Turning back to the war on Iran, mediator Pakistan has insisted that negotiations between Tehran and Washington are continuing, even as the US carried out “heavy” strikes on Iran in retaliation for fresh attacks targeting American forces in Jordan.
“Negotiations between parties are ongoing, particularly on strait of Hormuz and to de-escalate,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters.
Pakistan had helped to broker a deal between the warring sides laying the groundwork for negotiations on a permanent resolution, and Andrabi – cited by AFP – said it was doing its “utmost to bring all parties back” to technical talks under the agreement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Thursday that two oil tankers attempting to transit the Hormuz strait with US support turned back after one of them caught fire.
Updated
Israeli official says disarmament plan does not meet Israel’s demands for Gaza demilitarisation – report
An Israeli official has said the Trump-chaired Board of Peace’s 15-point disarmament proposal does not meet Israel’s demands for Gaza’s complete demilitarisation, the Times of Israel is reporting.
So it is “unclear how the agreement would be able to proceed”, it says
Reports of a breakthrough started emerging before Donald Trump’s announcement but an Israeli official appeared to temper the optimism, saying the proposal “does not adequately address” Israeli demands for the “complete demilitarisation, [which is] a precondition for any process”, the report said.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government raised these objections recently to Board of Peace envoy Tony Blair, the Israeli official said in a statement, without specifying its issues with the disarmament proposal, according to the report.
The official added:
There will be no IDF [Israel Defence Forces] withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is fully demilitarised.
The proposal would see Hamas gradually hand over its weapons over an eight-month period to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the Board of Peace-overseen panel of Palestinian technocrats that is tasked with replacing the militant group in governing Gaza, the Times report quoted an Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations as saying.
Hamas recognised that accepting the disarmament proposal would “put the ball in Israel’s court”, the diplomat said.
Updated
Hamas says deal includes Israel's 'gradual withdrawal' from Gaza – report
Senior Hamas officials are saying the agreement reached with Israel includes provisions addressing the group’s weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, Agence France-Presse is reporting.
The news agency quoted a Hamas official as saying that “an agreement has been reached regarding the issue of weapons ... Furthermore, an agreement has been reached on a gradual withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The official also said the Islamist movement now expected the mediators and the Board of Peace to ensure that Israel complied with the terms of the deal.
We are yet to get official word from Israel in response to Donald Trump’s disarmament deal announcement.
Updated
A US official is reportedly saying that if Israel does not agree to the plan, Donald Trump will be disappointed.
But the official was very confident Israel would adhere to the plan’s terms, Reuters is reporting.
The deal was not asking Israel to agree to anything not included in an earlier plan, the unnamed official said.
A US official was also quoted as claiming Iran tried to convince Hamas not to agree to the disarmament deal but that the US was able to overcome that.
Updated
Hamas officials confirm deal to end conflict with Israel - report
Senior Hamas officials have reportedly confirmed they have reached an agreement to end the conflict with Israel, following Donald Trump’s announcement the group was prepared to disarm.
AFP quoted two officials from the Palestinian Islamist movement, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying it had come to the agreement.
Updated
The first weapons to be transferred under the deal will be from police, followed by the decommissioning of heavy weapons, a Board of Peace official is reportedly saying.
All military activity in Gaza would need to stop under the implementation of the plan, Reuters is also quoting the official as saying.
As mentioned, we are yet to hear an official response from Israel to Trump’s announcement.
Updated
There has been no immediate statement from Hamas on the Trump’s agreement announcement – but it came after sources familiar with the ongoing talks with mediators in Cairo told Agence France-Presse that the militant Palestinian group was progressing towards a deal involving the decommissioning of its weapons.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Trump’s post, Reuters is reporting.
Updated
Trump claims deal reached for 'complete disarmament of Hamas' in Gaza
Donald Trump has claimed his Board of Peace has reached an “historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”.
The US president just posted on his Truth Social platform:
This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people. At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.
Trump, who chairs the international group including more than 20 countries, said the agreement “will be carried out in carefully structured phases”.
As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.
Trump also asserted in his post:
The threat that emerged from Gaza on October 7 will NOT be allowed to rebuild!
Under this agreement, Gaza will finally be in the hands of a new Palestinian government that serves its PEOPLE.
Hamas and Israel have not yet responded to Trump’s announcement, which he called a “major milestone” in the implementation of his 20-point peace plan for ending the war in Gaza.
Trump thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey as well as his own team for their efforts towards the agreement.
The US president announced the Board of Peace earlier this year to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction and governance after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in October 2025.
Updated
Trump claims deal reached for 'complete disarmament of Hamas' in Gaza
Donald Trump is claiming his Board of Peace has reached an “historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”.
More on this in a moment.
Updated
Oil prices have settled lower after a volatile session as traders digested proposed plans for a Saudi-led maritime coalition to boost defence cooperation around the Red Sea.
