, in a move seen as a possible diplomatic opening.

"The president will hold them accountable when they turn their back on the words that they state to the United States. But he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

"They have expressed they still want to make a deal to the president. We're talking to them, but again, the president is not going to allow them to fire on ships in the Strait without paying a consequence for that."

A fragile ceasefire agreed in June is on the rocks after the United States launched several rounds of strikes in recent days in a bid to curb Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has also warned he could widen attacks to target power plants and bridges unless the Islamic republic returns to talks.

Iranian news agencies on Thursday reported that the United States launched strikes around Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz, as renewed hostilities flared between Washington and Tehran.

The Fars news agency reported an “American missile strike in the vicinity of Qeshm”, citing local authorities, while Tasnim said one of its correspondents reported locations around the island “were struck by projectiles from the American enemy”.

Iranian state TV also reported that the port city of Bandar Abbas was targeted by the “American enemy’s aggression” on Thursday evening.

Rekindled fighting between the longtime foes comes a month after the signing of a preliminary deal that aimed to end the conflict, which broke out in late February with massive US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Israel’s extremist Defence Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Pete Hegseth early Thursday that Israel is determined to keep its forces in “security zones” it has carved out inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Katz’s office said the two men spoke overnight and the minister “emphasised Israel’s determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces”.

“We have never asked the United States to act in our place along our borders,” the far-right minister said.

His comments come days after US President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull Israeli forces out of Syria and Lebanon, according to US news outlet Axios.

Citing a US official, Axios reported that Trump told Netanyahu the Israeli deployment was fuelling tensions in Syria.

“They don’t want you there. You should redeploy,” Trump told him, according to Axios.

After the December 2024 overthrow of Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has threatened to respond to any US attacks on Iranian infrastructure with strikes on regional infrastructure.

In a statement carried by Iranian state media, he said if Trump follows through on his threats, “all the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so that no trace of them will remain, as if they had never existed in the first place.”

He also said Iran will not allow US interference in the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday as the new wave of U.S. strikes on Iran fueled ​fears.

Brent crude futures climbed 33 ​cents, or 0.4%, to $85.28 a barrel by 0026 GMT, while U.S. ⁠West Texas Intermediate futures rose 42 cents, or 0.5%, to $80.02 a barrel.

Both benchmarks ​were hovering near their one-month highs touched ​on Tuesday.

"With tensions in the Middle East flaring up again, buying is taking the lead," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment.

"While mediation efforts by neighboring countries continue and the ​consensus view is that a full-scale war is unlikely, WTI could still rise to $85–$87 ​depending on how the conflict develops," he said.

Kuwait said on Thursday it was intercepting Iranian drones, while air raid sirens rang out in Bahrain, following another night of American strikes on Iranian territory.

In a statement on X, the Kuwaiti army said they were "engaging hostile drone attacks following the nefarious Iranian aggression". Bahrain's interior ministry urged citizens and residents to "remain calm and head to the nearest safe place".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a gathering of U.S. soldiers and an early warning radar system at the Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait, state media reported.

There was no immediate response from the U.S. Central Command or the Pentagon to the Iranian statement.

The U.S. Central Command said late on Wednesday that the U.S. military completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran at 9 p.m. Wednesday in Washington (0100 GMT Thursday).

The statement posted on X said the U.S. hit targets in multiple locations, including in Bandar Abbas, home to Iran's largest port and key navy and Revolutionary Guards facilities on the Strait of Hormuz.

"Earlier this morning, American forces struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a 90-minute wave," the U.S. military added.

The U.S. conducted a new wave of strikes against Iran's coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Wednesday after reimposing a ​naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran threatened to shut off more regional energy exports.

The strikes mark the latest escalation of attacks and counterattacks launched by the two ‌sides as they vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war.

"At 6 a.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching a wave of strikes against Iran," the U.S. military said.

"The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."

There were no immediate reports of attacks in Iranian media. U.S. Central Command ​said in a statement the military had targeted coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran's Greater Tunb Island, and had completed the wave of ​strikes within around 90 minutes.

Late on Tuesday the U.S. military said it had hit dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and ⁠Iranian coastal areas in strikes lasting seven hours.

In response, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck U.S. military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

It also ​threatened on Wednesday to shut off more regional energy exports, saying the U.S. "must brace for the closure of all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies".

Hostilities have intensified since Iran ​said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. says Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the last week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured.

The Iranian army says it will respond to the attack on Bambour Garrison in Iranshahr, calling it “cowardly aggression”.

“A decisive response will be given to this crime at the appropriate time,” a statement cited by the Tasnim news agency said.

A military court has sentenced a soldier to five years in prison for spying on behalf of Iran during the June 2025 war, according to a statement by the Israeli army quoted by Al Jazeera.

The conviction for carrying out espionage tasks on behalf of Iran came following a joint investigation by the military police, the Israeli police, and the Shin Bet intelligence agency, the army update said.

The Gulf monarchies of Kuwait and Bahrain on Wednesday confirmed they had intercepted fresh aerial salvos from Iran as Tehran and Washington exchanged fire over control of the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Kuwait's military said it was intercepting attack drones, and blamed "nefarious Iranian aggression", with Bahrain's army later saying it "succeeded in intercepting and destroying a number of the treacherous Iranian aerial attacks".

In the early hours of the morning, Bahrain's interior ministry said it had sounded warning sirens and urged citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.

Iran reported fresh US strikes Wednesday on a port city that is home to the country's only civilian nuclear plant, as Washington reimposed a naval blockade in a return to war between the foes.

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran on Tuesday aimed at disrupting an Iranian shipping network that Washington says helps to evade previous sanctions on oil sales and other activities.

The measures imposed on the network of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani represent the U.S. Treasury’s latest effort to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran, the department said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his department is "shutting down the financial infrastructure that allows the regime to continue its threats to U.S. national security and global shipping."

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The measures build on sanctions the U.S. issued in April and last year.

Trump resumed an earlier threat to hit Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not negotiate.

"I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets," Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday night.

"But we're going to hit them very hard tonight, we're gonna hit them hard tomorrow night ... And then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges," he said.

He continued: "We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're gonna knock out their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."

The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

Trump said in the interview that U.S. negotiators had been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them "you better make a deal".

