Closing summary
Our live coverage of the Middle East crisis is now ending, but you can read our latest story from the region here.
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The US military carried out a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, targeting drone facilities, coastal surveillance sites and more. The wave of attacks lasted more than two hours, according to the US Central Command. Iranian state media reported explosions along the strait of Hormuz in Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, where two people were reportedly injured, as well as to the north-west near Andimeshk and Omidiyeh.
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned that the Middle East is being pushed to the “edge of the unimaginable” amid mounting fears over the trajectory of the conflict. “The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation. One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next,” Guterres told a security council meeting. “As this dynamic spreads, the political objectives are becoming increasingly obscured by the confrontation itself.”
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It comes after Donald Trump said he was close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict with Tehran as the US president flounders in his attempts to get a grip on the spiralling crisis in the region. Speaking to Axios, the US president said: “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.” He acknowledged that such a decision would have consequences but said he had not yet made a final determination. Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to”, he added, before saying: “We don’t need anybody.”
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Trump’s comments followed the earlier threat of “major military punishment” against Iran and the Houthis, after the Iran-backed Yemeni militia’s attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks threatened the safety of a second major maritime route connecting the Suez canal to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They also came amid reports that Iran had sent military advisers and drone parts to the Houthis 10 days ago. Trump wrote on social media: “If [the Houthis] do this again, the US 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.”
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In a separate development, Trump clarified that an announced agreement that the US would help Saudi Arabia with its civilian nuclear programme would require the kingdom to normalise relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, a move Saudi Arabia has long resisted until there is demonstrable movement on Palestinian rights and statehood. During Thursday’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, reiterated that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords. “The president is always the final dealmaker, as you know... He has said, if they don’t join the Abraham accords, the deal is off,” she said. It emerged later that Trump had not spoken to Saudi Arabia about the new condition.
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Oil prices once again surged past the symbolic $100 for a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, and amid indications the price could go higher still.
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Now that the shaky ceasefire with the US has ruptured, AFP reports that rights groups fear Iran will ramp up executions to intimidate its citizens into silence.
Iran has pressed ahead with executions since the earliest phase of the war finished in March, in what activists see as an attempt to instil fear in society and prevent a repeat of the protests that shook the leadership earlier this year.
“With the breakdown of the ceasefire and the resumption of the war, we are deeply concerned that the authorities will exploit the situation to intensify the execution of political prisoners,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO, which tracks executions, told AFP.
IHR warns “hundreds of political prisoners and protesters are currently facing capital charges” with about 100 already sentenced to death.
According to IHR, since the start of the war, 24 people have been hanged over the January protests and another two over a previous protest movement that shook Iran between 2022 and 2023. Authorities say those convicted carried out deadly attacks against security forces or targeted public buildings, but rights groups say they were tortured and convicted after grossly unfair fast-track trials.
But with over 400 people executed so far in this year alone, according to IHR, such high-profile cases do not form the bulk of capital punishment in the country.
Asian shares fell on Friday as oil prices stormed back above $100 a barrel amid the intensifying conflict in the Gulf, reviving fears of a fresh inflation shock.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1% and Japan’s Nikkei slid 2.9%. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.7%.
Brent crude held at $100.85 a barrel, after surging 7% overnight to a two-month high of $102 as attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea choked off a second crucial Middle East artery for global oil supplies, alongside Iran’s near-closure of the strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude has soared nearly 40% this month alone.
“Two of the world’s busiest shipping corridors are under threat in the same month, and markets are only just beginning to work out what that means,” said Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, a financial advisory firm.
With that ceasefire now collapsed and oil back above $100, the drop which gave the Fed room to relax may already be reversing … This looks less like a short-lived spike and more like a genuine reopening of the inflation question.”
A day after he attended the dignified transfer of four US service members killed in the Middle East, Donald Trump compared the war’s death toll to longer, costlier conflicts.
“I had a very sad day yesterday. I went to Dover. Four great American patriots killed,” Trump said.
“That’s 18 in two wars. And one is too many, but it’s 18, whereas in Vietnam we lost 200,000,” Trump said, inflating the actual death toll among US troops of 58,220.
He added that “we want to get it over with, and we want to do it right, but we have to do what we came to do.”
On Wednesday, Trump posted a chart on social media comparing the death toll of 18 in his Iran war with those previous wars, which misstated the number of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the caption: “These are the real facts. REPORT THEM!”
The US has ended its latest round of strikes against Iran, more than two hours after they began.
In a statement, US central command said that this 13th consecutive night of strikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities.”
Iranian media has reported the sounds of explosions in the south of the country, close to the strait of Hormuz, as well as in the capital Tehran.
Iran rejected a US ceasefire proposal, communicated to Tehran by the prime minister of Iraq, the New York Times has reported.
Quoting anonymous Iranian and Iraqi offcials, the New York Times reports that after meeting Donald Trump in Washington earlier this month, prime minister Ali al-Zaidi travelled to Tehran and met with senior leadership. According to their report, Iranina officials were not interested in a temporary deal that “left the question of control over the Strait of Hormuz unresolved.”
As the violence between the US and Iran has escalated, Donald Trump has continued to claim over recent weeks that Iran is desperate to make a deal to end the fighting.
Speaking on the outskirts of the Asean conference in Manila on Thursday, secretary of state Marco Rubio said Iran was “begging for a deal”, and insisted “they need to come to their senses” and that they will “pay a very heavy price for the things they are doing.”
The UK government has said it is “ready to defend itself” after Iran’s military warned that any bases being used by the US were “legitimate targets”.
The UK has allowed the US to launch “defensive” operations from British bases hosting American planes since the start of its war on Iran but has refused to help in offensive operations.
That policy has not been altered by the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, who was notified last week that a decision had been made to extend the agreement with the US.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Thursday that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.
The IRGC also accused the “British monarchy regime” of causing being the “primary cause of hardships in our region with a black record of partitioning Islamic nations, widespread massacres, imposing despotic regimes, and organising the occupation of Palestine”.
It warned the government “not to weigh down its record any further”.
