War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Israel’s caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again urged a national unity government as he warns of threats from Iran, acknowledging an international shift following US elections last week, AFP reports.

“In the very near future, we’re going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us,” says Netanyahu, who has led two major bombing campaigns since last year with US support.

Israel’s caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again urged a national unity government as he warned of threats from Iran, acknowledging an international shift following US elections last week, AFP reports.

“In the very near future, we’re going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us,” said Netanyahu, who has led two major bombing campaigns since last year with US support.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of being the main source of instability in the Middle East.

“If you guys go through the Middle East and talk about all the instability … Houthis, the militias in Iraq, Hezbollah, Hamas, the civil war that occurred in Syria … what do all of these things have in common?” he tells reporters.

“Behind every single one of these destabilising activities in the Middle East there’s one common denominator: the Iranian regime. They are behind all the instability in the region. They are the source of instability in the region. I think the countries of the region realise that as well,” he adds.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree claims that the group carried out four attacks using missiles and drones on Saudi Arabia, in response for coalition airstrikes on their territory in Yemen.

“The first operation targeted King Khalid International Airport and several pumping stations along the East-West pipeline in the Saudi … capital, Riyadh. The strikes were direct, causing fires and damage at the targeted sites,” Saree says in a post on X.

He says the second operation targeted an Aramco facility in Abqaiq and “successfully achieved its objectives”, while the third targeted Saudi troops in Al-Mudarribah and Ras Al-Arah District, “leaving a large number of dead and wounded”.

“The fourth operation targeted the financial centre in the Saudi enemy’s capital, Riyadh,” the spokesperson says, adding that it was “direct”.

Saree has urged investors to avoid the kingdom, saying, “We advise them to move them (investments) to peaceful and safe countries, because Saudi Arabia is not a safe country for investment until it ends its aggression and blockade against our country.”

Yemen’s Houthis have denied attacking Saudi Arabia’s vital East-West pipeline in the Madina region, saying they attacked the pipeline in the capital Riyadh, Reuters reports.

On Monday, a Saudi Energy Ministry source said the pipeline was attacked in the Madina region and that operations were not affected, according to state media.

The risk of a new escalation between the United States and Iran “has not been completely ruled out”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says, after Washington suggested there was currently no need for major combat operations, according to AFP.

“The risk of a resumption of strikes and an escalation has not been completely ruled out — otherwise, we would not have devoted so much time and energy over the past two days to addressing these issues with our American counterpart [Marco Rubio],” Barrot says after chairing a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris.

Iran says French accusations that it was responsible for cyberattacks on supermarket fridges last month are “baseless”, AFP reports.

“Iran’s foreign ministry categorically rejects the French government’s baseless and one-sided accusations against Iran regarding alleged cyber activities in France,” the ministry says in a statement, adding that it “strongly condemns this hackneyed policy of levelling accusations against the Islamic republic”.

Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit in the October 11 and 12 cyberattacks, which raised the temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers, forcing many to throw away entire inventories of perishable food.

Oil prices have extended losses from the previous session after US President Donald Trump has downplayed the need for additional military action against Iran, easing fears of sustained Middle East supply disruptions, with prospects of oversupply also in focus, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures are down $2.92, or 3.15 per cent, at $89.65 a barrel as of 1334 GMT (6:34pm PKT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures are down $2.33, or 2.68pc, to $84.52.

The final races of the Formula One season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead as planned despite tensions in the Middle East, AFP reports citing the president of motorsports’ governing body, the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

The last two Grands Prix of the year are scheduled for November 29 in Qatar and December 6 in Abu Dhabi.

The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix earlier this year was scrapped following the outbreak of the United States and Israel’s war with Iran, while the Bahrain race was delayed and moved to Malaysia.

“We are ready for Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” FIA chief Ben Sulayem says on social media. “We are fully prepared and committed to delivering two outstanding Grands Prix weekends and a spectacular conclusion to the Formula One World Championship.

“We look forward to welcoming drivers, teams and fans to two iconic circuits for an unforgettable finish to the season. See you on the grid.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he told G7 allies that economic sanctions and the naval blockade are working “so well” that President Donald Trump does not have any need to conduct major combat operations in Iran, Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters in Paris, Rubio says the economic pain Washington has inflicted gets worse over time, but that the US is still open to a “real deal”, though he notes the conditions Tehran keeps imposing are “absurd”.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says he would launch the Iran war again and that it was a “necessary undertaking”

The Pentagon chief is answering questions at a press conference and has been asked about comments by US Vice President JD Vance suggesting the Republicans lost the recent midterm elections due to the Iran war and its consequences.

“The vice president has been a critical member of the team,” Hegseth tells reporters, adding that the department will take his input going forward and apply it. “It was done for the right reasons to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”

Asked about the IRGC rearming behind the blockade, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says that Tehran’s industrial base has been severely impacted and that they can attempt to rearm, but they will not be successful.