The U.S. Central Command now says it has completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran, which ended about 30 minutes ago at 10 p.m. in Washington on Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday).

U.S. fighter aircraft, drones and naval vessels launched precision munitions against "dozens" of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas, CENTCOM's statement on X said. It did not name specific targets or damage.

The statement reiterated that the strikes were meant to further degrade "Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck facilities used by the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, state television reported Wednesday, after US strikes on Iranian territory.

"The NSI Management Center, Command and Control Center, Major Military Parts and Equipment Warehouses, and Fuel Storage Facilities of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain Were Crushed," the Guards said in a statement carried by state television IRIB.

US forces carried out strikes against Iran for a fourth day in a row on Tuesday and reimposed a naval blockade to prevent ships from sailing to or from the country's ports.

While US President Donald Trump backtracked on his threat to heavily tax ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, he warned he would expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal.

"Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges," Trump said in an interview on Fox News. "We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the latest strikes were aimed at "degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping" in the strait, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas where Tehran has repeatedly carried out attacks on civilian vessels.

Five explosions were just heard in the western area of the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, state TV is reporting.

China called on the United States and Iran to restore safe passage through the crucial Strait of Hormuz after fighting reignited over how the strategic waterway should be managed.

“Restoring normal and safe passage through the strait as soon as possible is a shared aspiration of the international community,” the foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a news briefing.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it “struck and disabled” what it called two “rogue supertankers,” according to a statement posted on Telegram.

The IRGC said the two tankers had turned off their navigation systems and ignored warnings from Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz and tried to pass through a “mined route.”

The statement from the IRGC came after two United Arab Emirates tankers were hit by Iranian missiles in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tankers al-Bahiya and Mombasa were hit while they were in Omani territorial waters, and an Indian crew member aboard the latter was killed, according to the UAE defense ministry. The IRGC statement did not name the tankers it said it struck or say under what flag they were flying. It did not say when it struck the tankers.

The U.S. Central Command now says it has completed its latest wave of strikes on Iran, which ended about 30 minutes ago at 10:15 p.m. in Washington on Monday (0215 GMT Tuesday).

Military targets across Iran - including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas - were struck during the five-hour mission, CENTCOM said in a statement on X.

The statement said the strikes were meant to "further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping."

"CENTCOM forces employed precision munitions against Iranian coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities," it said.

More than 50,000 U.S. service members are currently deployed across the Middle East, the statement said.

After Trump's statements on the Hormuz blockade, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on X disputing Trump's declaration that the U.S. would be known as the "GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT".

He said Iran would remain the strait's true guardian forever.

He also said Trump's plan for the U.S. to charge 20% on the strait's cargo was "too much."

Here is his full post:

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday its missile and drone attacks destroyed the air control radar of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

It also said its naval and aerospace forces hit a Patriot radar and an early warning C-RAM radar system in Bahrain.

The IRGC added that fuel storage tanks and the control center for unmanned boats were also destroyed, and that retaliatory operations are ongoing.

There was no immediate reaction from the United States or Bahrain to the Iranian statement.

Oil prices rose 2% on Tuesday to their highest in four weeks, as the renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran heightened uncertainty about energy flows.

Brent crude futures climbed $1.68, or 2%, to $84.98 per barrel by 0051 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.65, or 2.1%, to $79.79 a barrel.

Brent crude surged 9.6% in the previous session, its biggest daily gain since May 2020.

Air raid sirens were sounded in Bahrain on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, after Manama announced it had intercepted several Iranian attacks earlier in the day.

"The siren has been sounded ... Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place," the interior ministry said in a statement posted on social media.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday mocked US President Donald Trump over his vow to impose hefty charges on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran would charge a lower rate.

"POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of course too much. We will be fair," Tehran's top diplomat wrote, in a social media post.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the United States and Iran Sunday to halt their new outbreak of fighting in the Mideast war and resume talks to end it.

Guterres specifically mentioned US attacks on Iran and the latter's strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and US allies in the Gulf region. "These attacks must stop," Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Kuwait’s military said on Tuesday its air defenses are responding to an attack.

The General Staff of the Kuwait Armed Forces said that explosions heard were a result of air defenses intercepting hostile attacks.

Iran has launched repeated attacks on Kuwait and other Gulf countries in recent days in response to US strikes.

The latest exchanges of fire have been triggered by Iran attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, July 13: President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the Strait of Hormuz ​stays open after the two sides exchanged more missile and drone attacks.

The latest hostilities followed an announcement by Iran over the weekend that it was closing the strait, and cast further doubt on ‌the viability of an interim deal to halt the war in the Middle East and drove oil prices higher.

"The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE," Trump said on Truth Social.

"The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as 'THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT', but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped."

Iran's top joint military command said the U.S. had no role in determining the future of the ​vital shipping route and said in a statement on Monday it would not be allowed to intervene in the management of the strait.

The Revolutionary Guards said on Monday they had targeted U.S. military facilities in ​Bahrain and Kuwait, destroyed radar systems in Oman and hit fuel tanks and ammunition depots at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan in response to U.S. strikes.

Kuwait's defence ministry said on Sunday that three border posts and an offshore oil platform were attacked during a fresh exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran.

"Three land border posts in the north of the country were subjected to a cowardly attack, resulting in material damage," the statement said, without specifying the origin of the assault. It added that an "offshore drilling platform belonging to the Kuwait Oil Company... was targeted by a hostile drone, resulting in material damage and the injury of one worker".

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ​dropped the idea of charging a 20% fee ‌on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and said he would instead take trade and investment deals with the ​Gulf states.

The change of plan comes a day ​after Trump proposed charging a 20% fee to guard ⁠the waterway.

"Based on highly productive conversations with Middle ​East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United ​States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," he ​said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump did not ​mention any commitments by Gulf states, saying "Investments will be MASSIVE but, ‌at ⁠the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future."

President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would be paid for guarding the Strait of Hormuz after declaring that it would be “taking over” the strategic waterway.

“We’ll become the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump told “Fox and Friends,” adding that the US had been guarding it for “nothing” but now would be reimbursed by wealthy nations.

“We’re going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money, but we just want to be reimbursed for doing all of this, for putting our people in danger.”

The US president’s comments came after US and Iranian attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East, adding to doubts about efforts to bring a permanent end to the war that has halted shipping through the strait.