Brent futures settled down $1.71, or 1.88%, at $89.03 a barrel on Thursday. Trade was choppy and Brent touched a session high of $93.31 after the US and Iran traded strikes on each other’s military targets again, Reuters reports.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down 87c, or 1.03%, at $83.59, after hitting a high of $85.94.
Tehran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen last week declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening the Red Sea route for its oil exports, an alternative to the largely blockaded strait of Hormuz.
A partner at Again Capital, John Kilduff, said:
There is this sense that there is a lot of supply waiting to hit market once all of this is resolved, and that is a weight against any kind of dramatic price rise.
Updated
US will 'pay the price' for killing Iranian civilians, says Ghalibaf
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has shared this statement on X:
The United States soils its hands with a new crime every day; the terrorist attack on the residential homes of civilians on Qeshm Island is a continuation of the atrocities in Minab and Lamerd. Americans have grown accustomed to making up for the slaps they receive on the battlefield by spilling the blood of the innocent. They will pay the price.
At least 175 people – most of them children – were killed on the first day of the war when a Tomahawk missile hit a girls’ elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab.
A preliminary US military investigation found that American forces were responsible. But while reports suggest that a secretive probe into the attack has concluded, some critics fear the Pentagon will bury the results under classifications to keep the worst mistakes secret from the public.
That same day, a strike hit a sports hall in Lamerd, also in southern Iran, killing at least 24 people, including teenage girls playing volleyball. The US was reportedly responsible for that too.
Egypt’s government said on Thursday that authorities were analysing drone fragments from an unprecedented strike on one of its Mediterranean ports, after president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of regional escalation, AFP reports.
His government had earlier confirmed that a fire the day before on two gas vessels in the Damietta port – one of which was US-owned – was a result of a drone strike, the first to target the country since the outbreak of the war.
Officials have struck a cautious tone in the aftermath, warning against both regional “escalation” and “speculation”.
In his first statement addressing the strike on Wednesday, al-Sisi warned of the “danger of regional escalation”, in a call with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
Authorities were carrying out an ongoing investigation into the strike, after “technical teams boarded the ship and examined the remains of the drone, which security agencies are currently analysing and studying to establish with certainty its origin”, prime minister Mostafa Madbouly said.
The drone strike, similar to others that have hit Egypt’s Gulf and Arab allies throughout the US-Israeli war against Iran, has not been claimed by any warring party.
Iraq says it had ‘no prior knowledge’ of US-Saudi attacks
Iraq’s prime minister will postpone a trip to Saudi Arabia in light of US-Saudi attacks that killed at least 20 members of the country’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces, Al Jazeera reports, citing a government spokesperson via the Iraqi News Agency.
Haider al-Aboudi said Baghdad “has not granted any approval for attacks on specific sites or groups within Iraqi territory”.
“The government had no prior knowledge of the attacks on Iraqi territory,” he added.
It comes after Donald Trump claimed the strikes were coordinated with the Iraqi government, despite Baghdad’s condemnation on Wednesday.
Iraq has also said it wanted evidence regarding the launch of alleged attacks on Saudi Arabia from Iran-backed groups in its territory, a demand for which al-Aboudi said Baghdad had contacted Riyadh.
The Saudi defense ministry said this week that drone strikes launched from Iraq had targeted its critical infrastructure and Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday.
“No party has provided any evidence to substantiate these claims so far,” the Iraqi prime minister’s spokesperson Sabah al-Numan told the Iraqi news agency, in comments reported by CNN.
“The government will not tolerate any unilateral actions originating from within Iraq, while at the same time it will not accept any violation coming from outside its borders,” al-Numan added.
Updated
As we reported earlier, earlier on Thursday Iran’s IRGC said it struck the US-run Azraq base in Jordan in response to the latest US strikes that were carried out overnight.
“With the help of God, the aggressor will be punished today,” the IRGC said earlier in a statement carried by state media.
Three IRGC members were killed in the northwestern Zanjan province, while a toddler and their parents were killed on the island of Qeshm, in the strait of Hormuz, state media reported.
Updated
Egypt's security 'of utmost importance' to Iran, says Araghchi, a day after drone attack
And Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Egypt’s security “of utmost importance” to Tehran.
He wrote on X:
Egypt is an important friend and partner in the region, and its security is of utmost importance to us. We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace. The threat is clear, mutual, and fearful of Muslim solidarity.
It comes a day after a drone attack saw a fire break out on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It was the first time Egypt has been attacked since the Iran war started in late February and signalled a potential widening of the conflict.
In his post, Araghchi appeared to suggest the attack was an Israeli false-flag operation.
Egypt’s prime minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday that Egypt has secured alternatives to cover its energy needs after the attack.
No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities are continuing their investigation, he added.
