War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Oil fell more than 4 per cent as talks between Iranian and Qatari officials on a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran raised hopes that Middle East supply disruptions could ease, Reuters reports.

Iranian negotiators have left talks with Qatari mediators aimed at ending the war with the United States, and a draft proposal is being circulated with a follow-up meeting possible, an official briefed on the talks said on Monday.

“The new month brought with it renewed hopes of a breakthrough in the Iranian stalemate,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

Brent crude futures fell $4.79, or 4.2pc, to $108.64 a barrel by 1020 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude traded at $99.71, down $4.41 or 4.2pc.

The UAE’s energy minister said that what will happen in the US-Israeli war on Iran cannot be predicted, but the UAE will be more prepared than before, Reuters reports.

Suhail al-Mazrouei told Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) that at certain times his country’s exports were better than prior to the war.

Iranian negotiators have left talks with Qatari mediators aimed at ending the war with the United States, ​and a draft proposal is being circulated with a follow-up meeting ‌possible, an official briefed on the talks said, Reuters reports.

The negotiators departed on Sunday, though not because of difficulties in the negotiations, the official said, without providing further details on the ​draft proposal.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the basis of the talks is ​a seven-step plan Iran drew up in September to reopen the ⁠Strait of Hormuz and end the US naval blockade on Iran, with Tehran ​now suggesting that proposal could be implemented on a faster timeline under a deal.

Saudi Arabia briefly activated emergency alerts in the southwestern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait and Taif in the country’s west before later announcing that the danger had passed in the three areas, Anadolu reports.

The warnings were issued through the National Early Warning Platform for Emergencies, according to separate statements by the Saudi Civil Defence.

It later announced that the danger had passed in Abha, Khamis Mushait and Taif, and urged residents to continue following Civil Defense instructions and avoid gathering or filming.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that all parties in the Middle East conflict should focus on political solutions rather than resorting to arms again, in a meeting with an Iranian national security official in Beijing, Reuters reports.

Dialogue and negotiation are the way to resolve Middle East conflicts, Wang said to Ali Bagheri Kani, the deputy secretary of the Iran Supreme National Security Council, according to Chinese state new agency Xinhua.

Wang also said China supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty and security.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has said Iran will not transfer its 60 per cent enriched uranium to a third country, in response to a question on whether such a move was likely to reach an agreement and if the issue had been raised in the Doha talks, state broadcaster IRIB reports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran now expects Washington to lift the new sanctions imposed after the memorandum, scale back its military presence in the region to its previous level, end the blockade and implement the planned waivers on oil sanctions.

“There is nothing extraordinary about these conditions, and all of them are feasible if the US side demonstrates goodwill, has a genuine will to reach an agreement, and is truly seeking a peaceful solution,” Araghchi said.

He said the proposal could pave the way for peace, restore normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and help return life to normal in the region and beyond.

Araghchi said reopening the strategic waterway would be followed by negotiations on issues of mutual interest. Iran wants to negotiate the complete lifting of sanctions, while the United States is interested in discussing the nuclear issue, he added.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz are all feasible if the United States demonstrates goodwill, has a genuine willingness to reach an agreement, and truly seeks a peaceful solution.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi said a proposal currently under discussion through Qatari and Pakistani mediation was based on Iran’s original seven-day plan, which Tehran presented during the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

Under the initial plan, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen on the sixth day if Iran’s conditions were met, and Iran-US negotiations would resume on the seventh day, according to Araghchi.

He said continued consultations among Iranian, Qatari, and Pakistani officials helped make the proposal more practical. A Qatari suggestion to shorten the seven-day timeline had led to a new two-day plan.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has said the country is documenting the US’s “gross violations” of international law, “but experience has shown international bodies are just talk, not action,” state broadcaster IRIB reports.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has called the US the “biggest threat” to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

“It has attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, yet the International Atomic Energy Agency has taken no proper action to condemn it,” Baqaei said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said it was considering a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US agrees to its conditions, having previously proposed a one-week timeline, Reuters reports.

“The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran’s good-faith approach. We have stated that, if Iran’s demands are met, it would be possible to restore security to the Strait of Hormuz and resume the negotiating process within a short period,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that the “exchange of messages is still ongoing” via mediators.