Oil prices jumped more than four percent Monday after another flare-up between the United States and Iran that threatened their already fragile truce, while Seoul led losses in most Asian stock markets as tech firms suffered another selloff.

The renewed hostilities in the Middle East followed last week's exchange of fire and came as negotiators struggle to reach a lasting peace deal to keep the crucial Strait of Hormuz open.

The US military launched a new wave of strikes on Sunday after renewed fighting over the waterway saw several of Washington's Gulf allies targeted by incoming fire.

Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. air ​base in Jordan on Tuesday and the United States attacked Iranian targets for five hours in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz that has pushed up oil ‌prices to four-week highs.

U.S. forces launched waves of attacks for the third successive night after Iran said on Saturday it was closing the strait, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to reinstate a blockade of Iranian shipping and propose charging a 20% fee to guard the vital waterway.

The strikes have increased doubts that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last month will lead to a permanent halt in the war, which has disrupted global energy supplies and raised fears of a rise in inflation across the ​world.

Regional analysts said the hostilities remained within controlled boundaries for now, with both sides seeking leverage for an eventual peace deal, but that there was still a risk of fighting spinning out ​of control.

"I doubt the two sides will resume a full war, especially as Trump will suffer — though there is also a distinct possibility that the Iranians ⁠will overplay their hand. That is true of Trump too, of course," said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

UK government on Monday targeted Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and another ​Iran-linked group, using proscription-like powers designed to tackle state-backed threats.

The power would effectively outlaw support ​for those groups and give police ​and intelligence agencies new powers to tackle ⁠any threats linked to them.

The ​IRGC, which is already subject to British ​sanctions, has served as an elite military force loyal to ‌the ⁠Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader since being established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US military targets and bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, state media reported on Monday.

The official news agency IRNA cited several statements released by the Guards saying they had attacked Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, a US military drone command centre in Bahrain and airbases including Ali Al Salem in Kuwait.

Yemen's Houthi movement fired missiles at Saudi ​Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between ‌the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.

Saudi Arabia intercepted missiles "launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the southern region," the spokesperson for a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on X.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said they had targeted the international airport in Saudi Arabia's Abha, the capital of a mountainous southern region bordering Yemen where many Saudis escape the summer heat.

The strikes ​are the first claimed by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia since an informal truce went into effect in March 2022 following Houthi attacks on ​Saudi energy infrastructure.

Monday's violence threatened renewed conflict on Saudi Arabia's southern border after Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting its ⁠eastern regions and Riyadh subsided following an April truce in the Iran conflict.

Explosions of unknown origin were heard in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a news agency reported, following an exchange of attacks between Tehran and Washington.

"Media and residents reported having heard on Monday at midday explosions near Bandar Abbas and the island of Qeshm," Mehr news agency said, adding that the blasts "appear to be coming from the West Coast of Bandar Abbas".

The US military said on Sunday it completed a new round of strikes in Iran aimed at preventing the Islamic republic from attacking shipping in the vital Strait of Hormuz.

"CENTCOM forces struck Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats using U.S. fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time," the US military said in a post on X.

Fresh attacks rocked Iran and Kuwait on Sunday evening as Tehran and Washington squared off over the Strait of Hormuz, offering contradicting statements as to whether the vital waterway was open to traffic.

Iran reported strikes on two of its southern islands while Kuwait, where Tehran has repeatedly targeted US installations, said border posts and an offshore oil platform had been attacked.

The as-yet unclaimed strikes came hours after Tehran and Washington exchanged fire for the third time this week, with control of Hormuz again the central issue, plunging into further question negotiations aimed at building on a preliminary deal and ending the Middle East war for good.

Before the war began with surprise US-Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28, there was free passage through Hormuz, but Tehran now insists that it will control the strait, while Washington is adamant it cannot.

The exchanges earlier in the day were prompted by an Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the waterway whose crew was forced to abandon it after it went up in flames.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said after the incident that "the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region", according to state news agency IRNA.

The US military's Central Command countered on X that the strait was "open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit".

It said US forces were "positioned and prepared to ensure" freedom of navigation, adding: "Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing."

Control of the waterway has become key leverage for Iran, with an adviser to the country's supreme leader on Sunday saying it was more important than "dozens of atomic bombs".

More than 10 projectiles struck Iran's Gulf island of Qeshm in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, state media reported, as hostilities resumed between Tehran and Washington.

"Between 10 to 11 enemy projectiles have struck Qeshm Island since Sunday afternoon," Hossein Amir Teymouri, governor of Qeshm township, told the IRNA state news agency, adding that "all of the targets were military" and that there had been no casualties.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy, says in a post on X: “We have taken control of the Strait of Hormuz with power, and we will preserve it with power as well.”

A communications tower in southern Iran has been targeted in the latest wave of US attacks.

The tower was located in Kerman province, according to ISNA.

Quoting local official Rahman Jalali, the news agency reported two people were injured in the attack and transported to hospital by helicopter.

Saudi Arabia is the latest Middle Eastern nation to condemn the Iranian attacks throughout the region.

The Foreign Ministry denounced Iran’s “violation of the principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the rules of good neighbourliness, through repeated Iranian attacks on commercial vessels that threaten the security and freedom of navigation”.

The IRGC has issued a new statement saying it also targeted the airbase at Qatar’s Al Udeid with ballistic missiles.

It claimed it destroyed a fighter aircraft maintenance and repair centre, as well as a command-and-control centre at the base.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defence, however, said earlier that it intercepted a missile attack targeting Qatari territory.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has finished a third round of strikes on Iran this week, “holding Iranian forces accountable” for their recent attack on a Cyprus-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM said it hit about 140 military targets, “included Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks, and coastal surveillance locations”.

It added that more than 300 targets were stuck over the course of three nights throughout the week “to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait.”

Explosions were heard over Qatar's capital on Sunday, AFP journalists reported, after the United States struck Iran over a vessel coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz.

AFP correspondents saw interceptions in the sky above Doha, a key mediator between Washington and Tehran, as residents received messages on their phones urging them to "remain in their homes and safe places".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday the Strait of Hormuz would be closed "until further notice" after they fired warning shots at a vessel they said used an unauthorised route, state media reported.

The move threatens to further complicate efforts to salvage US-Iran negotiations after both sides exchanged strikes over the past few days and traded threats.

