War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will not “bow down to the excesses of aggressor countries”, Al Jazeera reports.

“We will not allow the enemies to covet our country’s soil, just as we do not covet the soil of other countries,” he says during a meeting to review the qualifications of the proposed minister of defence, according to the news agency ISNA.

Egypt’s House of Representatives will hold an emergency session at 1pm local time (10:00 GMT) to consider President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s request to authorise defensive assistance to Saudi Arabia if Riyadh requests it, Al Jazeera reports.

The session comes a day after el-Sisi pledged to take any measure to protect Saudi Arabia, while stressing that any Egyptian involvement would be strictly defensive.

He has acknowledged parliament must approve the move, saying he hoped it would convene to grant authorisation “if it is requested of us”.

Riyadh’s Kingdom Centre skyscraper, one of the city’s major landmarks, ordered its office tenants to work remotely “until further notice,” after repeated Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

“Kindly refrain from attending the offices during this period,” the office management said in an email to tenants, according to AFP.

The mall at the foot of the 99-storey building remains open.

Iranian lawmakers have approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as the country’s new defence minister, replacing his predecessor, who was killed on the first day of the war with the United States, AFP reports.

“Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly today gave vote of confidence to Mehrdad Akhlaghi, the nominee for minister of defence and armed forces logistics,” state television reported, nearly eight months after the initial US-Israeli strikes that sparked the conflict.

Iran’s FM Araghchi and Iraq’s Prime Minister al-Zaidi have met on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers meeting in Baghdad, Al Jazeera reports.

Araghchi has stressed the importance of using the OIC’s capacity to address issues facing the Muslim world, particularly Palestine, and called for further expansion of Iran-Iraq relations, IRNA has reported.

He adds that Israeli “occupation and expansionism” are the main sources of insecurity in West Asia.

The talks have also covered the Saudi–Yemeni conflict, ways to help end the maritime blockade of Yemen, and efforts to reduce tensions.

Araghchi says that it was the US that “repeatedly disrupted” diplomatic processes to end the war by breaking agreements and resorting to force.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi says the country has “remained committed and steadfast with respect to international law”, adding that “keeping the path of dialogue open among us is not a sign of weakness, but a responsibility”, Al Jazeera reports.

“The United States chose the opposite path: aggression, threats, assassination, and economic warfare, with blatant disregard for international law and the United Nations Charter,” he said at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Baghdad this morning.

Iran “does not accept coercion, threats, or intimidation, and will not relinquish its sovereign rights under pressure”, he said. “But it remains ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and credible guarantees.”

Lebanon’s ambassador to Pakistan “expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s active role in facilitating peace negotiations between Iran and the US”, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal says after a meeting between the two.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iranian support has helped the Houthis mount the most potent and sophisticated attacks yet on Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, according to Al Jazeera.

The US outlet has cited people briefed on intelligence from Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s anti-Houthi alliance.

Iran’s assistance has helped the Houthis make territorial gains on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and launch attacks on Saudi oil facilities and airports, including the raid that killed 13 people in Riyadh last week.

Iran has denied interfering in Yemeni affairs, saying the Houthis are “entirely independent actors”.

US Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged that “gas prices are too high right now” but said that once the US-Israel war on Iran “is over, we are going to see gas prices come down,” Al Jazeera reports.

He blamed Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on tankers for the high prices, saying, “We’ve never had a situation like this” with one country “trying to completely choke off world energy supply”.

Vance claimed petrol prices would be “three times as high if it weren’t for the US Navy keeping oil and gas moving out of the Strait of Hormuz”.

“If we just … left and we let the Iranians control shipping out of the Strait of Hormuz, what that would mean is you would pay a lot more for gasoline,” he said.

Vice President JD Vance says the US has “in some ways decisively won” the war on Iran and has destroyed the country’s nuclear programme, Al Jazeera reports.

He told a town hall hosted by CBS News that the US was now focused on ensuring that Iran makes a “long-term” and “verifiable commitment” not to rebuild its nuclear programme.

“Not over the administration of Donald Trump … but five years from now, could the Iranians rebuild that nuclear arsenal? Could they try to rebuild that enrichment capacity?” he asked.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons and insists on its right to a civilian nuclear programme, including for power generation and medical research.

The British navy-affiliated UKMTO has said that it received a report of an incident northeast of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, where a tug sailing southbound reported being struck by two unknown projectiles, Reuters reports.

One minor injury was reported and the tug has sustained damage, however is continuing on its route, UKMTO added.

A Saudi AH-6i helicopter has crashed in the Najran region of Saudi Arabia due to a technical malfunction, killing its two crew members, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki has said in a statement, Reuters reports.

The helicopter crashed in an area under the jurisdiction of the Saudi National Guard Ministry, the statement added.

Saudi-led coalition says it intercepts and destroys 2 ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia, Anadolu Agency reports.

Riyadh residents received a mobile phone alert early Sunday warning of a “hostile aerial threat”, AFP journalists reported, after days of attacks from Yemen’s Huthis.

“Warning. The area is under a hostile aerial threat. Please remain calm, stay indoors or in a safe place away from windows and doors,” read the alert, which was lifted a few minutes later.

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.