Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran is ânot at war with Saudi Arabiaâ, as tensions rise over Houthi attacks on the kingdom, Al Jazeera reported.
Pezeshkian said the Houthis have âtheir own issuesâ, distancing Iran from the groupâs actions.
The United States has claimed attacks on five Iranian oil tankers after accusing Iran of launching ballistic missiles at a US warship twice in two days.
Iran responded to the attacks on Tuesday by firing missiles at US forces stationed at the Al Azraq base in Jordan. Amman said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 18 of 20 Iranian missiles, while the rest fell in open areas.
Panetta declared in an interview that the war with Iran â launched by Trump over six months ago â risks becoming another âforever war in the Middle Eastâ, with no clear end in sight.
âItâs no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,â said Panetta, who also served as CIA director under Barack Obama, suggesting the conflict is on course to become âanother failed warâ in the Middle East âlike Iraq and Afghanistanâ.
US Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Thursday that the United States does not plan to hold talks with Iran unless Tehran stops attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
„They‘ve got to stop. It‘s that simple,“ he said.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate a missile attack by the United States that hit a wedding party in the southern town of Kuhestak, killing at least four people and wounding dozens.
In a letter to the court on Wednesday, the humanitarian group said the attack warrants âan independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigationâ given the âcivilian character of the locationâ.
Iran responded by striking what it said were U.S. assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, and said its aim was now to drive U.S. forces from the vast network of military bases they have occupied âfor decades across the Middle East.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Kingdom strongly condemned the targeting of the vessel by Iran and expressed its rejection of Iranian attacks against Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
âThe Kingdom also condemns the Iranian attacks targeting Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, and affirms its full support and solidarity with the brotherly countries in the measures they take to protect their security and sovereignty from any threat,â the ministry said in a statement.
Two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, Saudi Arabia‘s national shipping company Bahri said on Wednesday.
„Bahri confirms that its vessel SIDR was involved in a security incident while transiting the Strait of Hormuz“ on the evening of 31 August, the carrier said on X, confirming „the loss of its two Filipino seafarers as a result“ of the attack.
The city of Kuhestak, located in southern Iranâs Sirik County in Hormozgan province, close to the Strait of Hormuz, was the target of multiple overnight attacks by the United States military, with local sources and authorities saying a wedding ceremony was struck.
The Hormozgan governorâs office on Wednesday identified four victims as four-year-old Amir Ali Karimi, 16-year-old Mohammad Malahi, 43-year-old Kolsoum Malahi and 43-year-old Zarkhatoun Taheri. More than 60 others were wounded, some seriously.
At least four people, including a child, have been killed in a US attack on Tuesday in a residential area near the Iranian city of Sirik, local media reported, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Societyâs provincial branch.
The US strike occurred during a wedding, wounding over 50 people. Rescue efforts in the area remain ongoing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin just held a high-stakes bilateral meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Bishkek. The optics and message were unmistakable.
(March 26, 2026)
The average earnings of Russian crude oil exports increased by 26 percent in the first two weeks of war alone to a rate of 230 million dollars a day in crude oil alone.
Combining both the revenues of oil and gas, the total daily earnings were at least 760 million. During the same period of two weeks, Russia also sold an extra 672 million euros or about $777 million of oil in comparison with the level during pre-war times.
(March 13, 2026)
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is creating major disruptions in global oil markets. Iranâs control over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for the worldâs oil shipments, has slowed exports and pushed countries to look for alternative supplies. Russia is stepping in to fill the gap, benefiting from rising demand and higher oil prices, which is driving a significant boost in its revenues.
Oil prices surged Tuesday following U.S. military action against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a retaliatory move after Tehran launched overnight attacks on vessels passing through the waterway.
A naval blockade imposed by the United States on Iran has effectively halted Iranian crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz for nearly seven consecutive weeks. This unprecedented development has suspended all new petroleum shipments to China, the primary remaining buyer of Iranian oil, according to data and market tracking reports cited by Reuters.
President Donald Trump greenlights retaliatory strikes on Iran just hours after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was talking about a return to the ceasefire under the memorandum of understanding (MOU). Pezeshkian met Russia‘s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
(Updated 6 hours ago)
Two supertankers carrying Saudi âoil were struck by unknown projectiles within minutes of each other while âtransiting outbound through the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, according to shipping intelligence and tracking firms Marisks and Kpler.
„The near-simultaneous incidents represent a further escalation in the threat environment within âthe Omani corridor,“ Marisks said.