News outlets Axios and Politico reported that Washington had given Tehran until Saturday to stop firing on commercial ships transiting Hormuz and formally acknowledge that the waterway is open.

A key roadblock to a final agreement is the future of the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran insisting it will control shipping through the waterway and Washington demanding unrestricted navigation.

The Guards said the vessel was "hit by warning shots and stopped" after ignoring repeated instructions to use an approved shipping corridor, 

The US military said Saturday it has launched a new round of strikes against Iran, after Tehran "blatantly attacked" a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest strikes, which began at 7:15 pm in Washington (2315 GMT), came "after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces blatantly attacked" a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said in a statement.

"The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait," CENTCOM said, adding that the strikes were being carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump.

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said simply: "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay."

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the Strait of Hormuz would be closed "until further notice," state media reported.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that any attempt to assassinate him would lead the United States to “completely decimate” Iran.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” Trump wrote.

“Orders have already been given, and the US Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”

A written statement from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father on Saturday, ​but added that it would depend not only on Iran but also ‌on "free people around the world".

In the supreme leader's first public message since funeral ceremonies for his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, began a week ago, the statement read on state television said that vengeance ​was "the demand of the nation" and "must certainly" take place.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei embraced martyrdom in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28, at the start ⁠of the war.

"We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and ​all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," the ​statement said.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who senior sources have said suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the strike, has not been seen by Iranians since he was appointed supreme leader on March 8.

"Whether we ​are there or not, this will be accomplished, and soon every free person around ​the world will fulfill a part of this divine mission," the statement said.

Tehran: Iran insisted on Saturday it had "kept its word" on a ceasefire with the United States, after President Donald Trump insisted the truce was over but that he had agreed to further negotiations with the Islamic republic.

The comments mark a new low in relations between the foes, after an exchange of fire this week rocked a shaky agreement aimed at turning the months-long ceasefire into durable peace and threatened a return to full-scale regional war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hit back on Saturday, insisting that Tehran "has so far kept its word, unlike the so-called US Treasury Secretary who is violating Para 9 of the MoU".

President Donald Trump said Friday the United States has agreed to continue negotiations with Iran but reiterated that the ceasefire between the two countries is finished.

"Iran has asked us to continue 'talks.' We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Trump said in Ankara earlier this week that the April 8 ceasefire -- which ended weeks of all-out war but has been marred by repeated lower-intensity conflict -- was done, terming Iranian officials "scum" and "sick people."

The US president also said at the time that he would speak to businessman-turned-negotiator Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been dealing with the Iranians, but insisted it was up to Tehran to return to the table.

The two sides have exchanged fire on several occasions this week, with Tehran targeting commercial ships, Washington carrying out strikes in response and Iran attacking US assets in Middle Eastern countries with drones and missiles.

The IRGC’s top commander has pledged vengeance against the US and Israel for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it won’t “be erased from the historical memory”.

Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi called for the “full realisation of justice and a fitting response to the criminals, especially the child-killing American army”.

“The criminal leaders of America and all enemies of the Islamic Revolution and the Resistance Front must know that by the cowardly assassination of this divine leader they will never … bring the flag of resistance to the ground,” Vahidi said in a statement carried by Sepah news agency.

After falling to its lowest point in May, global oil demand is beginning to recover, helped by seasonal consumption and the gradual return of supplies from the Middle East.

Demand is still expected to shrink by about one million barrels a day across 2026, the International Energy Agency said. However, the pace of decline should ease during the second half of the year, before consumption begins rising again in the final quarter.

Dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran caused no significant damage or injuries to American personnel, a US defense official said on Thursday.

The Iranian missiles and drones "were intercepted or failed to cause major damage," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that there were "no US injuries."

Iranian state media reported Thursday that a US-Israeli projectile hit military headquarters on the outskirts of Bushehr, hours after clashes between the United States and Iran flared.

"Moments ago, a military headquarters on the outskirts of Bushehr was attacked and hit by a projectile of the American-Zionist enemy," state news agency IRNA quoted deputy governor of Bushehr Ehsan Jahanian as saying.

A US defence official however said that the US military was not currently carrying out any strikes on Iran.

Israel recently told US President Trump that it had intelligence suggesting that Iran was planning an assassination attempt against him, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

CNN separately reported that the intelligence pertained to a “specific” attempt. The US government and Iran have not responded to these reports and claims, but Washington has in the past claimed that it had thwarted multiple attempts by Iran to kill Trump.

As NATO met this week in Ankara, one of the most significant issues before the alliance was freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

But Iran has said the meeting, and its focus on the strait and Iran’s nuclear programme, is politically motivated, Iranian state media IRNA reported.

The Iranian Embassy in Turkiye said the country’s nuclear programme is peaceful, emphasising that Tehran is not looking to develop nuclear weapons. The embassy added that Iran has a responsibility to maintain security in the Strait of Hormuz and that the destabilising actions of other countries are the primary source of insecurity in the region, IRNA reported.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, called out NATO chief Mark Rutte’s “relentless self-congratulation for serving an illegal war of choice”, saying NATO’s support of the US-Israel war on his country “exposes the servile mindset of a fawning courtier who fancies that flattery can erase a king’s contempt”.

Crude prices dipped in early Friday trading, though they were still headed for weekly increases amid ongoing retaliatory strikes between the US and Iran.

Brent futures ticked down by 6 cents, or 0.08 percent, to settle at $76.24 per barrel as of 01:25 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude edged lower by 4 cents, or 0.06 percent, to $72.04 per barrel.

Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic braved sweltering heat on Thursday to mass for the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad.

An Israeli strike killed Khamenei in late February on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran, bringing an end to his more than three and a half decades in power.

Beating their chests and weeping, mourners lined the route as they waited for Khamenei's coffin to arrive at the eastern city's shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will.

State TV reported that a helicopter would transport the body across the final stretch to the shrine because the main avenue was expected to be crammed with people.

With new hostilities breaking out with the United States even after an accord last month to end the war, at least one fighter jet escorted the plane carrying the late Iranian leader's coffin to Mashhad.

The burial is to be the final act in a marathon six days of funeral ceremonies, which have allowed people to pay tribute in Tehran, the clerical hub of Qom and also Iraq.

Men wore black shirts while women were clad in black chadors, many waving the red flags that symbolise the search for vengeance in Shia Islam, AFP correspondents said.