Updated
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has shared this statement on X:
The criminal attack last night on the homes of the noblest Iranians in Qeshm, which resulted in the destruction of several houses and the martyrdom of a hardworking taxi driver, Qeysar Jafari, his wife Zahra Jafari, and their innocent two-year-old child, Sina, pains the heart of every conscientious human being.
These crimes, which evoke the terrorist actions of ISIS and are carried out under the guise of “peace through force” with the aim of punishing a nation for insisting on its rights, dignity, and independence, will never produce authority or credibility for the criminals.
With every explosion, with every crime, with every sanction, with every threat, with the killing of every child, you only make Iranians more determined and united in defending their homeland.
Updated
Iranian residents, mostly the fishermen community living on Qeshm Island, described waking to a series of powerful explosions at around 3.45am local time, when at least three huge strikes rocked the strategic island in the strait of Hormuz.
“The first blast shook the roof sheets and rattled the doors, waking everyone up from the sleep,” one resident told the Guardian, speaking on condition of anonymity. “By the second and third explosions, the whole neighborhood was outside, and there were killed near our neighborhood. Fishermen, women, and children gathered in groups, calling relatives and trying to understand what had been hit. No one could go back to sleep.”
Another resident said the strikes had left the community living in constant fear. “You never know if it’s over after one strike or if another is coming in minutes. Every loud noise now makes people panic and feel threatening,” he said. “Residents remain outside the rest of the night checking their phones for updates and news, making sure their families are safe. Everyone is frightened because we don’t know what will happen next; we are still outside our homes sitting in groups.”
In the UK, the co-founder of Palestine Action has won permission to challenge the ban against the group at the supreme court.
The direct action group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July last year but its co-founder, Huda Ammori, has been fighting to have the ban overturned amid a mass civil disobedience campaign.
In February, the supreme court ruled that the ban was disproportionate and unlawful but its decision was overturned by the court of appeal last month.
On Thursday, the high court said Ammori could appeal against the court of appeal’s decision and that the case would be heard in the final quarter of this year.
It means the fate of more than 3,500 people who have been arrested for alleged support of Palestine Action since the ban remains in limbo as their cases are on hold until the legality of proscription has been definitely resolved.
Ammori welcomed the supreme court’s decision, saying:
The proscription of Palestine Action has become a vehicle for a far broader crackdown on expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
This unprecedented attack on free speech and the right to protest in this country is already having a chilling effect at a time when speaking out about Israel’s crimes could not be more urgent.
Saudi Arabia prepares sea and possible land offensive against Houthis
Saudi Arabia is preparing for a major military offensive against the Houthis by sea and possibly by land in central Yemen, Yemeni sources believe, in a move to break the chokehold on its oil exports through the southern Red Sea.
Saudi forces have been seen withdrawing from the east of Yemen in what could be preparation for a land offensive. At the same time, Riyadh is trying to organise a naval coalition to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait.
The Saudi defence ministry said on Thursday that 14 states including Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Djibouti had issued a joint statement supporting a multinational maritime defence coalition.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, and much of its Red Sea coastline, announced on 20 July that they were implementing a blockade against Saudi ships, but they have denied they are planning to impose tolls on all ships.
The group says it will lift the blockade once Saudi Arabia lifts its blockade on Yemen, positioning the dispute as over the future of Yemen and not directly about Iran. Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemeni civil war in 2015 in support of the country’s UN-recognised government against the Houthi rebels.
Riyadh has also asked the US and a group of European countries including Germany, France, the UK and Italy to join a Red Sea coalition.
Here’s Patrick’s full report:
US Senate narrowly rejects another Iran war powers resolution
Over in the US, the latest attempt by Congress to rein-in Donald Trump’s attacks in the Middle East has failed in the Senate.
The war powers resolution failed in a 49-50 vote. Democratic senator John Fetterman voted with Republicans to sink the measure. But notably, Republicans senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul voted in favor of the motion to prevent Trump from continuing hostilities against Iran.
Mitch McConnell was absent for the vote as he recovers from a June fall and has not received clearance to return to work.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, wrote on X:
Senate Republicans just voted to continue Donald Trumps war with Iran for the 13th time.
- Rising gas prices
- Increasing grocery bills
- 18 U.S. service members have been killed
- Over 600 Americans have been injuredWe must end Trump’s war.
It comes as a new poll was released on Thursday on American attitudes about the war, with most people believing it is not worth fighting. Trump’s approval rating also showed a slump, according to the new AP-NORC poll.
The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.
About two-thirds of US adults say the war with Iran has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.
On Wednesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer gave a speech on the chamber floor in which he implored Republicans to abandon their support of Trump’s war in Iran.
“Are Senate Republicans listening? The country is clamoring for you to end this war,” he said. “I urge and plead with my Republican colleagues: listen to the American people. Vote to end this war. We’re going to keep forcing Republicans to vote until we do.”
