War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iranian Finance Minister Seyed Ali Madanizadeh says US threats against Iran’s economy are “ineffective” and just an attempt to create “pressure”, Al Jazeera reports citing the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

He says that the country has stockpiles of basic goods and exports are rising, along with trade with neighbouring countries.

Iranian Vice President for Legal Affairs Majid Ansari has emphasised that Tehran only seeks fair treatment and respect for its nuclear rights, as well as territorial sovereignty and authority over the Strait of Hormuz, state news agency IRNA reports.

He has expressed hope that the US, instead of resorting to threats, will “show respect for the Iranian nation and deal with Iran in accordance with international laws and principles”, IRNA adds.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree has claimed that the group targeted Saudi-led forces in Yemen’s Lahj governorate with ballistic missiles.

“The strikes were precise and direct … leaving dozens dead and wounded and destroying a large number of vehicles,” he writes on X.

Iran has shot down a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island, claiming that it is the 17th such unmanned aerial vehicle it has destroyed, according to state broadcaster Press TV.

It cites a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) public relations office, which says the reconnaissance and combat drone was shot down by an advanced air defence system operated by the IRGC Aerospace Force, calling the interception “another failure of enemy reconnaissance missions”.

Iran and the United States should “immediately” allow fertiliser shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to ease the crisis in some of the most vulnerable countries, a senior UN official has said, AFP reports.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya that the lack of fertilisers could push millions into poverty.

“They should continue their negotiations about the comprehensive deal — but that deal should not avoid an immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound solution for the fertilisers,” he said.

“Basically what we need is five vessels a day with fertilisers,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition says two Houthis drones have been intercepted in the kingdom’s Riyadh and southern regions.

Yemen’s government-aligned forces say they have repelled a Houthi attack in the southwestern province of Lahj, while state-run media reports airstrikes targeting Houthi reinforcements in the neighbouring Taiz province, according to Anadolu.

The government-aligned Giants Brigades say they “repelled a Houthi attack in the Al-Mudharaba district” in Lahj. The forces have also posted a video on Facebook that they claim shows Houthi fighters fleeing after the attack was repelled.

The forces’ statement comes after the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that the ongoing military escalation has displaced more than 340,000 people since August.

Iran’s navy said an oil tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine in the eastern Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported, Reuters reports.

Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possible resumption of attacks on Iran with Gadi Eisenkot, who has been tasked with forming the next government, Israeli media reports.

According to Channel 12, Netanyahu held the meeting Thursday and sought to share intelligence on Iran with Eisenkot.

The broadcaster cited an “informed” source who said the intelligence “could change his view” of Netanyahu’s motives for resuming attacks.

Eisenkot was not aware that Mossad chief Roman Gofman was visiting Washington to discuss the issue, said Channel 12.

The Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the United Nations have expressed concern over US and Israeli threats of renewed hostilities against Iran, stressing the need to pursue political and diplomatic means to establish peace, IRNA reports.

The UN Security Council held a meeting on Friday on the “Situation in the Middle East” at the request of Bahrain.

China’s Ambassador Fu Cong said that the risk of a large-scale conflict breaking out in the region remains high, adding that recent rhetoric suggesting the possibility of renewed hostilities against Iran is particularly concerning.

Iran’s Navy says a tanker caught fire and was immobilised after hitting a naval mine while sailing in a prohibited area east of the Strait of Hormuz despite previous warnings, state media reports.

In a statement on Saturday, the Navy said the vessel had switched off its tracking and identification systems while transiting the unsafe zone.

It warned that any tanker entering the prohibited area would face the same fate, criticizing owners for risking their assets based on the “nonsense” of US President Donald Trump.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has slammed Western members of the Security Council for their “hypocrisy and double standards,” demanding that the United States immediately end its war of aggression and lift its illegal naval blockade if it is genuinely committed to diplomacy, state media reports.

