War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Oil and gas giants Shell and TotalEnergies have reported soaring quarterly net profits as the ongoing war pushed up hydrocarbon prices and the cost of living around the world, according to AFP.

Britain’s Shell said profit after tax more than doubled year-on-year to $12.1 billion in the third quarter.

France’s TotalEnergies net profit hit a new record of $8.3bn in the July-September period.

In a field overlooking a lush valley in southern Lebanon, residents of the village of Zibqin balanced on branches picking their olives while Lebanese Army soldiers stood nearby, Reuters reports.

Zibqin is adjacent to Israels self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have demolished dozens of villages, saying armed group Hezbollah had embedded itself in civilian infrastructure a claim the group denies. Israeli shelling frequently strikes the valley below the olive groves despite a June ceasefire between the two sides.

As Palestinians, Israeli rights groups and the UN report increased violence and olive thefts by Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanese farmers also fear for their safety, illustrating how conflict is again upending the annual harvest.

Despite the danger, Lebanese farmers are returning to fields they have tended for generations, determined to harvest a crop that is one of their main sources of income and nutrition.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has called for a results-oriented approach to legal and multilateral diplomacy, stressing that international engagement must produce tangible outcomes in defending Iran’s national interests and securing the rights of its people, IRNA reports.

Gharibabadi made the remarks at a meeting of legal and international affairs directors and experts at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran on Thursday, where he reviewed the ministry’s activities over the past 18 months, including during the two wars of aggression imposed by the United States and Israel. 

He said diplomatic efforts should make strategic use of international organizations, multilateral institutions and international legal mechanisms to advance national objectives amid complex global developments and threats to regional and international peace and security.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) say they have captured a US “spy and deception” drone west of the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that three oil tankers had caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.

“Over the past 24 hours, three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking mines while attempting to pass through the unauthorised southern route of the Strait of Hormuz,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement.

The vessels had “switched off all their radar and navigation systems” and disregarded warnings from the IRGC navy, the statement said.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said no defence pact was being discussed in Tehran, nor were the talks focused on Pakistan’s defence or any related matter.

Pakistan had signed two defence pacts, the Makkah defence pact and the Badr Memorandum of Understanding, since then, he noted.

The CDF had gone to Tehran “as a messenger of peace and paved the ground” for the meeting, he said, apparently referring to last week’s talks.

During the visit, the CDF had proposed the Tehran meeting, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei.

Asif added that the CDF had played a role in averting a confrontation. “The situation could have deteriorated as far as the Yemen issue is concerned […] There has been some talk and peace may emerge in the coming days or week as far as Saudi Arabia versus Yemen (sic) is concerned,” he said.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem says Iran has made ending Israeli attacks on Lebanon and securing an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory a priority, describing the Islamic Republic’s position as a major sacrifice appreciated by the Lebanese movement, IRNA reports.

According to Al-Ahed news outlet, Qassem said in a statement on Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding signed between Iran and the United States in June had demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing attacks on Lebanon.  

He said resistance in the region had emerged in response to Israeli occupation, which is supported by the United States and other Western powers. Hezbollah, founded in 1982, had pursued resistance to liberate occupied land and protect its people, he added.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei emphasised economic resilience, public welfare, national unity, sustainable security and the protection of Iran’s national interests as key priorities amid the war with the United States and the Israeli regime, IRNA reports.

The priorities emerged from separate meetings with President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Major General Mohsen Rezaei.

During a meeting with Pezeshkian in August, the Leader and the president discussed public livelihood needs, the war’s consequences, military developments, employment, housing, foreign economic relations, and the management of domestic currency, foreign exchange and energy resources. Pezeshkian also stressed reforming energy consumption and preventing winter gas and electricity cuts.

British energy giant Shell has said that its net profit more than doubled to $12.1 billion in the third quarter as the ongoing war disrupted supplies and sent oil and gas prices soaring, AFP reports.

The company had posted profit after tax of $5.3bn in the third quarter of 2025.

“Shell’s relentless focus on operational performance enabled very strong results in a quarter with continued severe disruption to the global energy system,” chief executive Wael Sawan said in a statement.

New footage from US-Israeli attack on Minab school reportedly shows a second strike while rescue workers and local residents were “clearing rubble, searching for victims and helping the wounded,” according to Press TV.

The United States has fired its top military planner, The Atlantic reported, in a surprise shake-up as President Donald Trump appears to be preparing to resume large-scale strikes against Iran, AFP reports.

Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia was removed this week from his role as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the magazine reported, citing unidentified Defence Department officials.

