War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud held a separate telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Qatar and Oman, focusing on regional developments and efforts to preserve stability.

According to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Office, Faisal spoke with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.

The ministers discussed regional issues and stressed the importance of continued “coordination and consultation” among the countries to support security and stability in the region.

Marine bunker fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah port recovered in July from a record low in June, posting their first monthly climb this year as supplies were replenished during a brief lull in hostilities between the US and Iran, Reuters reports.

In June and July, more tankers were able to exit the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut since the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, though volumes remained well below pre-conflict levels, said market sources.

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has said Washington is using economic pressure to make up for its military failures, Al Jazeera reports.

He said Iran will overcome the “economic war” as it did on the battlefield.

The Israeli army carried out an attack on Sunday on the town of Hadatha in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon despite an ongoing ceasefire, according to Anadolu.

Israeli soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons on a western neighborhood, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli military vehicles were also reportedly moving inside the town at the same time.

US President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” 10 days of joint military exercises with South Korea as they were about to get underway, citing the cost of the drills and Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran, Reuters reports.

Hours before exercises were scheduled to begin, Trump said on his Truth Social site that although it was too late to cancel the drills entirely, he was “not happy” that the US had previously agreed to participate and highlighted his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“These exercises are not only costly… but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” Trump wrote.

Oil prices were mostly steady, maintaining gains made last week, as prospects for a lasting US-Iran peace deal appear increasingly remote and fears of supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are ever present, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures were unchanged at $88.55 by 0128 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 14 cents to $82.26 a barrel.

Both contracts gained more than 5 per cent last week following attacks on tankers operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Hormuz strait and on a Saudi Aramco refinery.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend, Reuters reports, citing data, following attacks on tankers, while US-Iran talks to resolve the Middle East conflict stalled.

Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, shiptracking data from Kpler showed, versus 31 in the prior weekend.

US President Donald Trump has said he was pleased by the recent signing of a defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan, AFP reports.

“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he wrote, calling it a “BIG, BOLD, IMPORTANT FIRST STEP.”

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has warned that the country’s adversaries are seeking to make up for their military failures by increasing economic pressure on Tehran, reports IRNA.

He acknowledged that Iran’s adversaries might have greater resources in an economic confrontation, but said the experience of two recent imposed wars had demonstrated that unity could help the country overcome its opponents.

“In such circumstances, factional, political, and partisan perspectives must be set aside in favor of the national interest,” he stated.

Tehran, as well as the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad, will hold mourning ceremonies to commemorate former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, on the 40th day after his funeral and burial, reports Press TV.

According to a statement issued by the Office of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei will oversee the ceremonies.

The main memorial ceremony will be held at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla on Aug 18.

Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, has praised a recent decision by the country’s supreme leader to appoint new senior commanders to the country’s armed forces, saying the move attracted global attention and disrupted the enemy’s calculations, reports Press TV.

The official said the appointments demonstrated Iran’s readiness to strengthen its military leadership and respond to emerging security challenges.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf allies have grown increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration as the war with Iran drags on without a diplomatic resolution, reports The Washington Post.

Gulf officials said their frustration stemmed from the US and Israeli attack on Iran that began on Feb 28, which has disrupted regional stability through continued missile and drone strikes by Tehran and its proxies, said the report.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have grown increasingly critical of the administration as the conflict continues without a clear resolution.

Iran’s military announced othat it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman, reports AFP.

Army Chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following “the large number of requests” to participate in the financial support, according to the IRNA state news agency.

“Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army,” Hatami said, using an informal unit equivalent to 10,000 Iranian rials.

“Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward,” he added.

Iran’s Army Chief Major General Amir Hatami has warned the United States that it would regret any attempt to annex the Strait of Hormuz, reports IRNA.

Hatami vowed that Iran’s forces remained ready to counter any hostile plot and defend the country’s interests.

The Saudi civil defence agency issued an alert warning of “potential danger” in southern Jazan province along the border with Yemen that has been targeted by Houthi rebels recently, reports AFP.

“A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in the Jazan Province to alert of a potential danger,” read the statement by the agency, with similar alerts usually issued ahead of potential strikes targeting an area.

Iranian parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that Iran achieved “true victory” in the war with the United States, Iran’s ISNA news agency reports.

He added that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was a document of victory in the field of diplomacy.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the recent agreement with the US — the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) — was reached with “dignity” and “strength” and in accordance with the principles held by the martyred leader Ali Khamenei, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.

The General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces says it will not back down until the “complete defeat” of its US and Israeli enemies in the region, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement marking the anniversary of the 1990 return of Iranian prisoners of war from Iraq, the military body said the legacy of “resistance” had been passed to a new generation of Iranians who had stood against what it described as the world’s most heavily equipped military.

It said Iran would continue pursuing what it called the country’s legitimate rights and the demands of its leadership “until the enemy surrenders”.

The statement, carried by the Fars News Agency, also praised public support for Iran’s armed forces and accused the US of aggression and domination in the region.

An official with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says more than 85 per cent of the force’s air defence production capacity remained undamaged during the war, Al Jazeera reports, citing Fars news agency.

In an interview featured in a documentary published by Fars, the official said despite attacks on Iran’s military production infrastructure, the rate of production and delivery of missiles and air defence systems had not fallen compared with levels before the conflict.

He said a large part of the IRGC’s air defence equipment is produced by the force’s own self-sufficiency organisation and claimed that production in some areas had since increased.

The official also said Iran’s current stock of operational air defence systems was in a better position than it had been at the beginning of the fighting.

Yemeni government forces claim that Houthi fighters have launched new attacks on the coastal city of al-Makha, using missiles and drones, Al Jazeera reports.

They said their air defences had intercepted a drone affiliated with the Houthi group.

Recent Houthi attacks have reignited fears of an all-out war in Yemen, years after a 2022 truce halted fighting with government forces.

Baqerzadeh says Kuwait is withholding information about the fate of four Iranians held in Kuwait, Reuters reports.

In May, Iran said the four were affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and had been on a maritime patrol before entering Kuwaiti territorial waters because of a navigation disruption. Kuwait has said they were suspected of planning hostile actions against the country.

An Iranian military official says that Qatar should let an Iranian team in to investigate the fate of Iranian pilots who Tehran says are being held there, Iranian media says according to Reuters.

Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said the air force and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Baqerzadeh accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the investigation and preventing the pilots’ return to Iran. He called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently follow up on the case.