War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

An important statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces is to be published shortly, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.

It comes after the Houthi rebels claimed a missile strike on Saudi Arabia earlier today, hours after vowing to retaliate against the kingdom for yesterday’s attacks on Houthi military targets in Hodeida.

Iran has formally complained to the United Nations, saying the US has committed a “war crime” by deliberately targeting two Iranian maritime search-and-rescue vessels, saying the ships were engaged solely in humanitarian operations, IRNA reports.

In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the president of the UN Security Council, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Gholamhossein Darzi recalled that the US attacked the Iranian rescue vessels Naji-15 and Naji-16 during the early hours of July 23 while they were operating in Iran’s territorial waters off Hormozgan Province.

Darzi said the two vessels were dedicated exclusively to maritime search-and-rescue missions and were protected under international humanitarian law and the law of the sea.

“By deliberately targeting humanitarian search and rescue assets, the United States has not only endangered the lives of rescue personnel, but has also placed at risk all mariners in distress, regardless of their nationality,” the letter read.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has signed a $16 billion deal to lease and lease back its crude oil pipeline network with a consortium comprising global funds Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR, the state-owned Gulf firm says, according to Reuters.

It said it was the largest foreign direct investment in the country’s history.

Under the investment called Project Peregrine, KPC’s unit Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is establishing a joint venture with the three global investors in a lease and leaseback structure for a 20.5-year period that includes a volume-based tariff, KPC said in a statement.

“This transaction sends a powerful signal that Kuwait continues to rise as an attractive destination for global capital, even amid a challenging regional environment,” KPC Deputy Chairman and CEO Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah said in the statement.

The process for the stake sale was launched just before joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Reuters previously reported, citing sources.

A large explosion shook the area of Masha’a al-Mansouri in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, with the blast heard in the city of Tyre and surrounding villages, Al Jazeera reporting, citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.

It said the explosion was carried out by the Israeli military.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting of ministers.

“The two sides also exchanged views on regional and global developments. Foreign Minister Saidov appreciated Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to promote regional peace and stability, including its role in facilitating the Islamabad memorandum of understanding,” the FO said.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has said that European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas speaks of “human rights concerns” regarding Iran.

“How can a professed commitment to human rights be so easily reconciled with providing logistical and technical support for lethal aggressions against the Iranian people — aggressions that deliberately target civilians and critical national infrastructure? All while refusing to condemn even the most blatant war crimes, and offering not a single word of sympathy for Iranian children slaughtered by American-Israeli bombs and missiles enabled by the EU’s own ‘logistical and technical support’,” he said.

“This is not merely a loss of credibility. It is the banality of evil — and the purest form of hypocrisy,” he added.

Shortly after issuing an alert, the Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence has said that the danger has now passed in Yanbu Governorate, Al Jazeera reports.

This was the third time that the directorate issued a brief warning for Yanbu, it reported.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan, the group’s Ansarollah media posted on Telegram, AFP reports.

Saudi Arabia earlier issued brief warnings to residents in Jizan and Yanbu after the rebels vowed to retaliate against the kingdom for attacks this week.

President Donald Trump said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the US next week, according to Reuters.

Trump’s comments came in his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

Netanyahu’s office said earlier that he will travel to Washington on Monday and will meet with Trump on Tuesday. Netanyahu will also attend deceased US Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral, his office said.

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting will come as the US-Israeli war on Iran completes five months.

Yemeni Houthi media on Saturday said two people were injured by Saudi air strikes — a worker in the city of Hodeida and a woman on Kamaran island, AFP reports.

“A worker at the telecommunications building was injured in the Saudi aggression on the city of Hodeida,” al-Masirah televison said.

The US military said it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship that was attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports, AFP reports.

“We disabled the tanker after the crew attempted to run the blockade at least four times prior,” Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesman for US Central Command, told AFP.

“The crew was repeatedly warned, didn’t comply, and US forces on scene disabled the ship after firing into its engine room,” he said.

“The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.”