A spokesperson for the British government said: “Our armed forces are ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad. The UK stands ready 24/7 to defend itself.
Iranian media is reporting that air defences have been activated in Tehran to counter a “hostile threat”.
The Iranian capital has largely been spared from the US strikes launched since the ceasefire broke down earlier this month. Tehran came under attack for the first time in this latest round of strikes last week.
More reports of explosions heard across Iran’s south, as the US launches a 13th consecutive round of airstrikes.
State media is reporting explosions on Qeshm Island and in Bandar Abbas.
Bandar Abbas, on the strait of Hormuz is the headquarters of the Iranian navy, and has been hit by strikes every night since the latest escalation began nearly two weeks ago.
Earlier this week, the Guardian heard from Iranians living near the port, who said loud explosions followed by prolonged power cuts have become the norm over the past week.
We always had power cuts, but the hours have now extended and I fear I can’t rely on my online work any more. The war is far from the end and daily life is becoming harder under the bombs, power cuts and internet shutdowns. It’s truly hell here.”
The record of the number of US service members killed in the war with Iran has decreased on the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System.
The website, which tracks US casualties across a range of conflicts, had shown 18 dead on Wednesday, according to the New York Times. However, by Thursday, that number had lowered to 14.
Four US service members have been killed in the last week, as fighting between the two sides has escalated.
The New York Times quotes a Pentagon press secretary as saying the change in the count is due to “temporary data disruptions”.
However, the papers also carries quotes from ananoymous military officials who said that the Trump administration decided to remove the four service members killed over the past week, because their deaths “occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April.”
Amid reports of US shortages of vital munitions, Reuters has heard from current and former US officials who say the Houthi threats to impose a naval blockade could further strain the US military.
Donald Trump suggested this week that any move to obstruct shipping in the Red Sea could draw the US in.
But Reuters reports it may not be so simple for the US military.
Taking on the Houthis would mean stretching American resources already focused on fighting Iran and maintaining the United States’ own blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf.
Jason Campbell, a former senior Pentagon official, said that addressing the Red Sea threat could mean shifting US warships from the Gulf closer to Yemen to allow the military to carry out operations against the militants and defend against Houthi missiles.
And if US Navy vessels and aircraft have to start shooting down Houthi drones and missiles, it could also worsen what experts have warned are diminished stockpiles of U.S munitions and air defence interceptors.
The rate at which the US military is exhausting some of its most advanced weapons is a point of “great tension inside the Trump administration”, CBS News reports.
The dwindling stockpiles of defensive interceptors and long-range missiles have become a pressure point for top military and civilian leaders who are weighing the demands of the war with Iran against maintaining readiness to deter other adversaries, including China.”
The CBS report highlights the inability of the US to produce these weapons fast enough to keep pace with the rate they are being expended in the war against Iran.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before the Senate appropriation committee this week, and requested $67bn in emergency defense funds for his department for 2026. He also demanded a $454bn increase for 2027 military spending, to a total of almost $1.5tn.
“Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegseth told the Senate panel, warning that it would threaten the defence department’s ability to “pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption”.
US launches 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran
US central command (Centcom) has announced another night of strikes against Iranian targets.
This is the 13th consecutive night of strikes aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping.”
Iranian state media are reporting that multiple explosions have been heard in Iran’s southern city of Ahvaz.
Earlier on Thursday, Donald Trump has said he was close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict.
He acknowledged that such a decision would have consequences but said he had not yet made a final determination.
Despite the success of the two Chinese supertankers bypassing the Houthi blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, at least two other vessels chartered by the same company and scheduled to pick up Saudi crude at the Yanbu port later this month have slowed their advance.
Data shows the vessels are due to enter the Res Sea, but are making small circles in the Gulf of Aden.
The delays are a sign of the effect the Houthi threats could have on the market. Full avoidance of the Red Sea, through which a quarter of global container trade passes on its way to and from the Suez canal, requires rerouting around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. That journey roughly doubles the voyage length and adds an estimated $2m-$2.5m in cost for each transit.
Two Chinese supertankers carrying a combined 4m barrels of Saudi Arabian oil exited the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, apparently escaping the blockade on shipments of Saudi oil by the Houthis.
Their transit came as other Saudi vessels came under attack.
The Singaporean-flagged VLCC Xin Long Yang, which made a U-turn and paused in the middle of the Red Sea on Tuesday, resumed its journey southward late on Wednesday, shipping data showed. The Chinese-flagged VLCC Cosnew Lake followed and both tankers exited the Red Sea later on Thursday, the data showed.
The Xin Long Yang was heading to the port of Qinzhou in southern Guangxi province, while Cosnew Lake is expected to discharge its cargo at the port of Huizhou, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the data showed.
Both vessels indicated through their automatic identification system transmitters that there were Chinese crew onboard.
Experts say the transit of the Chinese tanker suggest the Houthis are being selective in the vessels they target – and that the blockade is being enforced differently depending on the flag or destination.
Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US could use Iranian frozen assets to pay for war damage comes as his administration threatened to step up attacks, and Yemen’s Houthis struck Saudi shipping and sent oil prices soaring.
Trump said the US would hold Iran responsible for the Houthis’ actions and warned both would soon receive a “major military punishment”.
On Thursday Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May, up 7%.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde warned “the energy shock could intensify further” and push up inflation, feeding speculation about a September eurozone interest rate hike.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius, meanwhile, warned of “dire consequences” for oil-importing economies and said “nothing – absolutely nothing – suggests that a ceasefire, let alone peace, could be reached”.
Donald Trump has suggested that damage caused to shipping by Iranian attacks could be paid for using Tehran’s assets frozen overseas.
Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls.”
It’s unclear whether the US would be able to use frozen assets in such a way; any move would probably be challenged.
Europe has faced an array of issues in its attempts to use Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine.
The day so far
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned that the Middle East is being pushed to the “edge of the unimaginable” amid mounting fears over the trajectory of the conflict. “The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation. One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next,” Guterres told a security council meeting. “As this dynamic spreads, the political objectives are becoming increasingly obscured by the confrontation itself.”
