War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says Iran faces a choice between abandoning its “nuclear ambitions” and reaching a deal or facing devastating military action, Anadolu reports.

“Iran’s going to have a choice to make real quick about whether they’re going to give those up at the table or face the kind of devastation that America can bring and will bring swiftly if necessary,” Hegseth tells Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets and military recruits at the University of Tennessee.

He accuses Tehran of building a large conventional missile arsenal to deter military action while pursuing “nuclear ambitions,” arguing that US military strength is essential to forcing adversaries to negotiate.

Hegseth also claims Iran “funds the proxies in Hezbollah, funds the proxies in the Houthis in Yemen,” adding that Washington seeks to deter attacks on US forces and shipping.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says the country is still in contact with littoral Gulf states and “Our contacts with the foreign ministers of the countries of the region are ongoing”, news agency ISNA reports.

“It is true that the situation in the region is not favourable due to the aggression of the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel), but these contacts are at the highest level,“ he adds.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on the sidelines of a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad, Al Jazeera reports.

Araghchi emphasised the need for Islamic countries to pay attention to the Palestinian issue and “take practical measures” to stop Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Araghchi also briefed the Turkish foreign minister on “current trends” while reviewing the latest developments in the Gulf region and the Strait of Hormuz, the statement added.

The pair discussed bilateral relations, strengthening cooperation between Islamic countries and the latest regional developments.

The spokesperson for the Yemeni government’s armed forces says that 1,417 “precise and direct strikes” have been conducted against the Houthis over the past 24 hours, Al Jazeera reports.

“The operations resulted in the neutralisation of approximately 800 elements, between killed and wounded, and the destruction or disabling of more than 190 armoured vehicles, combat crews, transport and supply assets, in addition to the destruction of fortifications and fire positions,” Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili claims.

He adds that the armed forces used combat aircraft, drones, field artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems.

Yemeni government forces say they have attacked Houthi positions in the country’s southeastern Al-Jawf governorate, Al Jazeera reports citing a social media post from the armed forces media centre, which says that artillery units and drones targeted Houthi barracks, inflicting casualties and destroying vehicles.

“The air force conducted air strikes targeting Houthi militia supply depots, command centres, and troop concentrations within the governorate,” the statement adds.

Indirect talks between Iran and the US are continuing through mediation by Qatar and Oman, Anadolu reports quoting an Iranian lawmaker.

Yaqoub Rezazadeh, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, tells the ILNA news agency that both sides have presented conditions through the mediators.

“We have presented a set of conditions, and the other side has also presented a set of conditions. We are now waiting to see whether the conditions we announced will be accepted by the Americans,” Rezazadeh says, adding that the contacts are being conducted with the involvement of Qatar and Oman.

Rezazadeh adds that the negotiations are being overseen by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, adding that issues under discussion are being handled with the council’s approval.

Houthi media claims that Saudi strikes which began overnight have killed at least 12 people in Yemen, three of them children, AFP reports.

Saudi warplanes targeted “civilian homes” in Taiz governorate, killing nine people and wounding 16, the group’s news agency alleges, adding that people are still trapped under the rubble. The agency earlier claimed that overnight strikes in Dhamar province killed three children and wounded 17 other people.

It alleges the strikes were carried out “using cluster bombs, which are banned internationally”.

Iran’s foreign minister has reiterated that Tehran has shared a seven-day plan with the US through the mediator Qatar to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that “the choice now rests with the United States,” Al Jazeera reports

Speaking at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad, he adds, “Security cannot be restored by repeating past mistakes and crimes. You cannot bomb a country, threaten to destroy it and impose sanctions on it and then expect normal navigation security to return.

“Iran will defend its people, its sovereignty and its legitimate interests. However, there is no contradiction between defending our rights and pursuing peace,” the foreign minister says. “We are aware of the damage caused by war, and that is precisely why we value peace.”

The secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned what he terms “sinful attacks” against Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to Al Jazeera.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed tells foreign ministers from OIC states in Baghdad that recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia constitute a flagrant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty, the sanctity of Islamic holy sites and undermine regional stability.