On Thursday before the vote was finalized, Schumer posted on X:
Trump’s war with Iran has been one of the greatest foreign policy dumpster fires in American history, and it seems to be expanding with new attacks now targeting Egypt. Our troops’ lives are unnecessarily at risk fighting a war that was totally avoidable. All while Trump is too busy playing keyboard warrior on Truth Social. We must end this war now.
Updated
Following reports of Iranian strikes hitting a Chinese company in Kuwait, the Chinese embassy in Kuwait released a statement on Thursday, saying:
“According to the information we have, the attack occurred in northern Kuwait, where a vehicle belonging to a Kuwaiti subcontractor working on a project being carried out by a Chinese company was attacked, resulting in the death of a driver of Nepalese nationality.
We express our condolences to the family of the deceased. The Chinese side reiterates that any attack targeting innocent civilians or non-military targets should be condemned. It also calls on all relevant parties to immediately cease hostilities, resume communication and dialogue, and avoid further escalation of the conflict.”
Updated
Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun concluded talks with his Turkish counterpart today during a visit to Ankara.
President Aoun spoke with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after a visit to the United States earlier this month, as Lebanon seeks to recover from the violence of recent months.
Turkey has expressed interest in participating in a new security initiative in the south of the country, part of which remains occupied by Israel.
The mandate of the current UN peacekeeping mission, Unifil, will come to a close at the end of this year after the Security Council voted to terminate the operation, which was set up in 1978.
Updated
14 countries issue joint statement backing Saudi-led maritime defence coalition
A joint statement has been issued by 14 countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, supporting the proposal of a multinational maritime defence coalition.
According to Reuters, the Saudi defence ministry said that the coalition would seek to increase defence cooperation in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
It follows a meeting on the proposed alliance, which was attended by representatives of 43 states and an EU delegation, with attendees discussing the possibility of Saudi Arabia hosting its headquarters.
Other signatories include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Somalia.
Updated
The day so far
-
The IRGC has claimed responsibility for an attack on Kuwait, according to Iranian state media. The semi-official Fars news agency reported the IRGC attacked the Ali al-Salem airbase in Kuwait this morning. It claimed two drone hangars and a fuel tank for aircraft and military helicopters were destroyed in the strike.
-
The IRGC also said three of its members were killed in a US attack on the north-western Zanjan province this morning, state media reported.
-
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least four people, including two children, health officials said. An eight-year-old girl and an 18-month-old child were among the people killed in Israeli attacks in Bureij refugee camp, Khan Younis and Gaza City today, Reuters reported, citing Gaza health officials.
-
Pakistan said negotiations between the US and Iran are “ongoing” despite escalating attacks in the Middle East. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, said Islamabad was doing its “utmost” to bring the warring parties back to the negotiating table under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June.
-
A drone strike on the Egyptian port of Damietta, the first attack on the country since the US-Iran war broke out, could be a high-risk message for American interests everywhere in the Middle East, analysts say. No party has claimed the strike on the Mediterranean port and Egypt has not assigned blame for the attack, which struck an American-owned and operated floating gas storage vessel, AFP reports.
-
Shell more than doubled its profit in its second quarter of the year, as Europe’s biggest oil and gas company reaped the benefits from the jump in oil and gas prices triggered by war in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 company’s net profit hit $9.84bn (£7.4bn) in the three months to June, more than double compared with the same period last year.
-
The US military said it completed a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Thursday in retaliation for Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan, as intensified fighting fueled the risk of a return to all-out war in the region.
-
The new strikes were launched hours after Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after a days-long pause in violence between the two sides.
-
Jordan’s military said later it had foiled an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom with five missiles, the state news agency reported. There were no casualties.
-
US forces struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets including military command centres, US Central Command said.
-
Iran’s state news agency Irna reported strikes on several cities in the south-western Khuzestan province, as well as on Qeshm island in the Gulf. Areas around the cities of Abadan, Shadegan, Arvandkenar and Ahvaz – all in Khuzestan – were struck, Irna said, citing provincial authorities.
-
Earlier, the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers. Saudi Arabia had reported two days of drone attacks targeting crude facilities.
-
The Israeli military accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation in Lebanon, saying it had fired a drone at an Israeli vehicle.
Updated
US-Iran strikes risk regional war in Middle East – The Latest
The US military has carried out a wave of airstrikes against Iran in response to Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan.
The strikes were launched after Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran ‘very hard’ following a days-long pause in fighting.
Iran has expanded its military strikes in the region, raising fears of an all-out war.
Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian senior international reporter Peter Beaumont…
Updated
US military says no US aircraft hit in attempted Iranian attacks
The US military said on Thursday that no US aircraft were destroyed or damaged in recent attempted Iranian attacks, denying a claim it said was made by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that three US F-35 jets and three other aircraft were destroyed.