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It comes after Donald Trump said he was close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict with Tehran as the US president flounders in his attempts to get a grip on the spiralling crisis in the region. Speaking to Axios, the US president said: “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.” He acknowledged that such a decision would have consequences but said he had not yet made a final determination. Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to”, he added, before saying: “We don’t need anybody.”
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Trump’s comments followed the earlier threat of “major military punishment” against Iran and the Houthis, after the Iran-backed Yemeni militia’s attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks threatened the safety of a second major maritime route connecting the Suez canal to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They also came amid reports that Iran had sent military advisers and drone parts to the Houthis 10 days ago. Trump wrote on social media: “If [the Houthis] do this again, the US 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.”
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In a separate development, Trump clarified that an announced agreement that the US would help Saudi Arabia with its civilian nuclear programme would require the kingdom to normalise relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, a move Saudi Arabia has long resisted until there is demonstrable movement on Palestinian rights and statehood. During Thursday’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, reiterated that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords. “The president is always the final dealmaker, as you know... He has said, if they don’t join the Abraham accords, the deal is off,” she said. It emerged later that Trump had not spoken to Saudi Arabia about the new condition.
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Oil prices once again surged past the symbolic $100 for a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, and amid indications the price could go higher still.
“Whenever Trump starts taking about massive military action on Iran, everything changes in Iran overnight. Parents begin to stock up on food, groceries, and medicine; school administration fears opening the school, and children ask questions that no parent should have to answer. My biggest fear tonight is not anything but to watch another generation of Iranian children grow up believing that war is normal for us. We have already lived very difficultly through sanctions, inflation, and uncertainty. Another escalation and broader war would only deepen the anxiety that families carry with them every single day,” Sahar, a 38-year-old teacher from Tehran who uses only a single name, told the Guardian.
“In hospitals and medical facilities, we prepare for emergencies whenever there is a political statement of potential attacks. Even if there are no attacks taking place, the psychological impact is immediate about such ultimatums. Normal patients and families become more anxious, healthcare workers and medics worry about shortages, and people delay treatment because they fear what may happen next. The human cost of these threats on Iranians begins long before any attacks actually start,” Neda, a 31-year-old doctor from Tabriz, told the Guardian.
Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has mocked the US military’s strategy aimed at degrading Tehran’s ability to control the strait of Hormuz, and suggested it has backfired.
“They wanted to punish Iran. Punished themselves with triple-digit oil instead. 10/10 strategy,” Ghalibaf said on X.
Oil prices rose above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months earlier on Thursday after the Houthis attacked two Saudi oil tankers, as a fresh escalation of the conflict threatens to compound disruption to global oil supplies.
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Kuwait intercepting 'hostile' missile and drone threats, army says
Sirens are sounding in Kuwait, the state news agency reports, as the Kuwaiti army says its air defences are currently intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks from Iran.
Updated
The Gulf Cooperation Council, led by secretary general Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, has condemned the Houthi targeting of Encelia, a Saudi-owned tanker in the Red Sea.
On Thursday, Albudaiwi said the attack “represents an extension of the hostile behavior pursued by the militia and a flagrant violation of international law.”
He added that the Houthi’s “continued threats to target commercial vessels and jeopardise international navigation lanes constitute a danerous escalation” in the region.
The attack marks a significant escalation in Middle East tensions and comes after Donald Trump vowed to destroy a bridge or power plant in Iran every time the country attacks a ship in the Hormuz Strait.
Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi has met with his UK counterpart, Ed Miliband, on Thursday amid growing tensions across the Middle East as Donald Trump deliberates on further strikes against Iran.
In a statement on X, Albusaidi said that the two “discussed the Strait of Hormuz and the urgent need for stakeholders to cooperate on UNCLOS obligations,” referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The meeting follows the UK’s decision to temporarily withdraw its diplomatic staff from Iran, citing “regional tensions" and “due to the security situation” in the Midle East which “remains unpredictable,” the UK government said on its website.
UN chief warns situation in Middle East ‘getting out of control’
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has told the security council that the Middle East is being pushed to the “edge of the unimaginable” amid mounting fears over the trajectory of the conflict.
“The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation. One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next,” Guterres told a security council meeting.
“As this dynamic spreads, the political objectives are becoming increasingly obscured by the confrontation itself,” he said.
It comes after Donald Trump said he was close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict with Tehran as the US president flounders in his attempts to get a grip on the spiralling crisis in the region.
Amid growing evidence that a major escalation may be imminent, the UK announced that it was temporarily withdrawing diplomatic staff from Iran on Wednesday, and the German military announced on Thursday that it would withdraw two vessels from the Red Sea.
And as Israeli cities opened bomb shelters, the US state department warned Americans living in the region of the risk that flights may be cancelled.
With Trump’s poll ratings in freefall, and his war against Iran deeply unpopular at home, the US president and his administration are running short of time before the midterm elections in the autumn to force a resolution to the conflict on Washington’s terms.
Today so far
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Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he will hold Iran responsible for attacked launched by the Houthi militia. This came after the Yemen-based, Iran-backed militia said it attacked two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea, with a Saudi news agency later confirming one of the vessels was ablaze on Thursday. The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade of Saudia Arabia, a move that current and former US officials said could significantly widen the US-Iran war and strain the American military.
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Reuters reported that Iran flew Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Yemen this month, which suggests that Tehran is seeking to strengthen its Houthi allies as US attacks on Iran continue.
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Later, Trump told Axios that he was considering restarting major combat operations on Iran. “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” the president said.
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The US launched its 12th successive night of strikes against Iran, saying military targets were hit to degrade Tehran’s ability to attack commercial vessels. Iranian state TV said two people were killed and 11 wounded in what a Khuzestan provincial official described as a US missile attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
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Iran’s Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq was crowded with “hundreds of pilgrims” when it was reportedly targeted in a deadly US strike, according to an expert. The border is used by Iranian pilgrims going toward Najaf and Karbala in Iraq to commemorate the annual Arbaeen gatherings, which can involve more than 20 million pilgrims each year.
