War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

AFP journalist Christina Assi, who lost a leg in an Israeli strike while reporting from the Lebanese border, will be honoured at the International Press Freedom Awards, the Committee to Protect Journalists says.

In October 2023, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six others were wounded, including AFP journalists Assi and Dylan Collins, while covering the conflict near the Israeli border. An independent AFP investigation concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area inside Israel.

“Despite being the most well-documented attack on journalists by Israel on record, nearly three years on, no one has been held accountable,” the CPJ says in a statement announcing the honorees ahead of the November 19 event in New York.

“Since the attack, Assi has campaigned for justice for Abdallah’s killing, advocated for journalist safety, and supported a rehabilitation program for people with similar life-altering injuries.”

A small group of Israeli women affiliated with a far-right settler movement illegally crossed into southern Lebanon today, Al Jazeera reports citing The Times of Israel, which cited the Israeli military.

The military has since located most of the group and escorted them back into Israeli territory, while efforts continue to locate remaining members, the report says.

The women are part of the Uri Tzafon Movement, a group that advocates establishing Israeli settlements in southern Lebanon, The Times of Israel reports.

Several far-right Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have expressed support for Israeli settlements in southern Lebanon.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in an interview aired by state TV on Wednesday that interaction with the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is currently “very difficult”, Reuters reports.

Yemen’s Houthis claim they attacked another Saudi oil tanker, the second in a day, as the rebels press on with their declared maritime blockade of the kingdom, AFP reports.

In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claims the rebels targeted the “Saudi oil tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden with a ballistic missile”.

US Central Command (Centcom) says that as part of the naval blockade of Iranian ports, American forces have redirected 48 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two others.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, says his country is working on a “new model” for managing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as part of an understanding with Oman, Al Jazeera reports.

He says that under the planned arrangement, ’large parts of the designated shipping route will go through Iran’s territorial waters, while some parts will also pass through Omani territorial waters.

Existing temporary routes — including a northern route near Iran’s Larak Island and a southern route in Omani waters — will be closed.

The new route in Hormuz will be used for a period of two to four months or potentially longer.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said that an understanding has been reached between the two countries on almost all issues, including the location of entry and exit routes for maritime traffic, Al Jazeera reports.

In comments shared by Iran’s IRNA news agency, Gharibabadi says a final understanding between the two countries is “on the verge of being finalised”.

Iranian Deputy Minister of Oil Mohammad-Sadegh Azimifar says that the country’s fuel production and distribution has continued without interruption despite damage to oil infrastructure in Tehran and Alborz provinces due to attacks by the US and Israel, state news agency IRNA reports.

He has made the remarks during a visit by a parliamentary delegation to the Tehran Oil Refining Company and Rey Energy Town.

He says that despite damage to oil infrastructure, including pipelines and storage tanks, in Tehran and Alborz provinces, the production and distribution of fuel, particularly gasoline, have continued uninterrupted.

Azimifar also notes that reconstruction work at the facilities is underway, with a strong emphasis on passive defence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the country will do “whatever it takes” to ensure its security, “with or without a deal”, Al Jazeera reports.

Though Netanyahu has praised US President Donald Trump as “the greatest friend we have had in the White House”, he says, “Israel’s existence is not negotiable.”

Netanyahu is speaking at a state service for the reburial of Shimon Leib and Rivka Herzl, the grandparents of Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, according to Ynet.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has had a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, amid ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Muscat over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.

Tajani says on X that Araghchi briefed him on negotiations between Iran and Oman aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic.

“I reiterated the importance of continuing the dialogue to swiftly reach a political solution to the crisis, including with the United States, and to avoid further escalations,” the Italian minister writes.

“It is essential to ensure full freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, without tolls or restrictions, in the interest of regional stability and the global economy.”

Tajani adds that he also discussed Lebanon with Araghchi.

“I hope that the ongoing negotiations in Rome will yield concrete results to consolidate the ceasefire and reach a general agreement,” he says.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has said Iranian officials are continuing to exchange views with their counterparts in Pakistan and Qatar, but that neither Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi nor Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf currently plan to visit either country, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) reports that the master of a tanker has heard a loud explosion within the proximity of their vessel southeast of Aden, Yemen.