Led by the funeral eulogist, they chanted slogans against compromise and US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

- 'Only revenge can soothe the pain' -

"The loss of the leader is heavier than losing our parents," said Hoda, 35, a housewife attending the funeral.

"Only the death of Trump and Netanyahu will soothe our pain. There should be no compromise at all," she told AFP, referring to the deal with the US that ended months of hostilities in mid-June.

From the early hours of the morning, mourners dressed largely in black streamed towards the shrine carrying red flags despite temperatures nearing 40C.

Fire trucks sprayed water over the crowd as the heat intensified while fighter jets conducted low-flights over the event in what local media said was to provide security.

Some mourners poured water over their heads while others lay in patches of shade waiting for the funeral procession, which arrived shortly after 2:00 pm during the hottest part of the day.

"People here all seek revenge," said Mohammad Afsharian, 41, a shop owner.

"I don't know what's the story with diplomacy and what's the policy to continue diplomacy but all the people are carrying red flags in a sign of seeking revenge," he said.

The anger echoed criticism from Iranian hardliners, who have repeatedly attacked President Masoud Pezeshkian's government for pursuing talks with Washington after the killing of Khamenei.

"Only revenge, only revenge can soothe the pain," said Tahereh Rahmani, 37, a school executive.

"We are here with our red flags to call for the revenge of our leader."

- 'There will be blood' -

Near the mausoleum, many children were present. Many came with their families, wearing caps in the colours of the Islamic republic.

At the foot of a hotel called Miami, a giant banner showed a caricature of Trump with a bounty on his head.

Another sign showed Netanyahu with a message in English: "There will be blood."

The prayer will be led by Hossein Noori Hamedani, a 101-year-old ayatollah and conservative figure in the Islamic republic.

Meanwhile the eruption of fighting forced the closure of the rail link between Tehran and Mashhad, which is located some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the capital, although road transport was being organised for stranded passengers, the state rail company said.

Observers have been watching closely for any signs of Khamenei's son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to make any public appearances and was said to have been injured in the same strike that killed his father.

Khamenei will be buried with his infant granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter and Mojtaba Khamenei's wife Zahra Haddad Adel, who were all killed in the February 28 strikes.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned dozens of US attacks, including on two railway bridges, calling Washington’s claim they were in response to attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz a “false pretext”.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said Thursday they had struck US military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to fresh American strikes, in a statement carried by state television IRIB.

The Guards said they struck "key infrastructure and facilities" at US bases in Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain with missiles and drones.

They also warned their responses would expand to other bases across the region if US attacks were repeated.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said his country was prepared to resume its military campaign against Iran if needed, vowing to do so "with even greater force".

"The army is ready and on alert for a resumption of fighting, in order to regain air superiority and strike again... in Iran, to eliminate threats, including a third time if necessary. If we have to go back, we will go back, with even greater force," Katz said at a military ceremony.

The head of the International Maritime Organization says about 6,000 sailors remain trapped around the Strait of Hormuz as hostilities between the US and Iran continue.

“These reckless attacks have again placed innocent seafarers in grave danger. No seafarer should have to risk their life simply for doing their job,” Arsenio Dominguez was quoted by NBC News as saying.

Oil prices extended their surge Thursday as Donald Trump said the US ceasefire with Iran was over and ordered fresh strikes against the country following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

However, equity markets mostly rose with tech firms seeing a touch of bargain-buying, with Seoul and Tokyo enjoying healthy gains in early trade.

Crude soared Wednesday when the US president -- in response to tit-for-tat attacks in the region already taking place -- said the fragile truce between the foes was over.

Washington also revoked a temporary sanctions waiver for Iranian oil.

Iranian armed forces ​launched attacks on U.S. military infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states on Thursday following US strikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces, putting further strain on a three-week-old ceasefire agreement.

Iranian officials said the U.S. attacks had killed 14 people and injured 78 across five provinces on July 8 and 9, state media reported. Fars said one ​U.S. strike had hit a rail bridge used for trade with Russia and China.

Several explosions were heard on Thursday morning in Iran's Bushehr province and in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Strait of Hormuz on ​Iran's south coast, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Bushehr is home to a Russian-built nuclear power plant and a local official later told state media that a U.S. projectile had hit the perimeter area of the facility. The perimeter was already hit several times during the current conflict before an April 8 ceasefire.

U.S. strikes also hit a military site and a fishing dock in Bushehr province, its deputy governor said, though no casualties were reported.

Explosions were heard in Bahrain's capital on Thursday, an AFP correspondent in Manama said, moments after authorities sounded air raid sirens to warn of an attack.

The blasts followed a vow from Iran's Revolutionary Guards that they would "give a devastating response" to fresh American strikes on the Islamic republic's territory.

US military officials said Wednesday that approximately 90 Iranian military targets were hit in their latest strikes, targeting air defense systems, missile and drone storage sites, and other assets.

The United States "completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz," according to a statement posted to X by US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Jordan's armed forces said they have intercepted and shot down eight missiles launched from Iran toward Jordanian territory.

The interception resulted in falling debris but no injuries or material damage, the armed forces added.

The state news agency, citing a government spokesperson, earlier reported sirens had sounded after the missiles were detected in Jordanian airspace.

The spokesperson said the country's armed forces are on high alert and ready to deal with any threat targeting the kingdom's security.

Kuwait's air defences were intercepting "hostile missile and drone attacks", its military said on Thursday.

"The General Staff of the Army notes that any explosions heard are a result of air defense systems intercepting hostile attacks," the Kuwait military said in a post on X, without specifying their origin.

The United States and Iran traded strikes on Thursday for the second day running as Washington and Tehran battled over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The vital oil shipping corridor is a flashpoint in the Middle East war, with Tehran insisting on control of the strait despite it being open to free passage before the US-Israeli attacks in February.

After the foes traded attacks on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was "over", but left the door open to more talks and added any strikes would end quickly.

US forces said the latest attacks against Iran were aimed at "their ability to threaten the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz", citing recent strikes against commercial ships in the waterway.

The latest US strikes on southern Iran killed eight military personnel, Iranian state television said on Wednesday.