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Trump said on Thursday that the US-Saudi nuclear deal is subject to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, which normalises ties with Israel. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, reiterated his comments later at the press briefing: “The president is always the final dealmaker, as you know... He has said, if they don’t join the Abraham accords, the deal is off.” Saudia Arabia has yet to comment on this, but Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said that Saudia Arabia joining the Abraham Accords “would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East”.
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Global oil prices have risen to more than $100 per barrel for the first time since May as violence escalates in the Middle East. Brent crude, the global benchmark, increased by more than 6% after Iran’s Houthi allies attacked shipping in the Red Sea.
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Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of Israelis, including settlers, into the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, a breach of a decades-old status quo. In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs said: “These provocative practices, emanating from the highest political levels of the occupying government, seek to ignite a religious war throughout the entire region.”
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The US House of Representatives on Thursday for the second time passed a war powers resolution directing Trump to withdraw the US military from the conflict with Iran. Its passage comes after the House last month approved a similar resolution, which the Senate later approved in a significant bipartisan rebuke of the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran in February. The resolutions are nonetheless largely symbolic, as the Trump administration has argued such measures are unconstitutional.
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The IRGC said on Thursday it stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz. It said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media on Thursday that the three oil tankers “provoked” by the US military were trying to pass through a mine-laden route south of the strait “but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back”.
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Earlier, Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that from now any time Iran shot at a ship in the Hormuz strait, the US “will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran””.
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The IRGC said its navy “emphasises that the strait of Hormuz is under our control”. US Central Command posted on X: “Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. The international waterway remains open for transit regardless of IRGC threats and attacks.”
Dubai offers £600 rewards to residents who lure friends to visit as tourist numbers plummet
Dubai is offering to pay residents who attract family and friends to visit the emirate in an effort to revive tourist numbers that have plummeted since the city was drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Dubai Invite scheme, an initiative of the department of economy and tourism, allows residents of the United Arab Emirates to nominate friends and relatives and then to receive benefits worth more than 3,000 UAE dirham (about £610) if they visit.
Visit Dubai’s website says residents will receive a “benefits package” including hotel stays, dining deals and attraction tickets.
Report: Trump is considering restarting major combat operations in Iran
Donald Trump gave an interview to Axios on Thursday in which he said he was “considering a massive attack” on Iran.
“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” the president said.
Trump told Axios that Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to,” but added that “we don’t need anybody” to launch a new operation against Iran.
“They haven’t received enough pain yet,” he said of Iran.
What are the Abraham accords?
The Abraham accords established formal relations between Israel and several Arab countries, ending a decades-old taboo in Arab diplomacy and signalling a power and priorities shift in the Middle East.
Signed in 2020 by Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – three countries that already maintained significant informal ties – the accords established open business, direct flights and diplomatic relations. However, they fell short of full peace deals as the three countries have not been at war.
The agreements also had little to say about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which had been the obstacle to diplomatic progress until now – the signatories only had to commit to “continuing the efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive, and enduring resolution”.
More here:
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White House: 'Deal is off' if Saudia Arabia does not join Abraham accords
During today’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords.
“This is a condition that the president has spoken about many times with our Gulf and Arab allies,” she said. “He wants to see these countries sign the Abraham Accords. It was one of the most historic acomplishments of his first term and it continues to be a longterm goal of his to expand those accords to ultimately come to a place where the Middle East can be a peaceful and stable region.”
When asked why the administration didn’t mention this as a condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
“The president is always the final dealmaker, as you know... He has said, if they don’t join the Abraham accords, the deal is off,” Leavitt said.
US House passes war powers resolution directing Trump to withdraw US military from Iran
The US House of Representatives on Thursday for the second time passed a war powers resolution directing Donald Trump to withdraw the US military from the conflict with Iran, amid renewed fighting in the Middle East that has driven oil prices to their highest levels in weeks.
The resolution proposed by Democrat Pramila Jayapal passed by a 214-208 vote, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in attendance to vote in favor.
Its passage comes after the House last month approved a similar resolution, which the Senate later approved in a significant bipartisan rebuke of the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran in February.
The resolutions are nonetheless largely symbolic, as the Trump administration has argued such measures are unconstitutional. In debate ahead of the vote, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, Greg Meeks, accused the president of violating the law.
If anyone needs a refresher on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, here’s an explainer from the Guardian’s Jonathan Yerushalmy:
Report: Iran flew IRGC commanders and equipment to Yemen
As Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis enter the fray, purportedly attacking two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea today, Reuters is reporting that Iran flew Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Yemen this month – a move that suggests Tehran is seeking to strengthen its Houthi allies as US attacks on Iran continue.
Reuters cites four sources familiar with the matter, including two Iranian sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, Yemen’s information minister and a regional security analyst. They told the news service that Iran transferred IRGC personnel and military-related equipment on a flight from Tehran to the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on 13 July.
Between 10 and 21 IRGC personnel, including senior commanders, were on the Mahan Air flight, the two Iranian sources told Reuters. The plane was originally heading toward the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, but diverted to Hodeidah after the airport came under attack by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
“The IRGC commanders travelled there to support Houthi operations and provide training on new missile systems,” one of the sources said, adding that Iran also sent gold on the aircraft to fund Houthi activities.
Earlier today, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the “Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of all this throughout the conflict, but they now apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this, going after Saudi Arabia and their ships.”
“I hope they will de-escalate, because I think the Houthis, frankly, got snookered into this thing by the Iranians. And they were smart to stay out of it, and they should stay out of it and they should stop. We’ll see what happens there. Obviously, it’s not a positive development,” he said.
Donald Trump said earlier in a post on Truth Social that he will hold Iran responsible for attacks launched by the Houthi militia in Yemen:
“A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships. Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly. Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night. Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, 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, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart.”
Updated
In Gaza, a UN report has found humanitarian assistance and increased commercial traffic have improved food security and child nutrition in the Palestinian territory, but warns that the situation remains fragile.
The share of the population facing acute food insecurity has reduced from 77% at the end of 2025 to 67%, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition.
