U.S. President Donald Trump said there was an "all-day negotiation" on Tuesday with Iran, characterising the talks positively while also threatening to hit Iran "really hard" if a deal was not reached.
A tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the Strait of Hormuz off Oman on Wednesday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The incident occurred about nine nautical miles south-east of Oman's Kumzar. UKMTO said the vessel and its crew were safe, with no environmental damage reported.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance has defended the Trump administration’s approach to negotiations with Iran, describing Tehran’s leadership as divided and the diplomatic process as uneven.
Speaking to Fox News, Vance said: “First of all, if they want to make me own the effort to try to bring this war to a successful conclusion, I’m happy to let them make me own it.
“I am absolutely trying to do that, but… that sometimes requires one step forward, two steps back, then three steps forward, and one step back. I can certainly understand the American people are maybe looking at this, and they say, well, it seems like we’re making progress, and then it seems like we’re not.”
Vance argued Iran is particularly challenging to negotiate with because of divisions within its leadership.
“The reality is that number one, the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people,” he said. “Number two, they have a fractured system, so there are people within their system who want the war to be over. There are also people within their system, who are crazy radicals, who want the war to continue. Our job is to navigate through that and get the best outcome for the American people, but for the president of the United States as well.”
The yen edged up to 157.72 per dollar after weakening 0.4% on Tuesday, following Monday's rebound to 155.2 from around 164 a week earlier after Japan and the U.S. carried out their first joint yen-buying intervention since 1998.
Meanwhile, the dollar index slipped 0.16% to 99.70, near a six-week low, as easing Iran tensions and lower oil prices weighed on the greenback.
Markets are now awaiting Friday's U.S. jobs report, with traders pricing the probability of a September Fed rate hike at just below 60%, down from nearly 70% earlier this week.
Israeli forces have shelled the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Zoun, according to Lebanon's state news agency, hours after an explosive device wounded Israeli soldiers in the area.
Iran's president says interaction with the country's supreme leader is currently "very difficult", according to state television, without providing further details.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis say they targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, though Saudi authorities have yet to confirm the claim.
Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said a potential transit route being negotiated with Oman could provide an alternative shipping corridor for two to four months, according to IRNA.
The official added that the United States returning to its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding is a necessary condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
However, Gharibabadi said it would not, on its own, be sufficient to restore navigation through the strategic waterway.
Iran and Oman have agreed on the geographic coordinates for a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, and a joint announcement is being finalised, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei.
Baghaei said the agreement is expected to be announced provided there is no outside interference. He added, however, that the arrangement alone would not guarantee security in the strategically important waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a focal point of regional diplomacy and global energy security, given its role as a key transit route for oil and gas shipments.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed ongoing efforts to reduce tensions between Washington and Tehran during a phone call on Tuesday.
According to Qatar's Emiri Diwan, the two leaders reviewed regional developments and the push for a diplomatic solution between the United States and Iran. Trump praised Qatar's role in facilitating dialogue, while Sheikh Tamim stressed the importance of continued negotiations and adherence to existing understandings.
The call comes amid reports of renewed mediation efforts focused on the Strait of Hormuz and wider U.S.-Iran engagement.
The Israeli military said it has launched strikes in southern Lebanon, describing the action as a response to what it called a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire by Hezbollah.
The military did not immediately provide details on the targets or the extent of the operation. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
The United States has lifted counterterrorism sanctions on three airlines and two aircraft previously linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to updates published on the U.S. Treasury Department's website.
Washington did not immediately provide further details on the reason for the move or whether it was connected to broader diplomatic efforts involving Iran.
Iran’s state-owned Bank of Industry and Mine has frozen National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) accounts over mounting debt, Fars news agency reported. The lender did not disclose the amount owed or identify the affected accounts.
The freeze came despite budget provisions deferring repayment of some NIOC debts until March 2027. Separately, National Development Fund (NDF) head Mehdi Ghazanfari said NIOC could not repay nearly $17 billion through proceeds from the Azadegan oilfield because of development delays.
NIOC’s finances have been strained by U.S. sanctions, years of underinvestment and growing dependence on domestic financing. The company has also faced disputes with tax authorities, which previously blocked and withdrew money from some accounts over digital invoicing rules. Enforcement was later halted following intervention by the Iranian government’s legal office.
The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday to Mansouri village in southern Lebanon, the military spokesperson said on X.
It was the first online warning by the military for Lebanon in more than a month.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday Tehran would support any initiative or decision taken by Palestinian leaders in ongoing indirect negotiations between militant group Hamas and Israel, Iranian state media reported.
Türkiye's foreign minister met with his Jordanian and Algerian counterparts in Jordan's capital Amman, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Hakan Fidan met with Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, the ministry said in a statement.
Separately, Fidan also met with Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf in Amman, according to another statement.
At least 56 people have been executed in Iran on national security-related charges since 19 March, including 27 in cases linked to protests at the start of the year, the UN human rights chief said on Wednesday.
Volker Türk added in the statement that there has been a rise in executions and death sentences since March and urged authorities to halt all executions and move towards abolition of the death penalty.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's Red Sea port city of Yanbu.
Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not say when the attack took place.
MarineTraffic vessel tracker shows heavy vessel traffic navigating key trade routes in the Strait of Hormuz, with red indicators denoting oil and gas tankers and green icons representing container and bulk cargo ships.
The tracker comes as U.S. Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that a deal with Iran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz could be reached by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) both dropped by around 4 per cent during Tuesday’s trading, reversing earlier gains of more than 2 per cent driven by uncertainty over the negotiations.
By the market close, WTI had fallen 5.69 per cent to settle at $75.77 a barrel, while Brent declined 5.26 per cent to $79.36 a barrel.
The decline followed comments from Qatar and the United States indicating that negotiations to reopen the strategically vital waterway were making progress.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen "very soon" as negotiations with Iran continue while warning Tehran that the United States would take strong military action if a deal is not reached.
Trump said he had previously been prepared to launch a major attack against Iran but agreed to negotiations after Iranian officials requested talks.
"We were going to a tremendous attack, the biggest since World War II, and they called me and said, very politely, 'Please, can we talk? Can we talk?'... I said, 'Yes, we can talk. Let's get it done. Finally, let's get it done.'" he added.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up fuel costs, contributing to higher unemployment and inflation.
Peters argued the crisis highlights the need for New Zealand to develop its own oil reserves to improve energy security.
New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 5.6 per cent in the second quarter, the highest in a decade. Inflation also climbed to 4.1 per cent as higher fuel prices weighed on the economy.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb remained largely unchanged on Tuesday compared with the previous day.
Eight vessels, including five tankers and three bulk carriers, transited the Strait of Hormuz, according to Kpler data.
Six ships were entering the strait, while a gas carrier and a tanker were exiting. Traffic remains far below the usual 130-140 daily transits seen before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and Tehran's closure of the waterway.
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Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Millions of people across Spain and Iceland are preparing on Wednesday to witness a rare total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun, briefly turning daylight into darkness along a narrow path.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions.
A deal on a new route for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is "very close," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, while warning that the reopening of the waterway depends on the U.S. meeting other conditions, including paying compensation to Iran.
An agreement between Iran and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected "soon," a U.S. official has said. The deal would result in the resumption of commercial shipping through the sea passage and the lifting of an American naval blockade on Iranian ports.
U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are progressing and suggested an agreement with Iran could be reached “soon”.
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