War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran has called the US response to its seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz “unconvincing” as US President Donald Trump confirmed launching strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island near the strategic waterway, Al Jazeera reports.

Gulf bourses advanced in early trade as investors weighed the fallout from the US midterms and waited to see how Washington would respond in its war with Iran, Reuters reports.

Democrats seized the Senate and the House, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump. Their wins in South Carolina, Texas and Ohio broke through long-held Republican territory.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index gained 1.7 per cent, lifted by a 6.7pc jump in Saudi Arabian Mining Company and a 1.4pc rise in Al Rajhi Bank.

China says that avoiding a return to hostilities in the Middle East is a “top priority” in its diplomatic efforts with countries in the region.

Beijing has stepped up efforts in recent days to resolve the eight-month-long crisis after US President Donald Trump issued a fresh war threat against Iran over the weekend.

“The top priority is to avoid the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East that would bring disaster to the region’s people,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has told a news conference.

Beijing will “support Iran and the US in resolving disputes through negotiations, promote finding a political settlement to the Yemen issue, to help reach a proper and comprehensive solution for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz”, she has added.

Another Indian national who was critically injured in the October 10 attack on Riyadh airport has died in an intensive care unit (ICU), according to a statement.

The statement said the Indian authorities had remained in contact with the victim’s family and conveyed their condolences to his relatives and friends.

It added that all possible assistance would be extended to bring his remains back to India or arrange his funeral in Riyadh, depending on the family’s wishes.

Iran’s Deputy FM Kazem Gharibabadi says Tehran remains committed to diplomatic talks to end the US-Israel war, but is “ready for any scenario”, reports Iranian media.

China “supports Iran and US to resolve difference through negotiation”, the Chinese foreign ministry says, Reuters reports.

It adds that China is willing to strengthen dialogue with Saudi Arabia, Iran and regional countries.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf has said Americans have voted “no to war” following Republican losses in both chambers of Congress.

“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

He warned that if the US government betrayed the public’s will to serve “international paymasters and blackmailers”, it would “learn our NO comes with a Nightmare”.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News that the Iran war played a role in the stunning midterm election defeat for his Republican Party.

“I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran,” Trump said in a telephone interview with Fox.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said ​four oil ‌tankers have been destroyed after striking ​naval mines ​while trying to ⁠traverse a ​route described as ​prohibited south of the key waterway ​of ​the Strait of Hormuz, reports Reuters.

In ‌a ⁠statement, the elite corps said the tankers ​were ​still ⁠ablaze, and added ​that two ​other ⁠vessels had been seized.

The US Embassy in Riyadh has reissued a security alert ordering non-emergency US government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement posted on X, the embassy says Iran-backed Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, which have caused civilian casualties and disrupted travel, have “the potential to escalate rapidly”.

It says US government employees require special authorisation from the US chief of mission to use any airport in the kingdom and are banned from travelling within 20 miles of the Yemen border.

US President Donald Trump has played down speculation of another round of US strikes on Iran after Monday’s midterms, saying, “I’m ready, we’re ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it”, Al Jazeera reports.

He has made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times (FT), whose reporter asked about strong hints by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there would be an attack later this week.

In response, Trump has said the US had no immediate plans to strike Iran, according to the FT.

“We seem to be getting everything we want,” Trump says, referring to negotiations with Iran.

Trump has told the FT that more oil was passing through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war, and that the US blockade on Iran’s ports was stifling Tehran’s economy.

“It’s a brilliant situation,” Trump says.

Trump has declined to share any attack plans in advance, but said indirect negotiations with Iran over its roughly 440kg stockpile of enriched uranium – “nuclear dust”, as he calls it – were ongoing.

Oil prices slip in early trade as investors await the results of the US midterm elections and their potential impact on peace talks in the Middle East, even after industry data showed US crude stocks unexpectedly fell last week, Reuters reports.

Brent futures fell 26 cents, or 0.25 per cent, to $103.34 a barrel by 0157 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 53 cents, or 0.55pc, to $95.56.

In the previous session, Brent eased more than 1pc to its lowest level in nearly four weeks as traders weighed talks to end the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Vote counting was underway in the US midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control of Congress for the rest of his second term.

Markets remained on watch for any progress in talks to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, as Qatar stepped up mediation efforts to avert an escalation of attacks after the US midterm elections.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has intercepted and destroyed a drone in the kingdom’s eastern region.

US President Donald Trump’s claim that he plans to stop providing billions of dollars in assistance annually to Israel shows he is “desperate to stave off a Blue tsunami”, Al Jazeera reports citing Congressman Ro Khanna.

“Establishment Dems, who lost to him twice, told us that was too radical,” Khanna writes on X.