However, the report warns that 1.4 million people still face crisis-level hunger or worse, with more than 200,000 in emergency conditions and about 74,000 children expected to require treatment for acute malnutrition over the coming year.
“There is progress on food security in Gaza, but it is fragile and can easily be reversed,” said Carl Skau, acting executive director at the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
“The overall humanitarian situation remains brutal: families lack water, sanitation and medicine. We need sustained access, funding and stability so people of Gaza can begin recovery.”
Netanyahu says Saudi Arabia joining Abraham Accords would be 'historic leap forward for peace'
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords would be “historic”, according to a brief statement issued by his office.
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump said the nuclear deal signed between the US and Saudi Arabia is contingent on the kingdom joining the accords which would normalise diplomatic ties with Israel. Since being signed by the UAE and Bahrain in 2020, Sudan, Morocco and Kazakhstan have also joined.
The Israeli prime minister’s statement, shared on X, does not make specific mention of the US-Saudi nuclear deal.
“Saudi Arabia’s joining of the Abraham Accords would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East,” it said.
Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on this development.
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Oil prices hit $100 a barrel
Global oil prices have risen to more than $100 per barrel for the first time since May as violence escalates in the Middle East.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, increased by more than 6% after Iran’s Houthi allies attacked shipping in the Red Sea.
Donald Trump said he would exact “major military punishment” against the Yemen-based group as well as Iran, which he said bears responsibility for the Red Sea attack.
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US accused of bombing Iran-Iraq border crossing used by religious pilgrims
Iran’s Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq was crowded with “hundreds of pilgrims” when it was reportedly targeted in a deadly US strike, according to an expert.
As we reported earlier, two people were killed and 11 were wounded in the attack in south-western Iran overnight, according to state TV in Iran.
The border is used by Iranian pilgrims going toward Najaf and Karbala in Iraq to commemorate the annual Arbaeen gatherings, which can involve more than 20 million pilgrims each year.
Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, said on X that, based on reports and video, the crossing “was crowded with hundreds of people, many of them pilgrims undertaking the Arbaeen journey to Karbala” when it was attacked.
“Hard to see what, if any, relevance this has to degrading Iranian capabilities in the strait,” he added.
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Trump says he will hold Iran responsible for Houthi attacks
Donald Trump said he will hold Iran responsible for attacks launched by the Houthi militia in Yemen.
He said the Houthis had acted “very professionally and smart” until they attacked Saudi Arabian ships in the Red Sea last night (see post at 03:04).
In a post on Truth Social, he said:
A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships. Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly. Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night. Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, 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, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart.
Trump says Saudi nuclear agreement requires the kingdom to normalise ties with Israel
Donald Trump said the US-Saudi nuclear deal is subject to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, which normalises ties with Israel.
He added that the landmark deal does not allow the enrichment of uranium.
In a post on his Truth Social app, the US president said:
The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords. The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”
My colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy has put together this helpful explainer on what we know about the agreement and the concerns it raises:
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Palestinian ministry accuses Ben Gvir of “seeking to ignite a religious war” after he entered al-Aqsa compound
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of Israelis, including settlers, into the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, a breach of a decades-old status quo.
The minister, joined by heavily police protection, posted a video on his Telegram channel in which he said: “Look at what’s happening here – Jews are praying and feel that they are the rightful owners here.”
“Everywhere, people understand that the state of Israel is the sovereign authority. There is still more to do, and with god’s help, we will continue to move forward.”
The compound is seen by Muslims as Islam’s third holiest site and access is restricted through a decades-old arrangement between Israel and Jordan, in which Jews are permitted to visit but prayers are limited to Muslim worshippers.
In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs said: “These provocative practices, emanating from the highest political levels of the occupying government, seek to ignite a religious war throughout the entire region.”
Ben Gvir has entered the compound more than a dozen times since taking office, according to AFP.
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Elsewhere, Egypt is still hopeful that the US and Iran could return to peace talks. The country’s foreign minister Bard Abdelbatty said Egypt is in daily to contact with regional partners as well as the US and Iran, in a bid to end the tit-for-tat attacks that have taken place in the last few weeks.
“There is a specific proposal now under discussions, and we hope that this proposal will contribute to de-escalation,” Abdelfatty said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Oman says it is working on resuming Yemen talks after Houthis hit Saudi tanker
The foreign ministry in Oman, a key mediator between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis, said it is working to resume talks “to achieve security and stability in the region”.
In a statement on X, the ministry expressed “great concern” at the situation in the Red Sea after the Houthis claimed to have attacked two Saudi tankers. Saudi state media confirmed attacks on a vessel in the Red Sea and said that all crew members were safe.
Oil prices near $100 a barrel
Oil prices have jumped by 3.7% this morning as the backlash from the US war in Iran appeared to spread to the Red Sea.
The price of futures for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, rose by 3% on Thursday to reach as high as $97.45 per barrel, approaching the $100 mark for the first time since May.
Follow our business live blog for more updates:
Iran’s Arab neighbours have reported continued attacks this morning. Here’s a summary by AP:
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Jordanian authorities said the country’s military had intercepted three missiles Thursday morning, with a fourth falling in an empty area, while six drones were intercepted Wednesday night.
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Bahrain’s interior ministry posted on X that sirens had sounded and urged the public to remain calm and head to a safe area.
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Overnight, military officials in Kuwait said on social media that their air defences were “confronting attacks by hostile drones”.
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Houthis got 'snookered' into war by Iran, says Rubio
Rubio said the Houthis were “smart” to stay out of the Middle East conflict – until the group attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea (see post at 02:05)
“The Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of all this throughout the conflict, but they now apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this, going after Saudi Arabia and their ships,” Rubio said on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Manila.
“I hope they will de-escalate, because I think the Houthis, frankly, got snookered into this thing by the Iranians. And they were smart to stay out of it, and they should stay out of it and they should stop. We’ll see what happens there. Obviously, it’s not a positive development.”
Rubio continued to insist that the US had never claimed regime change was an intended goal of its war against Iran.
