War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

A Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed in the Makkah region a drone fired by Yemen’s Houthis, reports AFP.

“A drone launched by the terrorist Houthi militia has been intercepted and destroyed in the Makkah region,” the coalition wrote in a post on X.

Four tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s armed forces, a day after the US military claimed it cleared key routes through the waterway, reports AFP.

“Over the past 24 hours, three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking mines while attempting to pass through the unauthorised southern route of the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement.

Another tanker had caught fire east of the strait, after hitting mines while “operating in a restricted and dangerous area”, Iran’s army reported later Thursday.

The initial three vessels had “switched off all their radar and navigation systems” and disregarded warnings from the IRGC navy, the statement said.

It was not immediately clear when the incidents occurred or which flags the tankers were flying.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accuses the UN’s human rights mechanism on Iran of attempting to “whitewash aggression, atrocities, and unilateral coercive measures”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on X, Baqaei describes the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato as a “politically motivated” measure “imposed on the Human Rights Council by the UK,” adding that exploiting the role to blame Tehran for US and Israeli crimes was “deeply misleading and profoundly disingenuous”.

The spokesman’s comments follow Sato’s report to the UN General Assembly, which noted that while US and Israeli military actions compounded the suffering of Iranians, authorities in Tehran used the regional conflict to intensify their crackdown on dissent through arrests and executions.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir-Saeid Iravani, says Washington and its supporters are responsible for the insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz and the disruption to regional shipping, Al Jazeera cites Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.

Speaking to the UN Security Council, Iravani says the US naval blockade of Iran violates the UN Charter and threatens civilians’ access to food, medicine, fuel and other essential goods. He adds that the measures amount to “collective punishment” against the Iranian people.

The US has said its blockade is effective and that no Iranian ship has been able to cross the strait.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says Iran must cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rather than blame other countries for its failure to meet nuclear inspection obligations, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Waltz has accused Tehran of failing to provide the information and access requested by the nuclear watchdog.

“Your lies are no good here,” Waltz tells the council, addressing the Iranian delegation directly and adding that the US and its partners would never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

He says IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi had asked Iran for “answers, not speeches”.

However, Grossi told the same meeting that military attacks in June 2025 had forced the agency to suspend inspections and withdraw its personnel from Iran for safety reasons.

Grossi says Tehran had previously agreed to allow inspectors into its Isfahan enrichment facility, but “the commencement of the attacks prevented our inspector from going to the site”.

He has added that since June 2025, “we have not identified any activity to repair or reconstruct” nuclear facilities damaged in the 2025 and 2026 attacks, although physical inspections remained necessary to establish their condition.

Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman and his Spanish counterpart Margarita Robles have reviewed the two countries’ defence cooperation in a call, the Saudi minister says in a post on X.

“We explored regional developments after the Houthi terrorist attacks on the Kingdom and efforts to promote security and stability,” he says.

The two have also discussed “ways to strengthen the Saudi-Spanish relations”.

US Vice President JD Vance says President Donald Trump will not allow the conflict with Iran to become a “forever war”, defending the administration’s military campaign despite criticism of its involvement in the Middle East, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking during a Fox News town hall in Fort Worth, Texas, Vance was responding to a Republican voter who questioned whether the administration had fulfilled its promise to end costly foreign wars.

“I understand the frustration about foreign misadventures in the Middle East,” Vance says, recalling his own military service in Iraq.

“We’ve been involved in Iran in some form for 7 months. The United States has been dealing with Iran for 47 years, and I promise you that Donald Trump is not going to let Iran become a forever war,” he adds.

Vance has argued that opposing prolonged military interventions do not mean rejecting the use of military force altogether.

“He’s [Trump] going to accomplish America’s objectives,” Vance says, adding that the administration would then focus on its other priorities.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei underscores that the enemy had come to realise that it could not break the will of the Iranian nation through pressure and threats, IRNA reports.

He, in particular, referred to the public’s presence on city streets and squares in the face of the US-Israeli war of aggression, describing the people’s enthusiasm in evening gatherings as a valuable asset for Iran’s future.

Referring to the capacity and strength of Iran, he noted that Iran had experienced significant growth and development internationally — which the enemy is fully aware of, and any hostility or action against Iran would cost them dearly.

“The Iranian nation will ensure the enemy comes to regret its actions and miscalculations,” the agency quoted Baqaei as saying.

Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi says that any nuclear issue cannot be addressed within the framework of the current negotiation process until the United States fulfills its commitments, according to state-run IRNA news agency.

In an interview with the Al-Alam news network, Azizi added that Iran has repeatedly declared its missile and nuclear technology as non-negotiable “red lines”.

Regarding a new proposal from Qatar, necessary guarantees for negotiations, and strategies to counter sanctions, he said that Tehran was evaluating the proposals, but any new agreement would require Washington to fulfil its prior commitments.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) has received a report from a company security officer that a tanker has been struck by an unknown projectile while transiting outbound through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.

No injuries to the crew or environmental impact have been reported, UKMTO adds.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at Riyadh.

Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf says that progress in negotiations can only be achieved once the country’s seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz have been agreed upon.

“Iran’s conditions have been repeatedly and clearly stated to the mediators,” he says in a post on X. “The carrot-and-stick approach has no effect on Iran.”

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.