War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar meets United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Islamabad, the Foreign Office says.

Dar highlights Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to promote dialogue and de-escalation, including its facilitation of the Islamabad talks between the US and Iran. He reaffirms Pakistan’s commitment to dialogue and diplomacy as the most effective means of resolving disputes, the FO says.

The UNSG appreciated Pakistan’s longstanding contribution to the UN, as well as its diplomatic efforts to promote dialogue, mediation, and de-escalation, it added.

Saudi Arabia’s civilian aviation authority said at least three people were wounded in attacks on Jazan and Najran airports near the Yemen border a day earlier, as fighting with Yemen’s Houthis intensifies, AFP reports.

“The attacks resulted in three minor injuries and material damage,” the General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement posted online.

Late Monday, the Houthis said their forces targeted sites across southern Saudi Arabia including airports and military sites.

US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that Iran should be allowed to “take out” California’s two largest cities while discussing war-related price increases, Anadolu reports.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, he argued that Americans should accept higher prices as a cost of maintaining national and global security.

“And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial,” he said.

“It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.“

Trump then referred to the possibility of an Iranian attack on an American city.

Tehran has warned Bahrain and other regional states against allowing their territory or airspace to be used in attacks on Iran, stressing that it will respond if they allow such attacks again, IRNA reports.

Ali Karimi Magham, Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, made the remarks before the UN Third Committee, responding to statements by Bahrain’s representative. He said Bahrain was speaking about human rights while ignoring the circumstances surrounding events.

Karimi Magham said Bahrain was not a victim, arguing that it had provided its territory, bases and airspace for an illegal US war against Iran. A country that had made its territory available for an unlawful war against its neighbor, he said, could not express surprise at the consequences.

A US Navy helicopter issued a 7700 emergency squawk while flying over the Red Sea near Yanbu, Press Tv reports.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces redirected a commercial vessel in the Middle East on Monday, marking the 130th ship intercepted during the ongoing US naval blockade against Iran, Anadolu reports.

Since the operation resumed on July 14, US forces have redirected 130 commercial vessels and disabled three ships that refused to comply, CENTCOM said in a statement.

The UN welcomed the release of a staff member held by the Houthi group in Yemen while renewing calls for the immediate release of dozens of humanitarian personnel who remain in custody, Anadolu reports.

“The United Nations will continue to pursue every possible avenue to secure their immediate and safe release,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters, emphasising that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly called for the release of all detained UN and humanitarian personnel.

The World Food Program (WFP) confirmed that the individual belongs to its agency, expressing relief that the worker has reunited with his family after being “arbitrarily detained.”

The United States has warned foreign financial institutions that if they conducted any business with Iran or its banking sector they could be sanctioned by Washington, AFP reports.

“Foreign financial institutions continuing to transact with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions could be targeted at any time without advance notification and should take immediate action to terminate such activity and relationships,” the US Treasury said in an “alert” statement.

The US Treasury has also announced a slew of new sanctions as part of that push, targeting Iran’s financial, cryptocurrency, rail, automotive and manufacturing sectors.

It has also taken action against two banks — one in the United Arab Emirates and another in Turkiye — over their alleged aid to the authorities in Tehran.

Oil prices have edged lower after crude exports from the Middle East increased and the Group of Seven nations pledged to boost supplies, though selling has been limited by ongoing disruption fears linked to the US war with Iran, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures are down $1.20, or 1.17 per cent, at $101.05 a barrel by 1808 GMT (11:08pm PKT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude is down $1.16, or 1.27pc, at $89.95.

Boeing says it has been awarded a seven-year contract worth about $14.7 billion by Lockheed Martin to scale production and deliver PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) seekers, according to Reuters.

PAC-3 MSE is a hit-to-kill interceptor used within the Patriot air defence system to counter ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft. The contract award enables Boeing to triple the production of PAC-3 MSE seekers, the missile’s guidance component that detects, tracks and helps intercept incoming targets.

Demand for the interceptor has surged as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons stockpiles.

Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have discussed ways to provide support for Riyadh’s defence over the Yemen issue at an emergency meeting of a committee of the Makkah Defence Pact between the three nations, Reuters reports citing Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan.

“We also discussed what could be done to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue. Saudi Arabia has adopted a very constructive approach to resolving the issue,” Fidan tells reporters after the emergency meeting of the Pact’s strategic political and defence committee.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have agreed to deploy military forces and capabilities rapidly in the kingdom, the Foreign Office (FO) says following an emergency meeting of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Riyadh.