“All crew accounted for and safe. There is no environmental impact reported,” UKMTO adds. “Authorities are investigating.”

Vessels have been advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.

The foreign ministers of the R-4 Group, comprising Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, have met in Amman and affirmed the importance of diplomacy in the Middle East.

“The ministers also reviewed the evolving regional situation and reaffirmed the importance of continued consultation and close coordination among the four countries in advancing regional stability,” the Foreign Office said in a post on X.

“They emphasised that dialogue and diplomacy remain essential to fostering stability and preventing further escalation in the region.”

The United States has lifted sanctions targeting Iraq’s Fly Baghdad airline, a company it had previously designated for alleged links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), AFP reports.

In an update to its website, the US Treasury has lifted sanctions on Fly Baghdad and two of its aircraft, but maintains sanctions against a man previously identified as the company’s owner, Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani.

A US Treasury official, speaking on condition of anonymity, tells AFP the airline was removed after going through the department’s administrative reconsideration process.

“FBA (Fly Baghdad Airlines) has demonstrated major changes to their operations such that their listing is no longer warranted,” the official says.

They clarify that the removal is “not indicative of any shift in US policy toward the Government of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, any designated terrorist organisation, or any person who supports or acts on behalf of any of these”.

Washington had originally designated the airline, its aircraft and owner in January 2024, alleging that it provided support to the IRGC’s Quds Force and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The geographic coordinates for a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz have been agreed upon by Iran and Oman and a joint announcement is being finalised, provided no third parties interfere, Reuters reports citing Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson.

Esmaeil Baqaei adds that any such agreement between Iran and Oman will not, by itself, guarantee security in the strategic waterway.

Lebanese official media says an Israeli attack on the country’s south has killed one person, as Israel announced it was carrying out strikes in retaliation for what it said was a Hezbollah ceasefire violation, AFP reports.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the Israeli strike “targeted the roof of a prayer area of the cemetery in the town of Tibnin”, killing one person and wounding 11 others.

The Israeli military claims it has begun striking targets in southern Lebanon in response to a “blatant violation of the ceasefire” by Hezbollah, just as Israel and Lebanon hold talks in Rome, AFP reports.

“In response to a blatant violation of the ceasefire by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, the IDF has begun conducting precise strikes in southern Lebanon,” a statement from the military reads, shortly after telling residents to evacuate a village in the area.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed and seven others injured in an explosion inside a booby-trapped building in southern Lebanon, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

“This explosion occurred during the demolition of houses in the border cities of Kafr Tibnit, Al-Mansouri, and Hadatah,” Fars adds, citing Israeli media.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has held a bilateral meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in which the two leaders discussed the recent developments in the US-Iran conflict, the Foreign Office (FO) has said.

They underscored the importance of dialogue and diplomacy for de-escalation and reaffirmed their commitment to “close coordination at bilateral and multilateral levels … to promote peace and stability”, including at the United Nations and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the statement added.

Oil prices have risen after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said they attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, denting hopes of a de-escalation in Iran war hostilities that could restore shipping traffic and oil flows in the Middle East, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures were up $1.51, or 1.9 per cent, at $80.87 a barrel by 11:23 GMT (4:23pm PKT). US West Texas Intermediate futures gained 90 cents, or 1.19pc, to $76.67.

The Houthis said they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of Yanbu, a key port for Saudi crude oil exports. Saudi officials did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Chairman of the National Security Committee of Iran’s Parliament Ebrahim Azizi has said that the US will soon be “expelled from the region and from the countries that are hosting US bases,” Press TV reports.

Any agreement between Iran and Oman on future shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz would not lead to the immediate reopening of the strategic waterway, Al Jazeera reports, citing Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.

The source said negotiations on future navigation arrangements are being conducted exclusively between Tehran and Muscat and “have nothing to do with the United States”.

“The possible agreement between Iran and Oman on the arrangements for vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz has nothing to do with the immediate opening of this strait,” the source added.

Even if Iran and Oman reach an agreement, the strait will remain closed as long as what Tehran describes as “US violations” continue, according to the report.

“The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz depends on a change in US behaviour and the correction of its violations,” the source said.

The remarks also followed reports in Iranian media that Tehran was close to reaching an understanding with Muscat on a new navigation corridor, provided the US stopped interfering in the negotiations.