"Following the criminal aggression carried out this morning by the US terrorist army against areas in southern Iran, eight courageous members of the air and naval forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran's military in Bandar Abbas (south) and Bushehr (southwest) fell as martyrs," state television said, citing a statement from the military.

President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that US forces would strike Iran "hard" in the coming night, after earlier declaring Washington's ceasefire with Iran over at a NATO summit in Ankara.

"We're gonna hit 'em hard tonight," he said before holding talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, saying: "They violate the agreement every day."

The Hormozgan provincial airports administration has announced that Bandar Abbas International Airport sustained no damage to its infrastructure or equipment during U.S. air strikes on Tuesday night.

Bandar Abbas, a key port city situated on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, is the capital of Hormozgan province and serves as a major naval base for the Iranian military. Local officials confirmed that all airport facilities remain fully intact despite the overnight attacks targeting the coastal city.

World oil prices soared more than five percent Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over, following fresh strikes in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumped 5.3 percent to $78.09 a barrel, while the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, advanced 5.4 percent to $74.23 a barrel.

The US has launched extensive strikes on Iran following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a wave of reprisals against American bases in the Gulf.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the ceasefire with Iran was over, calling Tehran "sick" after Washington launched strikes on the Islamic Republic and Iran said it targeted US bases in the Gulf.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara when asked if the truce with Iran was now finished. "It's just a waste of time dealing with them."

US strikes in southwest Iran on Wednesday killed a member of the Revolutionary Guards' navy, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.

"A member of the Guards, Mohammad Reza Khazini, was hit by shrapnel and died a martyr while confronting enemy drones" in Mahshahr, a port city not far from the Iraqi border, IRNA reported, citing a statement from the Guards, the ideological arm of the Iranian military.

China denounced on Wednesday a sharp escalation in hostilies in the Middle East after the United States struck dozens of targets in Iran, with Beijing's foreign ministry warning both sides against "reigniting" the war in the Middle East.

"Reigniting the war is not in the interests of either side, and military means cannot solve the fundamental problems," foreign spokesperson Mao Ning told a news conference, when asked about the strikes.

Iranian media reported Wednesday a series of blasts in the port city of Bushehr following a resumption of hostilities with the United States.

"Explosions have been heard in Bushehr and the surrounding area," the Mehr news agency said, without providing details.

Located in Iran's southwest, Bushehr hosts the country's only civilian nuclear power plant and lies near Kharg island, the main oil terminal through which 90 percent of the nation's crude exports transit.

Iran's foreign ministry said Tuesday the United States has repeatedly violated their agreed memorandum of understanding, and warned retaliation following Washington's strikes on targets in the Strait of Hormuz.

"Iran is issuing a serious warning about the consequences of America's breach of the treaty, and will take decisive measures to protect its interests and national security," the ministry said in a statement posted to Telegram by IRIB News.

As we mentioned earlier, Iran is holding week of funeral ceremonies for slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, including ceremonies in the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Najaf in neighboring Iraq.

Now, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has left Iraq for Iran following the latest U.S. strikes, Iranian state TV reports.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that its naval and aerospace forces carried out a joint missile and drone operation targeting 85 key U.S. military sites.

It said targets included Bandar Salman, Bahrain's Fifth Naval District, and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

The IRGC added that a U.S. MQ9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation was shot down.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards now say they have shot down a U.S. MQ9 drone, known as a Reaper, in the country's south, Iran's Press TV has reported.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. military.

Oil prices extended a surge on Wednesday as the Middle East crisis burst back into the spotlight with US forces launching fresh strikes on Iran after an attack on three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

The sudden flare-up has stoked concerns about peace talks between the foes as they look to end their conflict and fully reopen the crucial waterway.

It added to the dour mood on trading floors amid a fresh tech sell-off caused by questions over stretched valuations and when companies will start realising profits from the eye-watering sums pumped into the AI sector in recent years.

Iranian state media on Tuesday reported a series of explosions heard in the Strait of Hormuz region, moments after US officials announced "powerful" strikes on Iran.

IRIB news reported six explosions were heard on the Iranian island of Qeshm, seven explosions were heard in the city of Sirik and more were heard in the major port city of Bandar Abbas.

Iran's foreign ministry warned of retaliation and said the United States has repeatedly violated their memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war, pointing to ongoing aggression in Lebanon and other threats.

The U.S. Central Command says that it has hit over 80 targets in Iran.

"U.S. forces struck Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait (of Hormuz) to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor," it said in a statement.

It said Iran recently attacked three commercial vessels transiting the strait.

"The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation," the CENTCOM statement said

A Qatari LNG tanker was at risk of ​exploding and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker was damaged near the Strait of Hormuz, sources said on Tuesday, after reports that Iran fired missiles at ‌ships in the waterway overnight.

The Al Rekayyat, loaded with liquefied natural gas, sent out distress signals seeking assistance after it was hit on its port side, one of the sources said. Another source briefed on the matter said the vessel was at risk of exploding due to a fire in its engine room. The crew were safe and were being evacuated.

"Mayday mayday mayday. This is vessel Al Rekayyat, LNG vessel Al Rekayyat. We are being ​hit by drone on port side, top of engine room," the Rekayyat's captain said in a recorded radio call reviewed by Reuters. "Status: engine room fire and full of ​smoke. Unable to assess further damage."

It is the first time an LNG ship from Qatar, a mediator in talks between Washington and Tehran, has ⁠been struck since the start of the Iran war at the end of February.

A Saudi-flagged tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman's coast, maritime security sources ​said. The cause was not immediately known.

TEHRAN: Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has responded to former US President Donald Trump’s statement, saying those responsible for the killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will not be spared.

Ghalibaf stated that the “final stage of revenge” would be achieved through the liberation of Jerusalem, adding that the Iranian people have been chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans for the past four months.

He said the Iranian public is demanding revenge against those responsible for the killing of their “martyred Imam,” warning that those who attacked Iran and were involved in the deaths of martyrs would have to face the consequences of their actions.

The Iranian Parliament speaker added that negotiations are part of Iran’s broader civilizational struggle.

The IRIB state broadcaster, citing anonymous sources, is reporting that the oil tanker was “planning to pass through the Omani route in the Strait of Hormuz with the support of the US Navy”.

The ship was “attacked after ignoring repeated warnings”.

IRIB said no Iranian official has yet confirmed or denied the report.

