War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Saudi authorities warn that the capital Riyadh is “under a hostile aerial threat” in a phone alert, as AFP correspondents report hearing at least eight explosions.

“Warning: [the] city of Riyadh is under a hostile aerial threat,” the alert reads.

Saudi Arabia’s early warning system has been activated in Riyadh, the Al Kharj governorate and Najran, according to the kingdom’s civil defence agency.

Oil prices have fallen, paring the gains from a day earlier, as hopes for peace talks between the US and Iran take the edge off renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions from an escalating regional conflict, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures are down $1.59, or 1.38 per cent, to $113.73 a barrel as of 1545 GMT (8:45pm PKY). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures are down $2.09, or 2.03pc, at $100.69.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) says a vessel has caught fire and sunk following a maritime security incident nine nautical miles north of Oman’s Khasab, Reuters reports.

Regional authorities have identified the vessel as a dhow, UKMTO reports, adding that the crew has been safely evacuated.

US President Donald Trump says Vice President JD Vance’s outreach to Iran is about helping the country get medical supplies, after US media reported Vance had written to Tehran’s top security official to revive peace talks, Reuters reports.

When asked by reporters later on Wednesday if he directed Vance to reach out to Iran to restart peace negotiations, Trump says, “No. What that is is they need help with medical supplies and various things.

“He (Vance) asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that’s okay. Basically, it’s getting supplies in to help people that are not well,” Trump tells reporters.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York and Vance’s office have not immediately responded to a request for comment on the letter and Trump’s remark.

Dockworkers in 22 countries will strike tomorrow, protesting against war and the use of ports for arms exports, in action organisers say could disrupt over 40pc of Mediterranean cargo and snarl over $2 billion worth of freight, Reuters reports.

The strike, originally called by dockworkers’ unions in Italy, France, Greece, Spain’s Basque Country, Turkiye and Morocco, is now backed by more than 25 unions in 113 ports.

The protest is expected to target major shipping hubs across Europe and beyond, including Hamburg, Valencia, Le Havre, Algeciras, Piraeus and Genoa, as well as Morocco’s Tangier Med and India’s Nhava Sheva.

However, it was unclear how many dockworkers would take part or how severe any disruption would be.

Italian harbours, with Genoa at the forefront, have played a leading role in protests against arms shipments, frequently blocking cargo shipments bound for Israel and for US military bases.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is engaging with Iraqi authorities as it prepares a new bailout programme for the country, whose economy has been battered by the war on Iran, AFP reports.

Iraq’s economy is heavily dependent on its energy exports, which almost entirely rely on transport through the strait.

Before the war, the country was already facing acute fiscal constraints, and the IMF this month forecast its economy would contract by 16 per cent this year.

“Our plan now is to engage with the authorities to understand better their priorities, how they want to address their vulnerabilities, and then to move ahead on how we can best support them with a programme,” says IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack at a regular press briefing in Washington.

Kozack cites the country’s severe financing constraints from before the outbreak of the war, and adds that its very narrow non-oil revenue base is also putting pressure on the fiscal balance.

Iranian media reports that Tehran has received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance but had not yet responded, amid efforts to revive peace talks between the countries, AFP reports.

Tasnim news agency reports that “Iran has received the letter but has not yet responded”, while the Fars News Agency has carried a similar account, citing “a source familiar with the matter”.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US from Oct 30-31, where he is expected to raise the issue of US-Iran diplomacy, Anadolu reports.

Fidan is expected to deliver remarks during a session titled ‘Geopolitical Tensions, Energy and Supply Chains’ during Friday’s meeting, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

In his remarks, he is expected to underline the importance of increasing international pressure on Israel in response to its ongoing attacks, which are undermining international peace efforts in the Gaza Strip.

Fidan is also expected to state that Turkiye hopes the dispute between the US and Iran can be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, while highlighting how continued hostilities are exacerbating vulnerabilities across the region.

He is also expected to point out that attacks on vessels and energy infrastructure in the Black Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf region are adversely affecting global energy and food security, as well as international trade.

The Iranian military has said that another tanker had caught fire east of the Strait of Hormuz, according to AFP.

“A tanker that was illegally operating in a restricted and dangerous area east of the Strait of Hormuz was damaged and caught fire after striking naval mines, rendering it unable to move,” the army says in a statement carried by state television.