“Thank you for showing us the way,” he adds, tagging Democrats who have criticised Israel such as Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani.

Gulf oil exports dipped in October from September’s levels, which were the ‌highest since the Iran war started, Reuters reports citing data from two ship-tracking companies.

Flows of crude, condensate and refined products, excluding liquefied petroleum gas, averaged 17.1 million barrels per day ​in October, according to Vortexa. This marks a drop from 18.9 million bpd in September but still ​represents roughly three-quarters of pre-war levels.

“October data shows Middle East seaborne oil exports have pulled back slightly from recent post-war highs on heightened risks in the Strait of Hormuz,” Vortexa analyst George Morris says.

Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers has reiterated the kingdom’s “unwavering commitment to defending its sovereignty and responding firmly to any threat or aggression targeting its security or the safety of its citizens and residents”, Saudi Press Agency reports.

Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman chaired the cabinet session in Riyadh.

The meeting reaffirmed the kingdom’s rejection of all violations that threaten the security and safety of maritime navigation and global energy supplies. It stressed the importance of urgent action by the international community to ensure maritime security, safeguard the flow of international trade, and enforce international law in this regard.

The ministers also reviewed international developments and Saudi Arabia’s ongoing diplomatic efforts, in coordination with brotherly and friendly nations, to consolidate the region’s security and safeguard stability.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has denounced allegations surrounding Tehran’s nuclear programme as “the century’s biggest lie”, state-run Press TV reports.

At an event in Tehran, he said the fabricated narrative has been used by the US and its allies as a pretext for decades of pressure and economic restrictions against the Iranian nation.

“Perhaps no lie as big as the ‘Iranian threat’ has been fabricated in the world over the past 70 or 80 years,” Baqaei said.

Despite finding no evidence of any diversion in Iran’s nuclear programme toward non-peaceful objectives, he added, the US and its allies had refused to abandon the allegations.

Oil prices have slid about two per cent to a three-week low in volatile trade as the market weighs talks to end the wars in Ukraine and Iran against worries about additional supply disruptions from recent attacks in both conflicts, Reuters reports.

Brent futures are down $1.63, or 2pc, to $103.14 a barrel as of 1544 GMT (8:44pm PKT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen 67 cents, or 1pc, to $95.79.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson says nothing has been agreed on during the latest exchange of peace proposals with the US, but that talks are ongoing through mediators, Al Jazeera reports.

“Past experiences close the door on any optimism regarding America’s seriousness in diplomacy,” Esmaeil Baqaei says, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

He adds that Tehran is prepared to defend itself and deliver a “crushing response” to any attack launched.

“At the same time, Iran will not miss any opportunity to use diplomacy to secure its legitimate interests and demands, deter the enemy’s aggression, and establish security in the region,” Baqaei stresses.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has reiterated Cairo’s call for regional de-escalation to stop the Middle East from “sliding into a wider cycle of conflict”, according to Al Jazeera.

Speaking in the Egyptian capital alongside visiting Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, he has also condemned threats against the security of Gulf states.

“I affirm Egypt’s full support and solidarity with our sister Arab states, based on Egypt’s steadfast position that Arab national security is an indivisible whole,” Sisi says.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree has claimed attacks on positions and weapon depots belonging to Saudi-led forces in Yemen’s Midi and Al-Ghumbar regions.

In a post on X, he writes that the targets were struck with unmanned aerial vehicles.

“The strikes were precise and direct … resulting in dead and wounded, as well as the destruction of several weapons depots,” he adds.

The Iran conflict is causing the oil services industry to increase its cost assessments for projects due to rising shipping, fuel and security costs, which are affecting its Middle Eastern contract performance, Reuters reports citing executives at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

“What we are facing now with our contracts in the Middle East is that logistics costs have increased — sometimes threefold. Fuel costs have doubled, labour costs have increased 30 to 40 per cent,” says Alessandro Bernini, Chief Executive Officer of Italian engineering group Maire.

He adds that the cost jump is eating into margins of service companies, raising the cost of projects and ultimately translating into higher energy prices and inflation around the world.

Logistics have become a problem due to the difficulty of delivering equipment, says Alessandro Puliti, CEO of Italian energy contractor Saipem.

“We have been sitting outside Hormuz for months,” he tells the conference.

Iran’s national security chief Mohsen Rezaei says on X that the US response to the country’s demands “was not convincing” and that Washington must fully and explicitly address and act upon Tehran’s seven conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and the US are still far from a deal to end their war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, while mediator Qatar stepped up efforts to bridge differences and avert a renewed escalation after the US midterm elections.

“Mediators are working hard to narrow gaps between Tehran and Washington,” the official said. “Tehran’s conditions must be met if the US wants Hormuz reopened.”