Sylvia’s ouster would be the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the military since Trump returned to power a year ago.

No reason was given for Sylvia’s departure and no replacement has been named, The Atlantic said.

AFP has contacted the Pentagon for comment.

China raised its retail transportation fuel prices for the domestic market, the state planner said in a statement on Thursday, though it limited the increases to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices because of the Iran war, Reuters reports.

Retail prices for gasoline will rise by 345 yuan ($51.76) per metric ton and diesel by 335 yuan per metric ton, effective October 30, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

Under China’s scheduled pricing mechanism, gasoline should have increased by 440 yuan and diesel by 420 yuan, the statement said.

A ship on fire has been reported in the Strait of Hormuz, British maritime agency UKMTO said, without providing details of the cause of the blaze or any casualties, AFP reports.

The agency said it received the report from the master of another ship, with the vessel spotted nine nautical miles (17 kilometres) north of Oman’s Khasab, which sits just off the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key transit point for global oil and natural gas supplies. Since the start of the Middle East war in February, Iran has sought to control the waterway and has attacked ships it accuses of passing through the strait unauthorised.

The Israeli army said late Wednesday that it launched an interceptor at a suspected aerial target detected near its troops in southern Lebanon amid Israeli airstrikes and shelling across the region.

In a statement, the army said no warning sirens were activated, in line with its policy. It provided no further details about the target or whether it had been intercepted.

The announcement came amid a series of Israeli attacks reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem rejected a US-sponsored framework agreement between Beirut and Israel as illegitimate and ruled out disarmament while Israeli occupation and aggression against Lebanon continue, state media reports.

In a statement addressing political developments in Lebanon and the region, Sheikh Qassem said the agreement violated Lebanon’s constitution.

“There is no room for discussion about disarming the resistance as long as the occupation exists and its aggression continues,” he said, adding that Hezbollah would confront any aggression against the resistance group and Lebanon.

The proposed arrangement calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah’s disarmament before the withdrawal is completed.

IRGC says it has intercepted and shut down another US MQ-1 drone using an advanced air defense system east of the Strait of Hormuz, state media reports.

US media reports Washington has warned Gulf allies to prepare for possible renewed strikes on Iran after the November midterm elections, with officials warning of a short, intense campaign and potential Iranian retaliation, according to Al Jazeera.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said on Thursday it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the group at the kingdom’s eastern region, AFP reports.

“Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the Eastern Province,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said.

Oil prices fell, paring gains made a day earlier, as hopes for peace talks took the edge off renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions from escalating regional conflict, reports Reuters.

Brent crude futures declined $1.22, or 1.1 per cent, to $114.10 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.33, or 1.3pc, at $101.45.

Brent rose 1.3pc and WTI gained 3pc on Wednesday.

Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman and Kuwait’s Defence Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah have “reviewed the fraternal relations between our two countries in the defence field”, the Saudi minister says in a post on X.

In a phone call, the two “discussed the latest developments in the region, and reaffirmed our solidarity in the face of all challenges and threats to preserve our security and stability”, the Saudi minister says.

Former US president Barrack Obama has slammed President Donald Trump’s rationale for launching the war against Iran, saying Tehran did not have any nuclear weapons, Al Jazeera reports. He notes that the 2015 agreement his administration had signed with Tehran had curbed the country’s nuclear programme.

“I didn’t have to fire any missiles. I engaged in diplomacy.”

He has also criticised the war’s toll. “Our allies and bases have been attacked. Americans have been killed. Hundreds of Americans have been wounded. We have run down our stock of missiles, making us more vulnerable, and Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz,” he says.

Obama adds, “This is the reason why the price of oil is up.”

Trump has defended his decision to wage war against Iran, speaking at a campaign rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, Al Jazeera reports.

He says Iran still has missiles but “much less” of them, and claims its drone manufacturers are struggling because they “can’t get electricity anymore”.

Trump has also claimed “we didn’t start this war” and added that the conflict “should have been taken care of long before I came here”.

The US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28, even as Oman-brokered talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme were under way. It was the second time they had attacked Iran mid-negotiations. Last year, they bombed its nuclear facilities while talks were also ongoing.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis says it has intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the group at the kingdom’s eastern region, reports AFP.

“Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the Eastern Province,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki posted on X.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his US counterpart that as a member of the Makkah Joint Defence Alliance, Turkiye closely follow the developments in the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen, and strive for the resolution of the problem on the basis of diplomacy.

He conveyed this to US President Donald Trump in a phone call, a statement by Erdogan’s office said.