“As far as the blockade is concerned, it’s been ironclad. Nothing has gotten through. When you can’t fund your energy economy, you have to make very difficult choices,” he tells reporters at a press conference.

“When you combine that with almost no defence-industrial base, a limited nuclear-industrial base and the damage that was done before that, their ability to reconstitute is much less than ours.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says the articles to impeach him “mock the constitution, attack the chain of command and criminalise the warfighters who execute lawful orders”.

“This process hands our adversaries a propaganda victory and wastes the time of Congress, that should instead be focused on protecting the American people,” he tells a press conference.

British foreign minister Ed Miliband has urged an “all-out diplomatic effort” to end the conflict between Iran and the United States, warning a stalemate of “no war, no peace” was causing economic damage, AFP reports.

Welcoming comments by US President Donald Trump overnight that a return to major combat operations was unlikely, as well as mediation efforts by Qatar, Miliband said at the G7 in Paris: “We need to move beyond the ‘no war, no peace’ stalemate, which is causing deep economic pain for our countries.”

Continuing his comments on articles of impeachment filed against him, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stresses that military campaigns under his oversight have been “lawful”.

“Make no mistake about what is happening. This is not about me; politicians in Washington have accused the sailors and pilots who struck narco-terrorist boats of war crimes for doing their job. Senators, in cute videos, have suggested the same,” he tells a press conference.

“This resolution is the next step: put the secretary on trial today and the men and women who carried out those orders tomorrow,” he adds. If they want to come for the warriors, they’re going to have to come through me.

He emphasises that every one of the campaigns in Iran, Yemen and Venezuela was “a lawful operation ordered by the Commander-in-Chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs”.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has called moves to impeach him over abuse of power in the Iran war a farce that would fail, according to Reuters.

Hegseth has made the comment at a news conference a day after US Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, introduced eight articles of impeachment against him.

“These resolutions tell every one of them that their service was a crime,” he says, referring to personnel who served in the Iran war. “Their service was not a crime. These are heroes and no politician in Washington will tell them otherwise while I hold this office.”

He adds, “I stand beside every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow.”

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has reiterated the necessity of the Iran war during a press briefing.

“By every measure, we achieved a historic military victory,” he says, reiterating that Iran’s navy was sunk and its defence-industrial base was destroyed within 40 days of sustained combat operations.

“History will judge the Iran war quite differently than conventional wisdom right now. We didn’t start this war; Iran did 47 years ago,” Hegseth adds. “But President [Donald] Trump was willing to do what no other president would. He did the tough, right thing. Not for politics, but for the safety and security of the American people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been calling US President Donald Trump “every day” to urge him to resume military action against Iran despite diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, Anadolu reports citing The Financial Times.

“Netanyahu calls him every day [to urge him to resume the war],” a person briefed on the discussions has told the British newspaper, adding that figures inside and outside the White House who oppose renewed fighting have been trying to counter Netanyahu’s pressure to resume the war.

“The regional leaders are telling him (Trump) not to escalate and prioritise negotiations,” the source says.

Another person familiar with the situation in Israel says Netanyahu wants military action against Iran to resume, but there is currently no coordinated “push” to persuade Trump.

The Financial Times says Arab and Muslim leaders have been alarmed by Netanyahu’s persistent lobbying for a resumption of the Iran war.

Iraq has barred a plane carrying Iran’s national football team from landing at Basra airport, a decision by the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority linked to US sanctions imposed on Iranian airlines, Reuters reports citing two Basra airport officials.

The plane returned to Iran and landed at Abadan airport, and the team will now travel overland to Basra, an Iranian consulate official in the Iraqi city says.

The Iranian team was travelling to Iraq to participate in a four-nation tournament in Basra, also involving Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed reports that the country’s national security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has had a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, according to state broadcaster Press TV.

“These speculations and media reports are entirely baseless, and there are no plans to hold such a meeting,” Araghchi tells state news agency IRNA.

In his comments, he adds that US President Donald Trump “should have realised much earlier that he has failed to achieve any of his objectives in the war against Iran, and will never achieve them”.

Yemen’s Houthis claim that airstrikes have targeted sites in several governorates, including Hodeidah and Saada, Al Jazeera reports.

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref says, “Whether peace is achieved or not, the confrontation with the enemy continues, and we must have the upper hand in science and technology,” according to Al Jazeera.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy says two oil tankers “were halted by powerful explosions” while travelling along an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Canada says it is reimposing sanctions against 11 Iranian companies in the energy and banking sectors for reportedly contributing to Tehran’s nuclear drive, ballistic missile programme or the financing of “malign activities”, AFP reports.

The companies, which include the National Iranian Oil Company and leading banks Mellat and Melli, were delisted from Canadian sanctions in 2016.

But the measures have now been reimposed “to disrupt Iranian financial networks supporting its nuclear program”, the Canadian foreign ministry says in a statement on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Paris.