An "unknown projectile" struck and caused a fire on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, British maritime security agency UKMTO said.

The incident occurred near one of the world's most important energy shipping routes, despite a ceasefire between the United States and Iran and ongoing efforts to secure a lasting peace agreement.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the incident took place eight nautical miles east of Limah, Oman.

"A tanker has reported being hit by an unknown projectile on the port side causing a fire, whilst travelling southbound," UKMTO said in a post on X.

The body of Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrived in the holy city of Qom on Monday evening ahead of a planned procession the following day, state television reported.

"The body of the martyred leader has arrived in Qom," south of the capital Tehran, state television said on social media, alongside footage showing a helicopter carrying Khamenei's body landing in the city.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s remarks on the Strait of Hormuz, describing them as utterly shameful and a grotesque distortion of reality that reeks of the deceitful Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust.

In a statement on X on Monday night, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the German official’s rhetoric exposes Berlin’s complicity in the illegal US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic.

“The German Foreign Minister’s rhetoric on the Strait of Hormuz is utterly shameful — a grotesque distortion of reality that reeks of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust,” Baghaei stated.

“Germany must be held fully accountable for its complicity in military aggression against Iran and bear the heavy costs of its active participation in the crime of aggression,” he said.

The German Foreign Minister’s rhetoric on the Strait of Hormuz is utterly shameful — a grotesque distortion of reality that reeks of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust.

Germany must be held fully accountable for its complicity in military aggression against Iran and bear the heavy… pic.twitter.com/pA1SUnyD4p

— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) July 6, 2026

Dr. Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, the father-in-law of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, thanked the Pakistani government for expressing condolences over the martyrdom of the "Shaheed Rahbar."

Speaking in an exclusive interview, he said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has always paid special attention to Muslims in Pakistan and the wider subcontinent, even before becoming Supreme Leader.

He noted that Khamenei was among the first people in Iran to recognize and study Allama Iqbal. “50 years ago when Javed Iqbal visited Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was President at the time,” Haddad Adel recalled.

“He gave a speech about Allama Iqbal in Javed Iqbal’s presence. Afterward, Javed Iqbal said that if the entire Muslim Ummah understood Iqbal the way Ayatollah Khamenei does, our destiny would be very different.”

He also addressed rumors about the Supreme Leader’s health, saying, “Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is completely fine and is carrying out his duties.”

The funeral procession carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei is making its way through the streets of Tehran, AFP reports.

“We ask the public to go peacefully to Azadi Square,” where the procession is expected to pass, said General Hassan Hassanzadeh, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Israel’s defence minister has claimed that his country assassinated Khamenei for allegedly leading a “plan to destroy” Israel and again threatened to “eliminate” any Iranian leader who tries to promote such actions, according to Israel’s Channel 13.

Israel Katz made the comments in response to the ongoing funeral procession in Tehran, the Israeli broadcaster reported.

Katz added that Israel remains prepared to defend itself at any time and against any threat.

The Tasnim news agency and the broadcaster Press TV are reporting that millions of mourners are on the streets of Tehran for the late supreme leader’s funeral proceedings.

According to Press TV, officials have described the event as the “largest public gathering in the country’s modern history”.

Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has met the vice chairman of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mohammed Al-Nuaimi, and hailed the MoU signed with the US as an achievement for Tehran’s “axis of resistance”.

“The United States and Israel were forced to practically recognise Iran’s allies in the axis of resistance, and this is one of the achievements of this memorandum,” Ghalibaf said, according to Iranian media.

Iran’s regional network of armed groups, known as the “axis of resistance”, includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, and armed groups in Iraq.

Images from Khamenei’s funeral procession in Tehran show mourners carrying a banner with the words “Kill Trump”. The banner also shows a bullet running through the word Trump.

Other mourners also carried placards with images of US Vice President JD Vance, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the words, “There will be blood”.

Iran will never abandon its quest for revenge over the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Army chief said, more than four months after he was martyred in a US-Israeli airstrike.

Major General Amir Hatami made the remarks on Sunday, on the second day of public funerals held for Ayatollah Khamenei and his martyred family members.

“Those who committed this crime must know that the nation of Iran and all of us will never cease in our pursuit of and demand for justice. We will not let go of them, and this is a definitive decision that we will follow through until we achieve results,” said Hatami.

Ayatollah Khamenei, along with his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and several top military commanders, were martyred in the attack targeting his office in Tehran on February 28, the opening day of the US-Israeli aggression on Iran.

Funeral prayers were offered over the body of the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday, the third day of extensive funeral ceremonies that have drawn unprecedented crowds to the Iranian capital.

The funeral prayer was held in three stages. The first was offered for the martyred Leader. The second covered Martyr Seyyedeh Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, Martyr Mesbah al-Hoda Baqeri, and Martyr Zahra Haddad Adel, while the third will be offered for Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, the martyred Leader’s granddaughter.

The farewell ceremony began early Saturday at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla following the martyrdom of the Leader. The gathering has drawn massive crowds paying their final respects.

Funeral processions are scheduled for Tuesday in the holy city of Qom and Thursday in Mashhad, where the martyred Leader will be laid to rest at the shrine of Imam Reza.

Sunday has been declared a public holiday for the entire country, and in the evening, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body will leave the Grand Mosalla complex where it is lying in state in preparation for processions through the capital planned for Monday.

Brigadier-General Mohammad Akraminia says the army is using the ceasefire period to strengthen its combat capabilities, warning any “enemy mistake” would be met with a “decisive response”.

Akraminia said Iran is using the halt to hostilities to strengthen its armed forces. “We will not waste a single moment or neglect this,” he said.

“If the enemies make a mistake, they will definitely face a crushing and decisive response from the Iranian armed forces,” he said.

A cargo vessel is under attack by unknown armed assailants off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

UKMTO said it received a distress alert from the vessel 56km (30 nautical miles) southwest of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah.

Authorities are investigating the incident, the agency said, advising vessels in the area to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.

Funeral prayers were also held today for the four members of Khamenei’s family who were killed in the joint US-Israeli strike on February 28.

Among them was his granddaughter, Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, who was only 14 months old.

Footage posted online by Tasnim news agency shows her small coffin placed beside her grandfather’s during the funeral proceedings. The agency said her father, Mohammad Javad Mohammadi Golpayegani, also attended the prayers.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has said it will strive to honor the legacy of the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, by upholding the principles of dignity and independence in foreign policy.