The Middle East and Gulf region should not become a battleground for great-power rivalry and China is willing to work with Arab nations to achieve lasting peace, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Oman’s sultan, Reuters reports.

Xi told Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said that the world is undergoing profound changes.

“The Middle East Gulf region should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict. Peace and stability in the region require joint nurturing and protection by all parties,” Xi said, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

China will send Zhai Jun, a special envoy to the Middle East, to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early and mid-November, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, according to Reuters.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority on Monday said the threat had passed shortly after issuing alerts for the southern and western cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha, Taif and Najran, amid weeks of escalating hostilities with Yemen’s Houthis, Reuters reports.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen later said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Iran-aligned Houthis towards the southern region of Saudi Arabia.

Southern Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, has come under repeated Houthi missile and drone attacks targeting military installations and energy infrastructure, including Jazan, home to a 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.

Irish no-frills airline Ryanair said net profit dropped six percent in its second quarter as the Middle East war drove up fuel costs and impacted ticket prices, Reuters reports.

Profit after tax fell to 1.61 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the three months to the end of September, from 1.72 billion euros one year earlier, the Dublin-based carrier said in a statement.

Ryanair, which is Europe’s biggest airline by passenger numbers and flies mainly across the continent, said the cost of fuel not subject to advance purchase agreements had soared owing to the US-Iran war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Ashgabat at the head of a delegation to hold talks with Turkmen officials on bilateral ties, regional developments and ways to expand political and economic cooperation between the two countries, state media reports.

Yemen’s Houthis said that Saudi strikes targeted a key Red Sea port and oil facility in Hodeidah province, wounding seven people.

The Iran-backed group is fighting a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government after a civil war reignited in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Saudi-coalition strikes on Ras Issa port wounded four civilians, while three more were hurt in an attack on an oil facility in Bajil district, Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi said in a post on X.

Oil prices slipped more than 3 per cent after Iranian and Qatari officials held a third straight day of talks aimed at pushing for a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Brent crude futures fell $3.68, or 3.2pc, to $109.75 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $100.69 a barrel, down $3.43, or 3.3pc.

Brent ended October at its highest in six months amid concerns that the US-Iran conflict could escalate again after Tuesday’s US midterm elections.

“Oil is seeing a technical pullback this morning after last weeks strong gains,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“Lingering hopes of some form of diplomatic progress, combined with the absence of any meaningful military escalation over the weekend, have taken some of the immediate heat out of prices for now.”

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV says at least seven people have been wounded following air attacks by the Saudi-led coalition on Yemen’s rebel-controlled Hodeidah governorate, Al Jazeera reports.

Media report says four people were wounded in an attack on the Ras Isa port, while three others were wounded in a raid on an oil company in the Bajil district.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition.

Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian politician who served as the head of the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, has warned that the Middle East will “pay a heavy price” if the US launches new attacks against Iran, Al Jazeera reports.

“Any further American strike against Iran would be a blow of madness and would lead only to more violence and destruction,” he writes on X.

“I urge everyone who has influence over this reckless man to do everything in their power to dissuade him from it,” he has added, in an apparent reference to US President Trump.

ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes. He also briefly served as Egypt’s vice president in 2013.

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to resume strikes against Iran, telling a campaign rally that he may have to give Tehran “the hammer” at some unspecified time.

“And the only reason why I’m not finished with Iran is I want to be nice. I want to try and save all those lives if I can … But at some point we’re going to have to give them the hammer,” AFP quoted him as saying.

According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a tanker travelling southeast through the Gulf was struck by two unidentified projectiles on its port side, 72 nautical miles east of Saudi Arabia’s Ras al-Khafji.

All crew members were accounted for and no environmental impact had been reported, Reuters quoted the UKMTO as saying.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ​Navy says two ‌oil tankers have “exploded” after striking mines while ​travelling through an “unauthorised ​route” in the Strait ⁠of Hormuz, ​Reuters reports.

Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman says he held a phone call with his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, and the two affirmed the importance of supporting efforts aimed at achieving security and stability in the region.

They also condemned the “terrorist attacks launched by the Houthi militia on the kingdom”, he posted on X.