“He never said regime change was a goal,” he said of Trump.
The US president has made multiple public statements about regime change in Iran, but they have been inconsistent. In March he claimed the US achieved regime change “because the leaders [in Iran] are all very different than the ones that we started off with”. He has since backtracked from that statement and maintains that the US aims to denuclearise Iran.
In the early days of the war, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had called on the Iranian people to rise up against the regime. Trump also made similar comments but later rejected this notion, reportedly saying: “Why the hell should we tell people to take to the streets when they’ll just get mowed down.”
Rubio was asked by a reporter whether he thought “it would be easier to make a deal with Iran if the United States didn’t wipe out so many layers of their leadership?”
The US secretary of state responded: “The first two layers weren’t necessarily the nicest people on earth … We’ll just keep going down the layers, I guess … The first two layers were not like reformers. These were not like Renaissance men. You know what I mean?”
He later clarified: “Well, some of them are lunatics. Some of them are evil. Some of them are evil lunatics. You can be both.”
It’s not entirely clear what Rubio meant by “first two layers”, but the US and Israel killed the former Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint strike on the first day of the current war, on 28 February. My colleague Jason Burke reported more on that attack:
Khamenei was killed along with seven “members of the top Iranian security leadership who had gathered at several locations in Tehran” and about a dozen members of his family and close entourage in near-simultaneous strikes within 60 seconds, military officials in Israel said. Forty other senior Iranian leaders also died in the attack.”
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In further comments to the press at the Asean conference, Rubio lambasted Iran for its “stupid lego videos”, although claimed to have “never seen them”.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour wrote more on the AI-generated comedy videos and lego animations of Donald Trump that Iran has been pumping out on social media, which has been dubbed “slopaganda”. Here’s what he says:
Its once vibrant press has been reduced to reproducing army spokespeople statements, or articles culled from the western press saying Trump is suffering a strategic defeat. Some of Iran’s best newspapers have been shut down, and ordinary Iranians still complain about the unwatchable propagandist official TV news channels.
But out of this darkness comes a creativity aimed at the west. Pro-government accounts are posting AI-generated Lego animations that link the Jeffrey Epstein cases to Trump’s war, or using humour and confidence to puncture the west’s failings.
Read Patrick’s article here:
Here’s Rubio’s comments to reporters (after repeating Iran is “begging” for a deal and will pay a “heavy price”):
They’re probably not ready to do a deal yet, but they will be soon because the price they’re paying is very high, despite their tough talk and their flowery language and their stupid Lego videos they put out, I’ve never seen them, but they put these things out on social media. Despite all that bravado they are suffering tremendously and they’re going to suffer more until they come to their senses. They’re not there yet unfortunately.
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Rubio: 'Iran is begging for a deal'
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has claimed that Iran is “begging” for a deal with Washington, but that ultimately it is not serious about agreeing to one.
As a result, Iran will “continue to pay a price” that will get “higher and higher and higher”, Rubio added, after the US military announced it conducted a 12th night of strikes against the country yesterday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) conference in Manila, Rubio was asked whether Donald Trump intended to make good his threat of hitting Iranian bridges and power plants, and whether this meant bombing civilian infrastructure.
Rubio responded:
Iran is begging us, OK, both directly and indirectly. Let’s do a deal. Let’s talk. Let’s talk. Iran is begging every day.
The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people that are in charge there, they either break it or they want to change it. So it looks like they’re not ready to make a deal. So they’re going to continue to pay a price, and every night the price gets higher and higher and higher.”
He went further in saying that the price Iran will pay “will continue to get higher every single night until they come to their senses”.
Oil giants see profits double amid Middle East war
French oil and gas company TotalEnergies said net profit doubled in the second quarter as conflict in the Middle East pushed up fuel prices.
In a statement, reported by AFP, TotalEnergies said net profit amounted to $5.4bn (about £4.04bn) in the period from April to June, up from $2.7bn (£2.02bn) in the same period last year.
Yesterday, my colleague Kalyeena Makortoff reported profits at Norway’s state oil company Equinor nearly doubled to $11.5bn (£8.6bn) in the three months to the end of June.
Equinor– which is the UK’s biggest gas supplier – benefited from a decision to increase oil and gas production at the start of the conflict, filling a gap in the market after a near-halt to shipping through the strait of Hormuz caused Gulf oil flows to slump. It also profited from the jump in oil prices, with the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, reaching $95 a barrel mark for the first time in six weeks as the US and Iran escalate attacks in the Middle East.
The climate campaign group Uplift hit out at Equinor for “raking in billions in profits while millions of people across the UK are struggling with unaffordable energy bills”.
You can read Kalyeena’s report here:
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Some images on the newswires from Lebanon, where the health ministry says 4,328 people have been killed and 12,232 wounded in Israeli attacks since 2 March:
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it targeted a US base in Jordan, claiming to have destroyed a number of military equipment including air defence systems, an aircraft hangar and fuel tanks.
The IRGC’s statement, published by Iranian state media this morning, did not name the US base.
Interim summary
In case you’re just joining us, here’s a snapshot of the latest developments in the Middle East as the threat of a new front opens up in the US-Iran war. It’s 9.30am in Tehran and 2am in Washington.
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Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia said it attacked two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea, with a Saudi news agency later confirming one of the vessels was ablaze on Thursday. The strikes came after the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia – a move that current and former US officials said could significantly widen the US-Iran war and strain the American military.
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The US launched its 12th successive night of strikes against Iran, saying military targets were hit to degrade Tehran’s ability to attack commercial vessels.
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Iranian state TV said two people were killed and 11 wounded in what a Khuzestan provincial official described as a US missile attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it attacked US forces in Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem airbase, while the army said its attacks there included on the Arifjan and Doha camps.
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Before the latest US strikes the Islamic republic’s foreign minister warned on social media: “Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye.” Abbas Araghchi also said: “Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response. Those who contribute to such aggression, whatever the kind of support, will also be considered as legitimate targets.”