Addressing a Security Council meeting on Friday regarding rising tensions in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, Gholamhossein Darzi stressed that the root causes of the current situation are the unprovoked wars of aggression launched by the US and the Israeli regime on June 13, 2025, and February 28, 2026.

“The US is the aggressor, not the victim,” Darzi declared, condemning the assassination of Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, senior officials, and nuclear scientists.

The UK says the situation in Yemen requires a diplomatic solution, calling on the Houthis to immediately halt their military offensives and support an inclusive, UN-led political process, Al Jazeera reports.

US President Donald Trump does not want to resume the war with Iran “for now,” as his administration maintains economic and military pressure on Tehran, according to a media report.

Citing a US official, The Washington Post reported that Trump has received several daily intelligence briefings since the midterm elections.

“It’s become pretty clear that Trump does not want to go back to war for now,” the official said.

The report said the administration had settled on a middle path of no new war, no talks and no lasting peace as the conflict entered its eighth month.

Iran’s navy and Revolutionary Guards said that fires had broken out on a total of three oil tankers that struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has restricted navigation, AFP reports.

Since war erupted with the United States in February, Tehran has insisted that vessels obtain its authorisation to cross the strait and has attacked ships that do not comply.

“A short while ago, two oil tankers that had switched off their radar and positioning systems and were secretly attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorised route exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine,” the Guards’ navy said in a statement.

A separate statement from Iran’s conventional navy said another tanker “navigating through the unsafe and prohibited zone east of the Strait of Hormuz with its tracking and identification systems switched off, caught fire and was forced to stop after striking a naval mine”.

A UN official warned that growing tensions and attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab threaten international peace and security, regional stability and the global economy, Anadolu reports.

Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, told the UN Security Council virtually that maritime incidents had continued to increase, with commercial vessels facing different forms of attacks and numerous ships and their crews stranded inside the Gulf for months.

“Civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets,” he said, reiterating warnings by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the risks posed by continued tensions in the strategically important waterways.

US President Donald Trump will discuss the Iran war with his Chinese and Russian counterparts in trilateral talks in China next week, but is not expected to talk about Russia’s war on Ukraine, a senior US official said, AFP reports.

“I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin,” the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a call ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Shenzhen.

Oil prices are down, set for a second straight weekly decline, as signs of a growing global supply surplus weigh on the market and Washington’s focus on blockading Iran while ramping up other economic pressures allay fears of renewed hostilities in the nine-month war, Reuters reports.

Brent futures are down 5 cents, or 0.05 per cent, to $95.77 a barrel as of 1746 GMT (10:46pm PKT). US West Texas Intermediate futures have fallen 17 cents, or 0.19pc, to $88.57 a barrel.

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) member countries will release around 71 million barrels of emergency oil and product stocks through the end of February 2027, roughly doubling the pace of the releases in September and October, Reuters reports citing the agency.

Included in the release will be around 15 million barrels of diesel, which are scheduled to be released by the end of February, almost entirely from government stocks in France and Germany, at a pace of 4 million to 5 million barrels in January before easing in February, the IEA says in a monthly report.

The move by the IEA, which manages industrialised countries’ strategic oil inventories for use in severe oil shocks, is part of a record stocks release first announced in March after the Iran war cut supplies from the Middle East, sending prices soaring.

Yemen’s government forces say the Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Aden this evening in a “terrorist act targeting civilians”, Al Jazeera reports.

The latest attack threatens the security and safety of residents and represents a dangerous escalation, Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, a spokesperson for Yemen’s government forces, said in a statement.

He added that government forces are taking all necessary operational measures to deal firmly with the sources of the threat.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence has sent out an all-clear notice for the southwestern province of Jizan, minutes after warning earlier of potential danger in the area, Reuters reports.

Jizan is home to a Saudi Aramco refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Saudi Arabia’s Directorate of Civil Defence has issued an early warning for the kingdom’s Jizan province.