In a statement, US Central Command also said the commercial vessel M/T Nora had not broken through America’s blockade of Iranian ports, denying a claim it said was made on Iranian state media.
Iran, in the midst of an escalating five-month war with the US, continues to stumble from one internal crisis to another – whether it is over public executions, the rising cost of living, the alleged bias of the state broadcaster or even the post-midnight destruction of pavements outside liberal-leaning Tehran cafes. Very little that happens in Iran, cultural or political, momentous or trivial, does so uncontested.
But there is now a growing threat of a long diplomatic deadlock, forged by mutual distrust in which neither side believes the other will stick to any agreement. That impasse has occurred as the war broadens, drawing in Yemen, Iraq and now Egypt. In Iran, at least, the advocates of escalation are winning. As a result, a convergence of Iran’s conflicts, internal and external, becomes more likely.
Parts of the Trump administration and the Iranian opposition – including Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former deposed Shah – have never abandoned the belief that the Iranian government is on the brink of collapse.
What is true is that the picture of cohesive if brittle society presented by the millions attending the funeral of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei earlier this month revealed only one side of the public mood.
The Trump administration is facing growing demands to explain why wounded US soldiers went more than a week without adequate hospital care after a March drone strike in Kuwait, just days into the US-Israel war on Iran.
In a letter to the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, congressional Democrats urged the Pentagon to answer their questions – which include why the Pentagon’s public casualty count for the war with Iran briefly changed – by 12 August.
The letter, sent on Wednesday and led by the US senator Elizabeth Warren and the representative Pat Ryan, poses 23 questions to Hegseth over the 1 March strike on a US logistics hub at the port of Shuaiba, south of Kuwait City. It was first reported by the Washington Post.
A single Iranian drone evaded air defenses and hit the relocated operations center of the US army’s 103rd sustainment command, killing six reservists from Des Moines, Iowa, and wounding dozens more – the first US combat deaths of Operation Epic Fury, the war Donald Trump launched, alongside Israel, against Iran on 28 February.
The unit had asked for more medical staff and supplies before the strike and been turned down, according to reporting by the Washington Post and CBS News cited in the letter. There was no doctor on site afterward, no fixed aid station, and only one ambulance, with some of the wounded driving themselves to a hospital in Kuwait City, according to the reports. It took nine days before roughly two dozen soldiers, some still unscreened for brain injuries, were flown to the US military hospital at Landstuhl in Germany.
“Doctors told them that because they hadn’t been recorded as medical evacuees on the flight’s manifest or as seriously injured in [the defense department’s] casualty-processing database, they could only get limited treatment and had to wait in nearby barracks because the hospital was unable to admit them,” the letter states.
Yemen's Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia from Iraq, sources say
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 US and Israeli strikes on them from Lebanon to Iran after Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, Reuters reported.
The attacks included strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, the kingdom’s main crude hub.
A drone strike on the Egyptian port of Damietta, the first attack on the country since the US-Iran war broke out, could be a high-risk message for American interests everywhere in the Middle East, analysts say.
No party has claimed the strike on the Mediterranean port and Egypt has not assigned blame for the attack, which struck an American-owned and operated floating gas storage vessel, AFP reports.
Houthi militants in Yemen, who have imposed a Red Sea blockade on Saudi Arabia, have denied carrying out the attack, which raised fears for the only remaining safe maritime route for the world’s largest crude producer.
According to analysts, the goal of the attack – regardless of who launched it – could be to drag Egypt into the conflict, after months of Cairo acting as one of few diplomatic channels between Iran and the US.
The port strike, the furthest afield from the Gulf since the war broke out, also marks a new milestone by crossing the Red Sea into the Mediterranean.
IRGC claims attack on US airbase in Kuwait - state media
The IRGC has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in Kuwait, according to Iranian state media.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported the IRGC attacked the Ali al-Salem airbase in Kuwait, which hosts the US air force. It claimed two drone hangars and a fuel tank for aircraft and military helicopters were destroyed in the strike.
There was no immediate comment from the US.
Updated
Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters, as it rebuilds its defences amid war with the United States.
The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defences since the outbreak of its war with the US and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.
The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said.
The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.
IRGC says three members killed in US attack
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said three of its members were killed in a US attack on the north-western Zanjan province this morning, state media reported.
US strike on Iran's Qeshm island kills couple and child - state media
Iran’s state media reported that a couple and their child were killed in a US attack on a residential building in the Iranian island of Qeshm.
Two other children were also injured in the attack and taken to hospital, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Videos following the attack in the Chah-Tango neighbourhood of Qeshm city, in the southern Hormozgan province, show rescue workers searching through rubble for survivors.
The US military did not immediately comment on the report, but said earlier that it had “successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran”.