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The US and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark nuclear agreement that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future. The deal has caused alarm across the Middle East and in Washington. Its full details are yet to be released but, as Patrick Wintour reports, the timing of the announcement is controversial as the US’s war with Iran is being fought in part to prevent Tehran enriching uranium domestically and make it near-impossible for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
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The IRGC said on Thursday it stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz. It said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media on Thursday that the three oil tankers “provoked” by the US military were trying to pass through a mine-laden route south of the strait “but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back”.
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Earlier, Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that from now any time Iran shot at a ship in the Hormuz strait, the US “will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran””.
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The IRGC said its navy “emphasises that the strait of Hormuz is under our control”. US Central Command posted on X: “Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. The international waterway remains open for transit regardless of IRGC threats and attacks.”
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Two very large Chinese crude carriers carrying a combined 4m barrels of Saudi Arabian oil are heading towards the Bab el-Mandeb strait to exit the Red Sea, shipping data showed on Thursday – a test of how tightly the Houthis will impose their naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
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Asean summit to call for open straits amid Iran war
Foreign ministers from fuel-stressed south-east Asia will call for freedom of navigation in international straits when they wrap a week of meetings largely overshadowed by the US-Iran war, according to a draft communique seen by Agence France-Presse.
It reports that the draft statement expected to emerge from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) gathering in Manila will also repeat calls for self-restraint in a Middle East conflict that has carried economic ripple effects throughout the region.
Visiting US secretary of state Marco Rubio this week warned Asean envoys that Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz would set a “dangerous precedent”, saying: “There is a fundamental principle about freedom of navigation that is threatened.”
The draft communique inserts previously unused language targeting “freedom of navigation in and overflight above straits” while separately calling for “unimpeded” passage through the Hormuz strait.
Tehran’s closure of the crucial energy waterway after US-Israeli attacks has left many in the region scrambling to deal with energy shortages and price spikes, with the import-dependent Philippines declaring a national emergency in March.
But while the communique alludes to energy cooperation among Asean states, no progress on previously announced initiatives like a regional energy grid or fuel-sharing scheme has been revealed
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US attacks against Iran on Thursday lasted five hours and struck at Iranian military targets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities and air defence assets, according to the US military.
Iranian media reports said the US twice on Thursday attacked a military target in Bushehr, near the country’s only operating commercial nuclear power reactor, marking three strikes there in two days.
State TV reported two people were killed and 11 wounded in what a Khuzestan provincial official described as a US missile attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
There’s more in our latest full report:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is reportedly saying it had attacked US forces in Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem airbase.
Iranian state media is meanwhile quoting the army as saying it has attacked US bases in Kuwait including the Arifjan and Doha camps.
The reports come as Iran has continued to strike out at regional countries hosting US forces amid the ongoing American strikes against Iran.
More now on Iranian-aligned Houthis attacking two Saudi oil tankers earlier today. The Houthis identified the two vessels as the Encelia and the Layla.
Saudi state news agency SPA cited an official source as saying the Encelia was struck, causing a fire at the bow. The attack on the Layla remained unconfirmed.
A maritime security source said the Encelia had transmitted a distress call, reporting it had been struck by a missile near the Saudi port of Jizan in the Red Sea late on Wednesday.
Millions of barrels a day of Saudi oil have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the strait of Hormuz.
In announcing their attack on the two tankers, Yemen’s Houthis claimed they had forced about 10 ships to retreat and return.
Five tankers changed course in the Red Sea on Wednesday, with two signalling the Suez canal as their new destination after the Houthis warned ships to avoid Saudi ports, ship-tracking data showed.
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Investors appear to be growing increasingly nervous that the renewed strikes between US and Iranian forces could reignite inflation, with oil prices creep higher.
Brent crude futures were up by more than 1.3% to $95.31 a barrel on Thursday, after the US said it had launched a new round of strikes on Iran and the Iranian-aligned Houthis claimed military strikes on two Saudi oil tankers.
Brent crude on Wednesday jumped more than 3% and broke back above $95 for the first time in weeks.
“What is different from the start of the conflict five months ago is inventories. Lower inventories mean shortages of oil and gas are more likely the longer the conflict continues, exacerbating the negative economic impact of high energy prices which favours the USD,” the head of international economics and foreign exchange at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Joseph Capurso, said in a note.
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Two Chinese supertankers with Saudi oil head for Red Sea exit
Two very large Chinese crude carriers carrying a combined 4m barrels of Saudi Arabian oil are heading towards the Bab el-Mandeb strait to exit the Red Sea, shipping data shows, even as at least one Saudi vessel came under attack in the region.
The ships’ attempt to transit the strait will clearly test how tightly the Houthis will impose the naval blockade on Saudi Arabia they announced on Monday. The group said they attacked two Saudi tankers with drones and missiles earlier on Thursday.
The Singaporean-flagged VLCC Xin Long Yang, which made a U-turn and took a pause in the middle of the Red Sea on Tuesday, resumed its journey southward late on Wednesday, LSEG shipping data cited by Reuters showed.
The vessel was sailing past the Yemeni coast and heading to the port of Qinzhou in southern China, the shipping data showed.
The Chinese-flagged VLCC Cosnew Lake was following and it was signalling it would discharge its cargo at the port of Huizhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the data showed.
Both vessels indicated through their automatic identification system transmitters that there were Chinese crew onboard, the data showed.
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Explained: the US-Saudi nuclear deal and why it's causing concern
The landmark nuclear agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia would use American technology and expertise to establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf country – a move that has caused alarm across the Middle East and through the corridors of power in Washington.
Much of the deal remains unclear, but concerns centre on whether Saudi Arabia would have the capability to enrich uranium domestically and what that means for nuclear proliferation, with critics saying it could set off a regional arms race.
In this explainer Jonathan Yerushalmy looks into the deal and the anxiety around it, why it is so contentious and whether it can be blocked.
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US says latest attacks against Iran completed
The US military says it has completed its 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iran.
Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement posted on X:
U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and air defense assets. The strikes further degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels.
Centcom also said US forces had targeted dozens of Iranian military sites on land this month, and had “redirected nine commercial vessels and disabled one to prevent ships from entering or departing Iranian ports” amid the resumed US naval blockade.