This brings the total of tankers struck by naval mines within the past 24 hours to four.

QatarEnergy is buying long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and other suppliers as part of a strategy to build a trading and arbitrage hedge that will generate revenue if exports through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted in the future, Chief Executive Office Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi tells Reuters.

“In a scenario where you have a closure of the strait, which is the true contingency that we’re looking to have, you’d immediately see a spike in gas price, and you’ll be able to generate revenue for QatarEnergy that otherwise wouldn’t be generated,” Kaabi, who is also the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, says of the plan.

Kaabi’s remarks reveal for the first time how Qatar, one of the world’s largest LNG producers, plans to offset lost income from the Iran war and protect revenue against future disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Images shared by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency show moments of interception and destruction of “advanced American MQ-1 and MQ-9 drones” in the skies over the Strait of Hormuz.

The images also show the destruction of an MQ-1 at dawn in the east of Hormuz opposite the shores of Sirik, according to Fars.

The Iranian Navy carried out more than 20 operations against US warships during the US-Israeli war, while approximately 300 additional operations targeted American interests in various locations, including through missile and drone strikes, a senior naval commander tells state news agency IRNA.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA, Rear Admiral Jalil Moghadam notes that operations against US vessels included those against the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.

He adds that Iranian forces identified the carrier during the opening days of the conflict and targeted it with a strategic cruise missile. Moghadam adds that the carrier subsequently suspended flight operations for three days before moving away from Iran’s coast.

In another operation, Iranian forces used drones, cruise missiles and electronic warfare systems against a US destroyer after it harassed Iranian commercial vessels and tankers, Moghadam adds, noting that three other US destroyers attempting to enter the Strait of Hormuz were targeted in a combined attack.

The commander rejects US claims that Iran’s naval forces have been destroyed, adding that American and Israeli forces have avoided approaching Iran’s coastline, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, remaining hundreds of kilometres away.

The Yemeni transport minister has announced Aden International Airport has resumed operations after its temporary closure following ballistic missile strikes at the facility by the Houthis, Al Jazeera reports.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the UK is “doing everything we can” to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, amid the impact of the Iran war, Reuters reports.

“We are doing everything that we can to de-escalate the situation, to support the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Burnham tells reporters, saying that he had discussed the issue with US President Donald Trump last week.

“But, of course, it’s without any nuclear capability in Iran,” he adds.

In a message to Turkiye on its national day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran stands ready to broaden its cooperation with Ankara to “advance mutual interests and reinforce stability and security across the region”, according to state broadcaster Press TV.

Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam has called on Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan to discuss the current regional situation, bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest, according to a spokesperson for the communication ministry.

Khan has expressed his concern over the present situation in Iran and voiced his confidence that Iran will navigate through these challenging times.

​Ambassador Moghadam has thanked the minister for his assurances regarding the resolution of mutual issues and has praised the people of Pakistan for their steadfast support for Iran.

Both dignitaries have discussed strengthening bilateral ties and trade activities along the Pak-Iran border, highlighting that economic cooperation serves the best interests of both nations.

Khan extends his prayers for the peace, happiness, and prosperity of the Iranian people and expresses his desire to visit Iran in the near future, which has been warmly welcomed by the Iranian ambassador.

The Houthis claim that a Saudi strike on a residential area in Yemen’s western Taiz province has killed 12 people, AFP reports, as the two sides exchange fire in the reignited conflict.

“As an initial toll, 12 citizens were killed and three others were critically injured when the Saudi enemy targeted the homes of the families of Ibrahim Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz and Al-Raabi Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Qouz in Al-Barah, Maqbana district,” the Houthi health ministry claims in a statement shared by the Saba news agency.

Clashes have resumed between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi group on several fronts south of Taiz, Yemen Today TV reports.

The channel said fighting had resumed on the Al-Aqroudh and Al-Masrakh fronts, as well as in Al-Rahn village in the Sabir al-Mawadim district.

In a related development, Aden International Airport resumed flights.

The airport and nearby areas were targeted by missile attacks following Houthi threats to strike the facility.

The death toll in Yemen has risen to 1,677 people with 7,395 others injured since an escalation in the conflict in September, according to the World Health Organisation, Al Jazeera reports.

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.