The island sits in the strait of Hormuz and has been subject to frequent US attacks.
Israeli strikes kill four people in Gaza including two children, health officials say
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least four people, including two children, health officials said.
An eight-year-old girl and an 18-month-old child were among the people killed in Israeli attacks in Bureij refugee camp, Khan Younis and Gaza City today, Reuters reported, citing Gaza health officials. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, without providing further details.
Israel has continued to launch strikes on Gaza on a near daily basis despite agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas in October. More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza health officials.
The latest attacks came as mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey held talks with Hamas leaders to work towards the next phase of the ceasefire, which includes a surge in humanitarian aid, governance by a civilian Palestinian administration, the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international force to help maintain security.
A Hamas official said the group was coming with a “positive and good” response, but he did not say whether the group had agreed to fully disarm, according to Reuters. Sources close to Hamas told the news agency that the group was willing to “confine and store” heavy weapons under a Palestinian body, but not hand it over to Israel.
Shell more than doubled its profit in its second quarter of the year, as Europe’s biggest oil and gas company reaped the benefits from the jump in oil and gas prices triggered by war in the Middle East.
The FTSE 100 company’s net profit hit $9.84bn (£7.4bn) in the three months to June, more than double compared with the same period last year.
Wholesale energy prices have soared because of the conflict in the Middle East, boosting profit margins and activity on Shell’s trading desks.
The global oil price has climbed from about $61 a barrel in January to highs of $126 at the end of April, owing to disruptions to flows of oil and gas through the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at $93.18 a barrel on Thursday.
Wael Sawan, Shell’s chief executive, said there had been “severe disruption in global energy markets” due to the war, as the company also reported a 30% drop in production from its integrated gas division on the same quarter last year.
Read more:
The Egyptian government said a fire at the port of Damietta was caused by a drone attack.
Two natural gas vessels caught fire after an explosion at the port yesterday. The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires on the two ships had been caused by a drone.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, although US president Donald Trump suggested Iran was behind it. He told reporters in the Oval Office that the incident was “more of the same” and that the US was “going to be hitting them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them”.
Updated
Iran strike on Chinese company building in Kuwait kills worker, says Kuwaiti defence ministry
An Iranian attack struck a Chinese company building in the north of Kuwait, killing a worker, the country’s defence ministry said.
In a statement posted on the Kuwaiti army’s X page, ministry spokesperson Saud Abdulaziz al-Otaibi said the attack caused significant material damage to the building.
Iran has launched a series of missile strikes and drone attacks against several Arab countries in the Middle East, including Kuwait and Jordan, claiming to target US bases in those locations.
Here are some images on the newswires this morning after the US military announced a heavy wave of strikes against Iran:
Pakistan says US-Iran talks are 'ongoing'
Pakistan said negotiations between the US and Iran are “ongoing” despite escalating attacks in the Middle East.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, said Islamabad was doing its “utmost” to bring the warring parties back to the negotiating table under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June.
“Negotiations between the parties are ongoing,” Andrabi said at a press briefing today.
“We are doing our utmost to bring the parties back to the Islamabad MoU.”
Iran state media reported that the US military attacked three cities in the southern Bushehr province overnight.
Quoting a local governor, the official IRNA news agency said the cities of Bushehr, Jam and Khormoj were targeted in airstrikes and missile attacks.
Iran’s only civilian nuclear power plant is located in Bushehr, which Iranian authorities say has come under repeated US attacks.
Interim summary
In case you’re just joining us, here’s a quick recap of the latest. It’s 9.30am in Tehran and 2am in Washington DC.
-
The US military said it completed a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Thursday in retaliation for Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan, as intensified fighting fueled the risk of a return to all-out war in the region.
-
The new strikes were launched hours after Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after a days-long pause in violence between the two sides.
-
Jordan’s military said later it had foiled an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom with five missiles, the state news agency reported. There were no casualties.
-
US forces struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets including military command centres, US Central Command said.
-
Iran’s state news agency Irna reported strikes on several cities in the south-western Khuzestan province, as well as on Qeshm island in the Gulf. Areas around the cities of Abadan, Shadegan, Arvandkenar and Ahvaz – all in Khuzestan – were struck, Irna said, citing provincial authorities.
-
Earlier, the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers. Saudi Arabia had reported two days of drone attacks targeting crude facilities.
-
Drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels in Egypt’s port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a US-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker.
-
The Israeli military accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation in Lebanon, saying it had fired a drone at an Israeli vehicle.
-
Oil prices erased some of their previous gains despite the escalating attacks around the Gulf, with Brent futures falling 1.06% to $89.78 a barrel as of 0418 GMT Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.76% to $83.82 a barrel.
Updated
To recap on their closed-door meeting earlier at the White House, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.