The Malaysian government is carrying out a feasibility study into hosting a Grand Prix later this year as the Middle East war continues to threaten the latter stages of the 2026 Formula One season, AFP reports.

Youth and sports minister Mohammed Taufiq Johari says they are “actively conducting discussions and assessing the proposal” in a statement from the Malaysian government.

He adds that the government has received “preliminary information regarding the possibility” of hosting a race at Sepang, which hosted the last of 19 races in 2017, as a possible replacement for a mooted race in Bahrain.

Formula One’s original calendar was for 24 races, but Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April were cancelled because of the ongoing war. Upcoming events in neighbouring Qatar and Abu Dhabi are also now in doubt.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’i, Iran’s Judiciary chief, says Tehran has no hostility towards neighbouring countries, according to Al Jazeera.

He says during a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Tehran, “We have always helped our neighbours, and we will continue to assist them in times of hardship and difficulties.”

On the ongoing Iranian attacks aimed at its Gulf neighbours, he notes that Iran is merely striking the “source of US aggression.”

The UK and US might be planning a “high-level meeting” in London next week on the future of the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports citing Axios.

The meeting will include talks on the possible establishment of a coalition naval force to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic sources tell the website.

High-level European, American and Arab officials, such as defence ministers and military commanders, may take part in the meeting, which comes amid a spate of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and a renewed conflict between the US and Iran.

The European Union has agreed to a US request to delay broadcasting its Copernicus satellite images over the Gulf by 24 hours, according to a decision published in its official journal, AFP reports.

The agreement comes as the United States resumes its attacks on Iran since July 7, throwing the region back into chaos as Tehran and Washington battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

US officials made the request for the delay on satellite to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on May 26. It covered data from the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites over the Gulf.

In a decision dated July 13, the EU Council ruled that it was “necessary” to do so, to ensure the images “are not used by any third State or non-State actor in such a way as to present a threat to the interests of the Union and its Member States in the region or to those of their allies”.

The zone covered by this decision is the Gulf region, where strikes are occurring and where the United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iran.

The head of Iran’s joint military command has promised to kill one member of the US forces for every Iranian killed, Al Jazeera reports.

Major General Ali Abdollahi, the commander of Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, tells Press TV, “For every Iranian martyred, one American soldier will be sent to hell.”

In comments carried by the Iranian network, Abdollahi warns the US, “We have prepared free and direct tickets to hell for you.”

The US embassy in Jerusalem has warned Americans to “stay alert” and keep a low profile due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on X, the embassy says there could be travel disruptions, including flight cancellations and airspace closures due to the escalation in the region.

In attached details, it advises Americans to download an Israeli app “to receive real-time alerts for rockets, missile attacks, and armed UAV intrusions.”

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, has spoken with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, over the telephone to discuss regional developments, Al Jazeera reports citing Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency.

The report notes that the ministers discussed the ongoing escalation between Iran and the US, and ways to establish peace, stability, and security in the region at the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Manila.

The price of the benchmark international oil contract Brent North Sea has slumped more than five per cent as traders weigh the impact of fresh Middle East attacks on world crude supplies, AFP reports.

Brent has dropped to $95.61 a barrel, having surged above $100 on Thursday. The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, has shed 4.1pc to $88.40 a barrel.

“Having advanced all week, oil prices finally ran into some profit-taking,” notes Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG.

US President Donald Trump has issued a soft warning to China and Russia against providing weapons and arms to Iran, noting, “If they did, it would be very bad for them.”

“President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — and that statement included Chinese Companies,” Trump writes on Truth Social, adding that he was given similar assurances by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Therefore, two major countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them — certainly not in their best interests,” he writes.

The US embassy in Amman has warned Americans to reconsider travelling to the Middle East to take extra precautions due to possible regional escalation.

In a statement on X, the embassy says “US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions.”

The statement warns citizens to expect flight cancellations, airspace closures and other travel disruptions. It also says US military bases in Jordan should be avoided and asks Americans to follow local government and embassy security guidance.