(10 hours ago)
„I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,“ Pezeshkian said, according to the Iran presidency‘s website.
The memorandum aimed at ending hostilities between Tehran and Washington that began in late February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran that killed former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The deal, meant to set the stage for final peace talks, later collapsed, with both sides accusing each other of violating its terms.
(August 28, 2026)
ussian President Vladimir Putin will meet the leaders of China, India, Turkey and Iran at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek next week, his foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said in Moscow on Friday.
(19 min ago)
According to an unnamed US official cited by Al Jazeera Arabic, US forces have bombed the rocket launchers claiming they were preparing to fire missiles carrying naval mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards said the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and would be met with a „response and punishment“ from Tehran, Iranian state media reported.
(1 hour ago)
The on-again, off-again conflict, characterized by tit-for-tat retaliatory strikes, is a lose-lose situation for both parties and for the region as a whole, yet we are unlikely to escape this tragic dynamic unless more realist strategic thinking prevails in both Washington and Tehran. Neither side can âwinâ this war, but they can cut their losses before they incur even higher human, financial, and military costs. The realist school of thought offers a compelling diagnosis of this conflict, and points the way to a mutually beneficial conclusion.
Foreign Office spokesperson revealed that Dar held three telephone conversations with the Turkish foreign minister on August 17, 19 and 25, with the discussions centred on regional developments and the need to advance dialogue and diplomacy.
(…)
The diplomatic push gained further momentum with Field Marshal Asim Munirâs visit to Tehran on August 24. Andrabi said Pakistan had played a sincere role between Washington and Tehran and noted that the Iranian leadership had appreciated Islamabadâs efforts.
âMedia outlets like BBC, Iran International, and Radio Farda are directly connected to [and supported by] Mossad, the CIA, and enemy intelligence organisations,â Shekarchi said.
He said individuals employed by these organisations âcan even be included in the list of potential military targets because, in our view, these are not media outletsâ.
âThese pseudo-media outlets are the source of promoting, advertising, and spreading violence in the world, and they have disrupted the mental wellbeing of humanity,â he said.
(July 19, 2026)
FĂŒr den einigermaĂen wachen Beobachter erscheint es, als ob Mossad, CIA, MI6 und BND in Teheran an der Macht wĂ€ren und sich einen ihren ĂŒblichen grausamen Scherze erlauben.
âThere is no justification for any country to fear Iran unless that country opens its territory to the United States for aggression against Iran,â Iranâs Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday. âIt is Iranâs right to target the source and origin of any aggressive action against the Islamic Republic.â
Oman‘s Foreign Minister âSayyid Badr Albusaidi âwill visit Tehran on Tuesday âto continue âtalks between Iran and â Oman on âthe Strait of âHormuz, Iran‘s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei âsaid on âMonday.
(August 21, 2026)
Mr Trump himself agreed in a signed document that Oman would âconduct dialogueâ with Iran to define the future administration and maritime services in the strait.
âOmanâs negotiations with Iran over a mechanism to manage the Strait of Hormuz appear to have been a bilateral Iran-Oman effort, though itâs true that the memorandum of understanding from June endorsed a 60-day Iranian-Omani mechanism,â Marc Sievers, former US ambassador to Oman, told The National. âIt is also true that the US and Iran understood this point differently, which led to the collapse of the MoU.â
Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir is set to visit Iran on Monday, with high-level meetings expected during his stay. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the visit, saying it is aimed at further strengthening bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Iran.
DUBAIâIranâs top politicians said the country needs to focus on ending the war and shoring up its crippled economy, pushing back publicly against hardliners who are taking a more defiant approach in the six-month-old conflict.
The comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf come as the diplomatic track remains stalled and the Trump administration has shifted to a policy of ratcheting up economic pressure via sanctions and the naval blockade of Iranâs ports.
Iranâs president says Washington falsely predicted before the war that the country would fall amid US aggression and become like Venezuela.
âThe enemy had assessed that if Iran falls, it will become Venezuela,â he said in a televised speech.
âNot only did it not happen, but it became a power that amazed the world with its resistance, solidarity and cohesion.â
Pezeshkian said Iranâs enemies hope to âcreate division and rift in society through problemsâ.
âWe will try with all our might to avoid division, rift, conflicts and egos,â he concluded.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defended the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June as the best way for the country to move beyond a situation of „neither war nor peace.“
„There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,“ Pezeshkian said in a speech published by state-run IRNA early Sunday.