The Israeli prime minister did not tell Trump that Israel’s preference now was for further attacks on Iran, the official said in briefings with reporters after the meeting on Tuesday. “In the end, it’s his decision,” the official said of Trump while speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US president had three options and all were discussed at length, said the official, listing them as “a [negotiated] deal, continuing the blockade and economic pressures, and a massive strike”. Netanyahu also added unspecified new ideas to the mix, the official added.
Trump had voiced irritation with Netanyahu ahead of their meeting, complaining that details had surfaced publicly about the Israeli prime minister’s plans to talk about new intelligence on Pickaxe Mountain, a deep-underground, nuclear-linked facility that Trump has threatened to bomb.
Pushing back against any notion of tensions over the issue, the official said the two allies readily share intelligence, denied that Netanyahu had pushed Trump to escalate militarily against Iran and left open the possibility of a diplomatic solution.
At the same time, the Israeli official acknowledged that Trump was the “senior partner” while Netanyahu was the “junior partner” in the allies’ conflict with Iran.
Updated
Oil prices erased some of their previous gains on Thursday despite the escalating attacks around the Gulf as investor focus shifted to supply flows through the key chokepoints in the region.
Brent futures fell 1.06% to $89.78 a barrel as of 0418 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 0.76% to $83.82 a barrel.
Brent settled up 7.91% in the previous session and WTI up 6.56% in one of the sharpest spikes of the Iran war, reversing a 5% plunge on Tuesday after a pause in hostilities in the five-month conflict, Reuters reports.
Prices surged as Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to hit Iran “very hard” after an Iranian missile attack on Tuesday on a US base in Jordan. The US on Thursday said it carried out two hours of reprisal attacks on Iran.
“Trump’s ‘hit hard’ rhetoric caused the price spike immediately but looks like the market has fully priced [that] in and [is] considering the ‘Taco’ possibility right now,” said Lin Ye, vice-president of commodity markets, oil, at Rystad Energy, referring to the acronym “Trump always chickens out”.
Ye said the market was following a pattern: geopolitical headlines were triggering rapid price spikes, but those gains were often short-lived as actual supply flows and parallel diplomatic efforts tended to determine how long those upward price moves persisted.
Rystad Energy estimates about 13m barrels a day of oil from the Gulf is still reaching markets.
Jordan says it has foiled Iranian missile attack
Jordan’s military is saying it has foiled an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom with five missiles, the state news agency reports.
The agency quoted the armed forces as saying “interception measures” were carried out and there were no casualties.
The military said it maintained “the highest levels of readiness to deal firmly with any threat” targeting the country’s security and its citizens, the Jordan News Agency posted on social media.
Earlier today the US military launched a “heavy wave” of new strikes on Iran in response to Tehran’s attack on American military installations in Jordan on Wednesday.
Updated
Qatari LNG gas tanker transits strait of Hormuz
A liquefied natural gas tanker controlled by QatarEnergy exited the strait of Hormuz overnight – the first such vessel visible on ship-tracking data to leave the waterway since 11 July, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday.
The Al Areesh tanker, which loaded a cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal around 4-6 July, sailed out of the strait overnight on 29 July, according to Kpler and LSEG data.
LSEG data shows it is currently heading to Port Qasim, Pakistan, with an estimated arrival date of 31 July. Its departure marks the first time a QatarEnergy-controlled LNG tanker exited the strait of Hormuz since the Al Rekayyat was struck in early July, Reuters reports.
The previous LNG tanker to exit was the Al Hamra, which left on 11 July carrying a cargo loaded at the United Arab Emirates’ Das Island, according to Kpler data.
Separately, the Mraweh LNG tanker, which was last detected outside the strait of Hormuz in ballast on 24 July, reappeared inside the strait on Thursday, according to Kpler and LSEG data. The vessel – controlled by Adnoc Gas – remained in ballast, Kpler data showed.
Twelve commodity ships passed through the Hormuz strait on Wednesday, with six entering and six exiting, Kpler data showed – an increased number from the previous two days.
Updated
The fresh US strikes after the days-long lull in its attacks on Iran came after Donald Trump vowed to hit the country “very hard” in response to its targeting of American forces in Jordan, raising the risk of a return to all-out war in the region.
Iranian state media said two people were injured in attacks on the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz and explosions were also reported in the western province of Khuzestan.
The renewed hostilities sent oil prices spiking, with Brent crude – the international standard – jumping 7.3% past $88 a barrel.
There’s more in our new full report here:
Updated
Donald Trump has been considering a US commander’s plan for a punishing air campaign against Iran that could take up to two weeks, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
It says the plan drawn up by Adm Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, involved 10 to 14 days of intensive airstrikes intended to cripple Iran’s missile capability, despite warnings that the US is running low on air-defensive munitions.
Or Trump could opt for a more limited military strike in hopes diplomacy could be pursued, said the report, published shortly before the US launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran.