In a statement issued to mark the start of public funerals held for the late Leader, the Ministry said that Iran will keep on Ayatollah Khamenei's glorious and dignified path in dealing with international issues.

"The country's foreign policy will always keep as its guiding principle his enlightened advice on safeguarding the nation's dignity, independence, and power, and on maintaining vigilance against the conspiracies of enemies," said the statement.

It said that the martyrdom of the late Leader, which took place on the first day of the US-Israeli aggression on Iran on February 28, was the beginning of a new phase in the course of progress for Islam and Iran.

The Tasnim news agency is reporting that funeral prayers for Khamenei and four members of his family will be held in Tehran this morning.

The prayers will take place at the Imam Khomeini Grand Musalla, where the body of the former leader has been lying in state since Saturday for public mourning and official farewell ceremonies.

According to Tasnim, “the capacity of the main courtyard of Mosalla was filled hours before the start of the congregational prayer”.

Following the prayers, funeral processions will be held in Tehran on Monday and in the holy city of Qom on Tuesday.

Khamenei’s body will then be flown to the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala for more funeral proceedings and returned for burial in the Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and his martyrdom have inspired Muslims worldwide in their pursuit of unity.

Pezeshkian made the remarks on Saturday in an address to the International Conference of Imam Khamenei, the Eternal Leader of Resistance.

He said that Ayatollah Khamenei had always highlighted Muslim unity as a key necessity for the Islamic Ummah, spending a significant part of his life elucidating the matter through speeches, essays, and books.

The Iranian president said the late Leader's martyrdom on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, also inspired millions of Muslims around the world in their quest for unity.

Iran hailed participation of representatives from more than 70 countries in funeral ceremonies held for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

“It pleases Iran to have received representatives from more than seventy countries who chose to participate in honoring our martyred Supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, among them our loyal Arab brothers,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in an Arabic-language post on X on Saturday. “This historic commemoration will remain an eternal memory in the course of our shared relations."

Tens of thousands of Iranians thronged a vast outdoor prayer complex in Tehran on Saturday to view the coffin of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for 37 years before being killed at ​the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Dressed in black and draped in the red, white and green flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran, mourners held up posters and A4 ‌printed sheets with pictures of Khamenei and his son and successor as supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Iran is staging mass funeral processions for Khamenei, who embraced martyrdom in February by the opening airstrikes of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel, in a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic's theocratic state and revolutionary zeal.

After a day of Khamenei lying in state indoors for senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to visit, his coffin, and those of several family members killed in the same airstrike, were brought to ​an outdoor stage for the general public to view from a distance, television footage showed.

Mourners filed into the vast courtyard of the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, beating their chests, wailing and waving the banners ​of the Islamic Republic and historic Shi'ite Muslim martyrs. Women dressed in black chadors wore white visors or held umbrellas to shield from the hot mid-morning sun.

WATCH Khamenei Funeral Event - LIVE HERE

PARIS: A CMA CGM container ship struck by a missile in the Strait of Hormuz in early May is so ​badly damaged that the French shipping group may send ‌it for scrapping, its chief executive said on Friday.

The attack on the CMA CGM San Antonio injured several members of the crew, who ​were evacuated. The ship is one of dozens of ​commercial vessels to be struck during the Iran war.

"It ⁠was so damaged that we're wondering whether we should send ​it for scrapping," CMA CGM's Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade ​told a business conference in southern France.

The body of Iran's martyr Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is lying in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, ​officials, foreign dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects after his 37-year rule. Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also paid respects to the martyr.

Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions for Khamenei — who embraced martyrdom in February by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes at the ‌start of a four-month war — in a show of public devotion to the Islamic leader.

US President Trump has launched another broadside against his European NATO allies over what appears to be their lack of support for the US war on Iran.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump highlighted the disparity between US and European defence spending, singling out allies including France and the UK, and describing Washington’s contribution to NATO as “Ridiculous”.

“They were not there for us!!!” the president wrote.

The figures used by Trump in his post appear to represent how much each country spends on its own armed forces.

 UN Secretary-General António Guterres held a telephone conversation with Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

During the telephone call, Guterres reiterated his condolences following the martyrdom of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei—the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution—and expressed his sympathy with the Iranian nation and government.

During this telephone conversation, the two sides exchanged views on regional and international developments, particularly the situation in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

US and Iran negotiators made "positive progress" during indirect talks in Doha, with the next round expected after the late Iranian supreme leader's funeral, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said.

"Qatar & Pakistan mediators concluded separate meetings with the US & Iranian negotiators in Doha today, with positive progress made on issues related to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, building on the outcomes of the Lake Lucerne Summit," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said Wednesday on X.

The body of Iran's supreme leader who was killed in US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on Friday ahead of his funeral, state media reported.

Millions of people and a coterie of foreign dignitaries were expected to attend Saturday's official ceremony for Ali Khamenei, with Tehran's chief negotiator calling for a massive turnout to avenge his death.

Photos showed mourners carrying Khamenei's coffin, emblazoned with Iran's tricolour flag, into the Grand Mosalla, one of the Islamic republic's most important ceremonial venues.

An Iranian military commander warned the United States and Israel on Thursday against any attack ​on Iran as it prepares for the ‌state funera of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who embraced martyrdom in airstrikes on the first day of the war.

"We warn the ​enemies of Iran, especially the U.S. and ​the Zionist regime (Israel), to avoid any miscalculation and ⁠to think about the harsh retaliation our armed ​forces would make to any threat and aggression against ​our country,” Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement carried by state media.

Funeral processions for ​Khamenei will begin on July 4 in Tehran ​and conclude on July 9 with his burial in his hometown ‌of ⁠Mashhad, with additional ceremonies planned in Qom and Iraq in-between these dates.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi gave a similar warning that Tehran would deliver ​an immediate ​and powerful ⁠response to any threat against its people or leadership after comments by Israeli Defence ​Minister Israel Katz that Iran's current Supreme ​Leader ⁠Mojtaba Khamenei was "marked for death."

Iranian media reported heightened security measures during the funeral period, while the head of ⁠Iran’s ​Civil Aviation Organisation said on Wednesday ​that temporary airspace restrictions would be implemented over several cities including ​Tehran and Mashhad.