He further stresses that the attacks violate Islamic and humanitarian values, international law and the OIC’s charter.

The Saudi-led coalition says that in the past hours, it intercepted four drones in the kingdom’s Riyadh, Eastern and Southern regions.

Egypt’s parliament will convene a plenary session on Sunday following a call by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for authorisation to provide Saudi Arabia with defensive aid if requested, Anadolu reports

“In light of the president’s request, it has been decided to hold the council’s plenary session at 1 pm (1000 GMT) tomorrow, Sunday, October 18, 2026,” Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper cites the parliament as saying.

Speaking at the Egyptian Military Academy’s graduation ceremony in the New Capital, Sisi says Egypt will take all necessary measures to defend Saudi Arabia if Riyadh requests assistance.

He notes that any such action will require parliamentary approval and calls for an emergency session to authorise the move should Saudi Arabia seek Egypt’s support.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says a second tanker has caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting mines in the waterway, AFP reports.

The IRGC says, “A second offending supertanker was engulfed in a massive blaze after hitting a naval mine,” adding it also carried “more than two million barrels of crude oil” and was attempting to pass the Strait.

The origins of the load and the tanker’s flag have not been immediately disclosed.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) says it received a report of an incident 259 kilometres southeast of Yemen’s Al Mukalla, Reuters reports.

The captain of a liquefied natural gas tanker reported that a small skiff carrying seven people approached the vessel and fired two shots at it, UKMTO says in an advisory note.

The tanker’s armed security team fired two warning shots at the skiff, forcing it to alter course, it adds.

US Vice President JD Vance suggests that he may have disagreed with President Donald Trump over the Iran war, Anadolu reports.

“Even if you disagree with him on that one issue, you can have that disagreement. And I think I have had that disagreement,” Vance says on a political talk show hosted by former White House spokesman Sean Spicer, responding to a question about his relationship with political commentator and former Trump ally Tucker Carlson.

Vance says that Carlson, who has espoused conservative views, was “very, very angry” over the war.

“He and I have had that conversation in private, in public. I know how he feels, and I understand,” he says.

“What I’ve said to Tucker is don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater … Aren’t closed borders and ending the ridiculous anti-white racial discrimination in our university admissions, aren’t these things worth actually acknowledging that Donald Trump has done a lot of good?”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran supports a “political process” to resolve the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, AFP reports.

“We support an inclusive and comprehensive political process as the only practical and sustainable way to resolve the issue,” Araghchi says in a speech at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the country’s defence and missile capabilities are “indebted to the role” played by schools and universities, state news agency IRNA reports.

Thanking education officials and school-building benefactors, the president says, “If we are capable of defending our country today, building missiles and standing against threats, it is because our education system and universities have played a role in this path and laid the groundwork for such capabilities.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have announced the release of 159 pro-government fighters under an amnesty announced after they seized swathes of land in a major offensive last month, AFP reports.

The prisoners had “voluntarily surrendered themselves without fighting” as the Iran-backed group captured strategic positions along the Red Sea, Houthi official Abdelqader al-Murtada told a press conference in Sanaa.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed the unilateral release of 159 prisoners and said it had given support by organising interviews and health checks, contacting families and helping arrange transport.

Murtada said 323 prisoners were released under the amnesty last month after surrendering in Hodeidah governorate.

Iran will emphasise regional security arrangements free from foreign interference, opposition to Israeli military acts of aggression, and stronger economic cooperation among Islamic countries at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadegh, told IRNA.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that an oil tanker is on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a mine in the waterway at the heart of the Middle East war, AFP reports.

“A supertanker in violation of regulations, carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil and attempting to pass illegally through the Strait of Hormuz, struck a mine, triggering an explosion and a fierce fire,” the Revolutionary Guards said.

The statement did not specify the exact location of the incident.

“The tanker attempted to cross the strait with US support… by deactivating all its tracking systems,” the IRGC added.

Saudi Arabia has executed five Saudi nationals convicted of “terrorism-related offences” including joining a foreign organisation designated as terrorist, attacking security forces and supporting attacks inside the kingdom, the interior ministry said, according to Reuters.