The WSJ said:
The idea behind Cooper’s high-end option is to go beyond the tit-for-tat airstrikes that have done little to deter Tehran from threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz and lobbing missiles at American forces in the region by sharply escalating the war, according to people familiar with his thinking.
If the U.S. wants military action to be effective, Cooper has said, the U.S. must step up its air attacks, significantly blunting Iran’s missile threat, to try to break the stalemate. This “go big” approach, which is among a series of options he has developed, would reduce the need for the U.S. to use defensive munitions because Iran would have less capability to attack.
Updated
US says 'heavy wave of strikes' against Iran completed
The US military is saying is has finished its “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran.
Central Command said in a statement posted on X that it struck “dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities”.
It said the two hours of strikes were in response to Iran’s attempted missile attacks on US forces in the region and “aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries”.
Centcom also recapped that IRGC forces had launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in “an attempted surprise attack” on US forces on Tuesday, US time, adding: “All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted.”
Updated
US-Saudi strikes in Iraq push region into ‘uncharted territory’
Before this new round of American strikes against Iran, Saudi Arabia joined the US in hitting an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq – a move that has pushed the Middle East region into “uncharted territory”, analysts are warning.
Riyadh’s decision to publicly join the US in striking sites associated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces – killing at least 20 fighters – has added another complicating dimension to a war being seen as increasingly unpredictable and in danger of widening.
While Saudi Arabia has reportedly been involved in a handful of secretive strikes on Iran as part of the war, Riyadh’s overt involvement marks a new turning point in the conflict, reports Peter Beaumont.
Wednesday’s flare-up in fighting followed days in which Tehran and its proxies have targeted bases and facilities of the US and its allies, including in Saudi Arabia, despite the brief US pause in attack on Iran.
The sense of growing chaos in the Middle East was summed up by Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and north Africa programme at the Chatham House thinktank, who said:
Everyone is trying make sense of something that is increasingly senseless. One view is that the informal [US] pause in direct strikes on Iran saw a shift from Tehran to its proxies to maintain pressure [on Washington]. But there is no longer any plausible deniability because everyone knows how the relationships are intertwined.
The full report is here:
Updated
Key event
The US military has hit the south-western Iranian city of Abadan as well as Qeshm Island, Iranian media is saying, citing regional authorities.
The US attacked “a point near Qeshm” at 4am local time (0030 GMT), the deputy governor of the southern Hormozgan province said, according to the Mehr news agency.
The deputy governor of Khuzestan province said US missiles attacked “points around Abadan city”, the Fars news agency said.
State TV said several loud explosions were also heard in Ahwaz, Khuzestan.
Updated
A missile strike has hit a residential area of Qeshm island, Iran’s Tasnim is now also saying.
The US military earlier said its new strikes against Iran began at 8pm Eastern Time (midnight Thursday GMT).
Updated
Blasts heard on Iran's Qeshm island – report
Three explosions have been heard on Iran’s Qeshm island, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency is saying.
The Gulf island near the strait of Hormuz is a storage location for Iranian attack craft, drones, sea mines and other materials used to disrupt shipping through the vital energy route.
Updated
Before Wednesday’s flare-up of hostilities, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the US and Iran back to the negotiating table following the collapse of an interim agreement amid renewed fighting over the strait of Hormuz.
A regional official quoted by the AP said mediators were “still trying with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track. He gave no details on whether progress was being made.
Another official said regional countries would continue to push to de-escalate the situation, but that prospects for successful mediation were slim as both sides continued to attack each other and shown no inclination to stop.
“We’re in a very bad place right now,” the unnamed official said.
Updated
Opening summary: US launches new strikes on Iran
Welcome to our live coverage of the continuing crisis in the Middle East.
The US has said it is conducting airstrikes in Iran, after a lull of several days in direct US attacks on targets in Iran.
Donald Trump said America would strike Iran hard, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday: “We’re going to be hitting them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming.”
The US military said its attacks were a “powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East”.
On Wednesday Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American military installations in Jordan – its first attack in the region since the pause in fighting – meanwhile the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.
Elsewhere, drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta, according to Ambrey, a British maritime security firm. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a US-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.
A strike on Egypt by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict. Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.”
The flare-up on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war. It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict.
The US-Saudi strikes came hours after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, departed his first meeting with Trump since they launched the war against Iran on 28 February.
In other news:
-
The renewed hostilities sent oil prices spiking. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.3% to $88 a barrel.
-
The office of the Iraqi president, Nizar Amidi, called the US-Saudi airstrikes on multiple logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq “a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”.
-
An oil refinery in Jazan, on the Red Sea coast, had temporarily shut down due to “relatively significant” damage from a Houthi attack on Saturday, a Saudi official told the Associated Press.
-
Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, Reuters quoted two people familiar with the deliberations as saying.
Updated
