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
US-Iran continue to exchange fire amid a deadlock in the six-month war
Yemen’s Houthis said Saudi forces launched 26 strikes on capital Sanaa on Saturday, the group’s media reported, as the country’s revived civil war escalated further, AFP reported.
Al-Masirah TV said “Saudi enemy aircraft” targeted the Houthi-held capital, without providing details on casualties.
Saudi forces hit Sanaa for the first time in years on Thursday, Houthi media reported.
An emergency alert blares from a loudspeaker, and Damon Dennard and other sailors on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington are scrambling.
Dennard, 23, is readying bombs for loading onto aircraft as his crewmates race to their positions. “It has been eventful,” says Dennard, an aviation ordnanceman airman apprentice.
Dennard was one of dozens of sailors Reuters spoke with in September on a rare visit to a US warship that is central to the Iran war. The visit began at a particularly tense moment, just three days after the US military blew up five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a US Navy warship.
The George Washington’s mission near the Strait of Hormuz which has no defined end-date came as a surprise to the crew, who were deployed from Japan at the end of August to relieve another carrier.
The aircraft carrier is effectively a floating city of around 5,000 personnel, each with their own mission, from Majesta Ochoa, who operates a cash register, to Lieutenant Commander Brody Samaha, a “shooter” who helps oversee the launch of aircraft from the carrier’s catapults.
But there is a sense of synchronisation as the sailors go about their jobs, crew say.
King Abdullah II of Jordan has spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about regional security in a phone call, according to a statement on X from the US Embassy in Amman.
Al Jazeera reports the two men discussed bilateral and regional issues, including implementing the US-brokered Trilateral Framework in Lebanon, which promises the conditional withdrawal of Israeli troops and the disarming of Hezbollah.
Rubio thanked King Abdullah for “Jordan’s steadfast role in advancing regional security”.
Al Jazeera notes reports of Israeli fire targeting the outskirts of the Syrian villages of Maariya and Abidin in the Deraa governorate, in the country’s southwest.
There were no immediate details on any damage or casualties, Al Jazeera added.
The internationally recognised Yemeni government’s forces have announced attacks “on legitimate vital military targets” in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, Al Jazeera reports.
The official spokesperson for the Armed Forces, Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili, said in a statement on X that “the Armed Forces possess the capabilities to conduct strategic attacks against the Houthis”.
Government-affiliated media reported that warplanes had launched airstrikes on sites in the Al-Nahdain and Jabal Attan areas of Sanaa, targeting Houthi positions.
According to Al Jazeera, several loud explosions were heard in the capital as Houthi-affiliated media reported air strikes in the area.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen says President Donald Trump is preparing to expand the country’s military presence in the Middle East, accusing the administration of concealing service member casualties and pursuing an “illegal war of choice” in Iran, Anadolu reports.
“The president, who continues to hide service member casualties, is now sending up to another 10,000 troops to his illegal war of choice in Iran,” Van Hollen writes on X. “When Trump says he’s planning on renewing his war next month, believe him. Congress must cut off funding.”
The remarks come after reports said the Pentagon is preparing to deploy a third aircraft carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, as Trump considers resuming strikes on Iran after the midterm elections in early November.
Lebanon’s National News Agency says Israel is continuously targeting the southern towns of Tallousa and Bani Hayyan with artillery shelling, Al Jazeera reports.
Reports of any casualties or damage caused by the attacks are not immediately clear.
The International Energy Agency says member countries have so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, out of 400 million barrels promised in March, AFP reports.
The update comes a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.
The G7 has not said whether the 100 million barrels included the outstanding 75 million barrels from the March IEA commitment, or came on top of that.
US President Donald Trump’s senior national security officials gathered on Friday at Camp David for closed-door discussions on the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen, Anadolu reports citing Axios.
Citing three American officials, Axios reports that Vice President JD Vance presided over the undisclosed meeting, which ran for hours and was attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Dan Caine.
One official says issues were settled or discussed at length.
A UK-Iranian dual national arrested over a murky incident at a British military airbase has been released on bail, AFP reports citing counter-terror police.
The 25-year-old, arrested in central London on Thursday “on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts”, was part of an investigation into events last Sunday near RAF Fairford in southwest England.
Five other men arrested on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences on Sunday near the airbase in Gloucestershire were also released on bail earlier this week.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has stressed the importance of diplomacy while discussing the situation in the Middle East with British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, according to the Foreign Office (FO).