“The committee decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defence commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the kingdom, in accordance with the approved arrangements and the national legislation of the parties, thereby enhancing readiness, military integration, and the collective capacity to confront and counter threats,” a joint statement reads.

The development comes as Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition government launched a major military campaign on Sunday to recapture territory held by the Houthis.

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Loud explosions have been heard in the north of the Saudi capital Riyadh, an AFP journalist and residents say, as Saudi forces and their Yemeni government allies ramp up their fight against the Houthis.

The AFP journalist reports hearing a “powerful explosion”, as do residents living in the area, which is not far from the King Khalid International Airport.

One local says “the windows in my house shook” as a result of a blast.

A tanker has been struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, causing an engine-room fire that the crew is fighting, Reuters reports citing the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency.

It adds that no casualties or environmental impact have been reported.

Israel is preparing for possible new military action against Iran, either in coordination with the US or independently, Anadolu reports citing Israeli media.

The Israel Hayom newspaper says the Israeli army is preparing for a potential attack against Iran while maintaining close intelligence and operational cooperation with the US military.

The report adds that Israel is also getting ready for possible preemptive action or a response to an Iranian attack, although it has assessed the likelihood of an attack on Israel or the US before the American midterm elections as relatively low.

Israel continues to view Iran’s nuclear programme as a major concern, the newspaper adds.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said negotiation with the United States was meaningless during a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Tehran, Reuters reports citing state media.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised the alarm over the “sharp escalation” of fighting in Yemen, AFP reports quoting his spokesman said, as Saudi Arabia leads a counteroffensive against Houthi fighters.

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting, which has intensified markedly in recent days. He condemns the continued Houthi cross-border attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

US President Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for high gasoline prices, insisting that the Iran war is no longer responsible, AFP reports.

“What’s driving up gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz, because record numbers of barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, ‘refineries,’ where Russia’s are being blown up by Ukraine,” Trump writes on his Truth Social network.

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni has travelled to Doha at the invitation of his Qatari counterpart, as the process to end the US-Iran war continues, Al Jazeera reports.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency says Momeni is scheduled to hold talks with Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and other Qatari officials during the visit.

Shipping bottlenecks, deep cuts in refinery output and inventory draws that could take years to replace will keep global oil prices high beyond this year, industry executives say at a conference in London, Reuters reports.

“I think it is going to be bedlam for the bulk of the end of the year and maybe 2027,” Petronas CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik says.

In his first conference address since the start of the Iran war, Amin Nasser, chief executive of the world’s biggest oil company, Saudi Aramco, tells the Energy Intelligence Forum in London it could take up to two years to refill global stockpiles drawn on as an emergency measure.

“Until [the Strait of] Hormuz fully re-opens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify. Even then, replenishing inventories while meeting demand could take up to two years,” he outlines.

“Both ends of the barrel” refers to unrefined crude and refined products, such as diesel and jet fuel.

He adds that 3 billion barrels have been lost since the start of the conflict, and 1bn barrels have been withdrawn from global inventories.

US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil a plan targeting tax-exempt red-dyed diesel as part of an effort to lower fuel prices as soon as today, two sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters.

Red-dyed diesel is essentially diesel but exempt from highway fuel taxes.

It is generally sold for use in equipment and vehicles ​that are not usually operated on public roadways, but in places like farms and construction sites. Because it is intended for off-road use, it is exempt from taxes applied to diesel fuel sold for highway transportation.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi as the country’s new minister of defence, Al Jazeera reports citing the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

According to Tasnim, Akhlaghi previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organisation and as a senior executive at the defence ministry.

The ministry has been temporarily led by several officials since Brigadier-General Aziz Nasirzadeh was assassinated at the start of the US-Israeli war.

Iranian national security chief Mohsen Rezaei has warned that the “next mistake” by the US will bring an expanded conflict on new fronts and “even greater surprises”.

“Every miscalculation by the enemy against Iran has resulted in a heavy defeat for them,” Rezaei writes on X. “With the wise leadership of the supreme leader, the support of a history-making nation and the coordination of all branches of the system, Iran will emerge from these complex circumstances with strength and determination.”

US Vice President JD Vance tells reporters that he has yet to see anything conclusive on an Iranian role in the Flydubai incident last week, Reuters reports.