The post said 50,000 US service members were operating across the Middle East.
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Earlier in the US day, before Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump issued this threat on his Truth Social platform:
From this point forward, 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, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran.
Saudi media confirms vessel hit in Red Sea
A Saudi-owned vessel was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, causing a fire at the front of the ship, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Thursday, citing an official source at the General Transport Authority.
The source was quoted as saying all crew members aboard the Encelia were safe and that authorities had taken necessary measures to secure the vessel and crew and protect the marine environment.
The report came after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday – naming one as the Encelia – as part of a maritime blockade on the kingdom amid the US-Iran war.
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Iran says it stopped three tankers transiting Hormuz strait
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is saying it stopped three oil tankers from passing through the strait of Hormuz.
In recent weeks Iran has hit tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast to traverse the waterway, in an effort to push vessels into using its own waters and pay for safe passage as Tehran and Washington vie for control of the vital energy pathway.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media on Thursday that three oil tankers “provoked” by the US military were trying to pass through a mine-laden route south of the strait “but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back”.
The statement, cited by AFP, did not say when the incident happened. The IRGC added that its navy “emphasises that the strait of Hormuz is under our control ... and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate”.
The US military’s Central Command earlier posted on social media that “Iran does not control” the strait, saying: “The international waterway remains open for transit regardless of IRGC threats and attacks. Commercial vessels continue to use the strait with US military support.”
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The Houthis’ claim to have hit two Saudi oil tankers as part of the naval blockade on Saudi Arabia elevates the threat of a second chokehold on global oil supplies at the Red Sea in coordination with Iran’s attempt to control the strait of Hormuz.
The Iran-aligned militants, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the opposite end of the Arabian Peninsula from the Hormuz strait, said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in what some analysts have viewed as a tactical move by Iran to seek leverage in any diplomatic efforts to end the war.
But even before the renewed threats to shipping traffic in the Red Sea, Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz had pushed up oil and petrol prices and stoked inflation around the world.
Five tankers 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, as Reuters reports. Then the Yemen-based Houthis said their forces carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
Millions of barrels a day of Saudi oil have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea’s southern strait, they have only the northern route through the Suez Canal, adding weeks to the journey and significantly raising costs.
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Two killed in US strike at Iran border crossing – report
Two people have been killed in a US strike at the Shalamcheh border crossing in south-western Iran, the country’s Students News Network is reporting, citing a security offical.
A little earlier Iran’s Mehr news agency was cited as quoting a provincial security official saying a US missile attack near a passenger terminal at the Shalamcheh crossing with Iraq had caused no casualties.
The reports come as the US continues what Central Command said were more strikes against Iranian military targets, beginning from 5.30pm ET Wednesday (9.30pm GMT).
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More now on the US signing a landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future.
Full details of the deal have yet to be released, but the timing of the announcement is controversial as the US’s war with Iran is being fought in part to prevent Tehran enriching uranium domestically and make it near-impossible for Iran to build a nuclear weapon, as Maya Yang and Patrick Wintour report.
A civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia has been in the works for years during both Donald Trump’s first administration and that of former president Joe Biden. No deal has come together before now, in part because of warnings from nonproliferation groups that say it could offer Saudi Arabia a path to develop a nuclear weapon.
The deal will be submitted to the US Congress for review, where it could face opposition among lawmakers who fear a lack of monitoring safeguards to restrict Saudi Arabia’s uranium enrichment.
As mentioned, the US Department of Energy said its secretary and his Saudi counterpart signed the “peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement” along with a “bilateral safeguards agreement”.
The full report is here:
Iran warns 'eye for an eye' response to US
Before the US launched its 12th night of strikes against Iran, the Islamic republic’s foreign minister warned: “Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye.”
Abbas Araghchi also said in the post on X several hours ago:
Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.
Those who contribute to such aggression, whatever the kind of support, will also be considered as legitimate targets.
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More on Yemen’s Houthis claiming strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea:
The master of one tanker reported being struck by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles south-west of Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire that the crew was fighting, the British naval security monitor UKMTO said.
The Iran-aligned Houthis warned shipping companies on Wednesday that their tankers risk being attacked if they used Saudi Arabian ports, as the militia enforced a blockade it announced the previous day.
The Houthi warning for the Red Sea – coming on top of Iran’s threat to shipping on the other side of the Arabian peninsular in the Gulf – could affect the substantial Saudi oil exports that have so far been unscathed by the months-long conflict and deepen the rapidly escalating crisis in the region, as Peter Beaumont has written.
Donald Trump said he would “take care of” the Houthis if they followed through on their blockade threat against Saudi ports.
The Houthis have been broadcasting radio warnings to vessels, the International Chamber of Shipping told Agence France-Presse.
The message warned that “in case of non-compliance of Yemeni armed forces decision, those ships will be in our target”.
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Kuwait’s air defences are responding to hostile drone threats amid “Iranian aggression”, the Kuwaiti army is saying.
Any explosion sounds heard were the result of attacks being intercepted, it said on social media.
Iran has continued to strike at countries around the region hosting American forces in response to ongoing US attacks.
Opening: US launches more strikes on Iran as Yemen’s Houthis claim Red Sea attacks
Welcome to our live coverage of the continuing crisis in the Middle East.
The US military announced on Wednesday evening it had began a 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iranian military targets at the direction of Donald Trump.
US Central Command said the strikes would “continue to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters”.
It came as Yemen’s Houthis said they carried out missile and drone strikes on Wednesday on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea after declaring a maritime embargo on the kingdom amid the US war with Iran.
The Houthis said in a statement posted on Telegram that they “carried out a qualitative military operation targeting two Saudi oil tankers that violated the blockade”, naming the vessels as the Encelia and the Layla.
Meanwhile, the US signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium.
The US Department of Energy said on Wednesday its secretary and his Saudi counterpart signed a “peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement”, along with a “bilateral safeguards agreement”.
We’ll bring you more on these and other developments in our continuing live coverage.
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