“The DPM/FM underscored the importance of efforts to ease tensions and reaffirmed that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable way forward,” the FO says on X.
Iranian authorities have arrested at least 31 people in Sirjan in the southern province of Kerman for allegedly working to foment unrest in the country on behalf of the US and Israel, Al Jazeera reports citing officials.
Iran’s state broadcaster reports that four networks have been broken up by officials who alleged that those detained were also involved in “setting fire to the governor’s office, destroying banks and government offices” during anti-government protests in January, alongside other accusations.
Loud explosions were heard in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday, AFP correspondents in the city said, as the Houthis reported airstrikes in the area by Saudi-backed government forces.
One correspondent heard at least five blasts in different areas, while another saw two warplanes firing missiles on the city.
Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated media outlet, reported “Saudi aggression” against the capital, without providing details.
Iran is ready to play an active, constructive and responsible role alongside member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said in a message to the EAEU Intergovernmental Council’s meeting, IRNA reports.
Aref said Iran was prepared to become an active, reliable and long-term partner in expanding economic and regional cooperation with the bloc. His message was delivered Friday evening in Minsk by Iran’s ambassador to Belarus, Mohsen Omid-Zamani, at a meeting attended by the union’s prime ministers and senior officials.
Aref said growing links between political and economic security underscored the importance of multilateralism, mutual respect and equal rights among nations. He described the EAEU as an important platform for regional cooperation.
Yemen witnessed its widest military escalation in three weeks in recent hours between government forces and the Houthi group, as the displacement crisis caused by the fighting continued to worsen, Anadolu reports.
Clashes were concentrated in the southwestern provinces of Taiz and Lahej, marking the most intense escalation since Sept. 10, when the Houthis took control of the strategic city of Mokha, according to Anadolu’s monitoring.
Amid the escalation on the ground, the number of people displaced since military operations intensified in July approached 198,000, according to government data.
Iran said Saturday it had executed a man convicted of a raft of charges including firing a military-grade weapon at police officers during anti-government protests earlier this year, AFP reports.
Siavash Jamshidi was accused of targeting security personnel during mass demonstrations that peaked in January in which thousands of people were killed.
Since that time, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions of convicts linked to the unrest.
The first flight carrying Israelis home from the United Arab Emirates after services were suspended following the flydubai attack landed in Tel Aviv, according to Israel’s airport authority website, Reuters reports.
The arrival, which Israeli media called a repatriation flight, came after Wednesday’s drama aboard a Dubai-Tel Aviv route that officials say narrowly avoided catastrophe.
During the flydubai incident, the jet’s Indian captain was assaulted by his co-pilot but he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker and force an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Flights at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport were disrupted by delays and cancellations, while explosions were reported in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region following reported ballistic missile attacks, Iran’s state media reports.
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the country’s armed forces have made major advances in various technological fields and have “surprises” in store for their enemies, Press Tv reports.
IRGC’s second-in-command Major General Mostafa Izadi said on Friday that the Iranian armed forces have made major strides in the ground, air, air defence and naval fields.
“The armed forces are using various technologies, some of which have been employed on the battlefield and others will be utilised in the future,” he added.
Senior Iraqi cleric Ammar al-Hakim calls for the reopening of all airports to flights between Iran and Iraq, expressing solidarity with Iran and its people in facing economic pressure, Press Tv reports.
The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office announced an agreement under which Iranian airlines, excluding Mahan Air, will operate 40 flights per day from and to Najaf International Airport, IRNA reports.
According to Iraq’s official news agency, the agreement was reached following the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office’s follow-ups with the relevant parties.
The flights are aimed at facilitating the movement of passengers and pilgrims and supporting humanitarian, medical, tourism, and educational aspects, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office said.
The hunger crisis in Yemen threatens to become “absolutely devastating” as renewed fighting grips the country, the UN’s World Food Programme warned, reports AFP.
The WFP said that unless the international community stepped up its efforts to help, the outlook was bleak.
“Hunger in Yemen today is accelerating before our eyes,” said Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s assistant executive director for programme operations.
“We are scaling up as the WFP, but we’re doing so with very limited resources and access to areas that we need to get into,” he said, warning that the crisis could compound “far beyond” Yemen’s borders.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and remains gripped by a vast humanitarian crisis.
