Pakistan hosts the first round of face-to-face talks between the US and Iran in 47 years in April; the talks end without a breakthrough, but also without a breakdown
US, Iran hold high-level talks in Switzerland on June 20 after signingpreliminary agreement to end the war; hold talks in Doha on July 1, with mediators citing “positive progress”
US launches strikes on Iran on July 8 in response to attacks on ships in Hormuz, Tehran retaliates as strait heats up again
Yemen’s civil war flares up after Saudi-backed government attacks Sanaa airport
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says a meeting in Tehran with senior officials from Pakistan, Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia could lay the groundwork for a regional security framework based on the interests and decisions of countries in the region, according to state broadcaster Press TV.
“From our perspective, the fact that regional countries are seeking to establish, or at least consider, regional security mechanisms based on their own interests and concerns is a welcome development,” he said.
Defence Minister Israel Katz says Israel will not attack Iran before the election, dismissing media reports of an “unprecedented confrontation” between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and military chief Eyal Zamir over Iran, Al Jazeera reports.
Indonesia supports Iran amid the ongoing war and calls for an end to hostilities, says Rolliansyah (Roy) Soemirat, Indonesian Ambassador to Iran, IRNA reports.
Speaking at a ceremony at the University of Tehran on Monday, Soemirat reaffirmed the Indonesian government and people’s support for Iran, expressing hope that the war would end soon and normal life and activities would resume.
The official added that recent developments in West Asia have once again demonstrated how fragile peace and stability are and how their consequences extend beyond the region.
Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for two missile attacks targeting Saudi forces and weapons depots in the southern provinces of Aden and Lahij, according to a group spokesman, Anadolu reports.
In a statement posted on US social media platform X, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the attacks targeted military positions in the Salah al-Din area of Aden and the Al-Wahat area of Lahij.
Saree claimed that the group fired several ballistic missiles that accurately struck their targets, “resulting in dozens of dead and wounded … the destruction and incineration of a number of vehicles and weapons depots.”
Oil prices fell after surging last week to near six-month highs, amid hopes of easing hostilities between the US and Iran, although persistent attacks on key producer Saudi Arabia kept investors wary, according to Reuters.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were down $1.76, or 1.7 per cent, at $101.51 per barrel by 0744 GMT (12:44pm PKT). Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $1.49, or 1.28pc, at $115.23.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the expansionist policies of the “Zionist regime”, developments in occupied Palestine and Lebanon, and the repercussions of US and Israeli aggression against Iran would be among the key topics discussed during the meeting, as senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye are set to travel to Tehran.
“Generally speaking, such a meeting cannot forget the consequences of US and Israeli regime’s aggression against Iran and its repercussions for the whole region. This is going to be a topic of top priority on the agenda,” he said.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said the outcome of the Israeli elections in which PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tight race will make “no difference”, AFP reports.
“It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region,” said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing, a day ahead of the Israeli legislative polls.
The US-sanctioned tanker Reef arrived in Myanmar waters with some 113,000 barrels of fuel backed by sham paperwork.
Myanmar-based energy broker Dynamic Wave ordered the shipment, agreeing in a sales contract inked with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading to supposedly take delivery of a similar amount of South African diesel. But the $15.8 million agreement, which Reuters viewed, was a charade: there was no such trade between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025, according to data from the United Nations and Vortexa, a shipping and energy data provider.
In reality, Reef carried jet fuel from Iran to Myanmar, according to records of fuel shipments to Myanmar, as well as satellite images and analysis by SynMax Intelligence, which tracked the tanker’s journey from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol says he does not expect energy markets to return in 2027 to where they were before the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, Al Jazeera reports.
US military forces have helped Gulf countries export more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil since June, despite Iran’s efforts to control the critical waterway, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen launched attacks on the capital, Sanaa, claiming to have destroyed two ballistic missile launchers used by the Houthi group, Anadolu reports.
Turki al-Maliki, the coalition’s spokesman, said one of the launchers had been used in a Houthi attack on the Saudi capital Riyadh in recent hours.
The Yemeni army said Sunday that its forces had “neutralised” around 218 Houthi fighters and field commanders in 753 operations over the past 24 hours, destroying or damaging 78 military vehicles and weapons.
The Houthi group claims it has attacked Saudi Arabia’s East-West crude oil pumping stations and Riyadh airport, but there is no immediate Saudi confirmation, reports Reuters.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said earlier it had destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in the capital Sanaa, including one used to fire a missile towards Riyadh that the coalition said it had intercepted.
In a post on X, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has recalled that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said: ““We haven’t seen anything like this since World War II and the pirates of the Caribbean.”
Then, he pointed out, US President “boasted about seizing commercial ships and confiscating oil cargoes” and said: “We’re like PIRATES. We’re sort of like PIRATES.”
Baqaei remarked, “Perhaps the president won’t be too pleased to learn that his secretary of state has so quickly forgotten his own proud claim of being like pirates.”
Houthis have claimed that they launched attacks targeting Riyadh’s international airport hours after its reopening, as well as an airbase and naval base elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, AFP reports.
“The Yemeni armed forces conducted three military operations with dozens of ballistic missiles,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X, saying the strike on the airport “achieved its target”.
He added that they targeted King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait and a naval base in Jazan.
US Central Command says Admiral Brad Cooper flew over the strategic waterway in a helicopter and met with the US service members.
US forces have assisted Gulf partners in exporting more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil since the summer, the statement on X said.
“We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Gulf partners and the shipping industry,” Cooper said. “This visit underscores our strong commitment to continued freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran claims control over the waterway. The US military has been escorting vessels through the strait, as Washington maintains that Hormuz is “open”.
US President Donald Trump has said that he’s deciding between reaching an agreement with Tehran and taking action to “finish them off”, after suggesting on Friday that Washington “may do another little Epic Fury”, CBS News reports.
“Now, my question is, do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?” said Trump in an interview with Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures’.
He also claimed that the US now controls the Strait of Hormuz and criticised former president Barack Obama for the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump withdrew from during his first term.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran and its allies might try to disrupt Tuesday’s Israeli elections, warning Tehran against any hostile acts.
“We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office, noting the military was ready for both defensive and offensive operations.
“Don’t test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows.”
Flights have resumed at Riyadh’s international airport following a series of deadly attacks on the facility that saw it closed for two weeks, even as Houthis targeted the country with strikes, AFP reports.
King Khalid International Airport’s website showed several domestic and international flights scheduled today, including arrivals to the kingdom from Dubai, Paris and Cairo.
The renewed operations at the airport came as explosions rattled Riyadh earlier in the day, after a text message was sent to residents warning of a hostile threat targeting the city.
Saudi officials did not provide additional information when asked by AFP about the scope of the renewed operations at the airport.
But the tracking website Flightradar24 showed a small number of flights had departed, though the vast majority were cancelled.
Screengrab from Flightradar24 taken at around 9pm on Oct 25, 2026.
