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.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration was watching economic pressure mount on Iran following months of U.S. military strikes, sanctions and a blockade, according to an interview with Axios.
"We are low keying it," Trump said during a brief phone call, according to Axios.
He said the United States was "only semi-negotiating" with Tehran while watching Iran contend with soaring inflation and dwindling finances.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that the group remained committed to the roadmap agreed with mediators in Cairo 10 days ago.
Naim called on mediators and the United States, as guarantor, to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to adhere to the roadmap and avoid obstructing its implementation for domestic political or electoral reasons.
He said continued disruption risked further threatening regional security and stability.
Houthi attacks on the Yemeni port city of Mokha have killed seven people, a spokesperson for Yemen's military has said.
Earlier, Yemeni media reported that the Iran-backed Houthi group had targeted residential areas near the Port of Mokha with missiles and drones.
Houthi Military Spokesman Yahya Saree said his group carried out what he called a “large-scale and high-quality military operation” targeting "Saudi military concentrations and weapons depots in the Mokha area."
The city of Mokha is controlled by forces loyal to the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
Iran won't resume direct negotiations with the U.S. until it stops violating the interim deal signed by the two countries in June, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported
“As long as the United States’ violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding does not end and the country does not compensate for its violations of its commitments, it will not be possible to resume negotiations," he said on the sidelines of an Iranian Foreign Ministry event in Tehran, Iran.
“At present, we are not negotiating with the United States. Messages are being exchanged through intermediaries, but this process cannot be called negotiations. Some intermediary countries are still trying to create the conditions for negotiations to resume," he added.
“From our perspective, as long as the violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding by the United States does not end, and Washington does not make amends for what it has violated, the possibility of resuming negotiations does not exist.”
Talks with mediator Oman about establishing a new route through the Strait of Hormuz for ships were alomst complete, Araghchi noted, but warned that the reopening of the sea passage was conditional on other factors.
“Negotiations with Oman regarding the establishment of a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz are continuing. So far, they have progressed well, and I can say that we are in the final stages. As a result of these negotiations, the existing routes will be replaced with new routes. Specialists are currently working on the maps," he said.
“This does not mean that the Strait of Hormuz is being reopened. This agreement may be reached, but the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is conditional on the fulfillment of other conditions. These conditions have been conveyed to the U.S. side through intermediaries.”
Footage of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in public will released in the future, a deputy of the IRGC paramilitary militia, the Basij Organisation has said.
Ghassem Qureshi said the footage would show Khamenei "among the people and out in streets, as well in meetings with the commanders of armed forces."
Khamenei, who replaced his father Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader in March, has not been seen in public since his appointment.
Senior Iranian sources have said he suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the strike that killed his father on 28 February, the first day of U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran.
Iran won't begin direct talks with the U.S. so long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.
He reiterated that an agreement between Iran and mediator Oman about new routes for ships through the Strait of Hormuz was close to being reached, but said that the agreement alone wouldn't reopen the sea passage.
Earlier, Araghchi said that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was dependent on the U.S. meeting other conditions, including paying compensation.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says Tehran will maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. accepts all of its conditions. Spokesperson Brigadier General Hossein Mohibbi said the strategic waterway has become not only a shipping route but also an area of confrontation.
He said Iran’s strategy is to keep the strait under its control until its demands are met. Mohibbi made the remarks in an interview with Iranian state television.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said reopening the Strait of Hormuz depends on several conditions. He said these include compensation for what Tehran describes as a U.S. violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
Yemeni government forces say they carried out drone strikes on Houthi positions in the southwestern province of Ad Dali. The Southern Armed Forces said the attacks targeted military positions, barracks and vehicles along the Bab Ghalaq, Al-Fakher and Maris fronts.
They claimed the strikes hit trenches, tunnels, troop concentrations and military equipment, causing heavy casualties. The forces said the operation was launched in response to Houthi troop movements and reinforcements along the front lines.
The Houthis did not immediately comment on the claims. Yemen has seen periodic clashes despite a relative lull since April 2022 in the conflict between government forces and the Iranian-backed Houthis.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants have claimed responsibility for attacking Aramco's refinery in Jazan, southwetern Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, the Gulf kingdom's Energy Ministry said firefighters had extinguished a blaze that broke out early on Sunday at the refinery in a post on X.
The refinery was previously forced to close on 27 July following another attack by Houthi militants which damaged the plant, according to a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters.
Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said he hopes negotiations between Iran and mediator Oman about a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz will end "very soon," adding that the reopening of the sea passage is still dependent on other factors, including compensation from the U.S.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance says the U.S. has destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme and significantly weakened its conventional and asymmetric military capabilities.
Speaking to Fox News on 8 August, Vance said Washington was assessing whether Tehran was willing to make long-term changes to improve relations, adding that the U.S. would continue applying pressure if it was not.
His comment comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran and Oman were "very close" to an agreement on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, but reopening it would depend on other conditions, including U.S. compensation to Iran.
Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that broke out early on Sunday at Aramco's Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the Gulf kingdom's Energy Ministry said on X, adding that there were no injuries.
The Ministry didn't say what caused the fire at the refinery, which is located on the Red Sea near the border with Yemen.
The Jazan refinery processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces refined products including gasoline and ultra-light sulphur diesel.
Aramco, Saudi Arabia's national oil company, previously closed the refinery on 27 July following an attack by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants which damaged the plant, according to a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters.
Iran and mediator Oman are "very close," to reaching an agreement on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.
But Araghchi warned that reopening the sea passage would depend on other conditions, including U.S. compensation to Iran.
Meanwhile the secretary of Iran's top national security body, IRGC veteran Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, listed other demands, including that the U.S. stopped what he described as aggression against Iran and its allies and the lifting of sanctions and releasing of Iranian assets.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, said he believed now was the best time for an agreement.
"There is cohesion, strength, and unity in the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war," Iranian news agencies quoted him as saying.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he thinks there is a chance of a peace being reached with Ukraine. He told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia that he believed there was "a chance of finding a solution," to the conflict.
The Iranian Health Ministry said at least 18 people were killed and 142 others injured in U.S. airstrikes carried out between 30 August and 2 September.
U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia then Ukraine over the weekend, Russian state news agency TASS has reported, citing an unnamed source. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also said American envoys will visit the capitals of both countries.
The Iranian Army has again struck at U.S. bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for U.S. attacks on southern and western parts of Iran late on Tuesday, which reportedly killed 18 people and injured more than 100 others.
U.S. efforts to squeeze Iran’s economy through an oil blockade and sanctions are becoming increasingly difficult for Tehran to withstand, according to three senior Iranian sources. Washington is escalating pressure in hopes of securing concessions in future negotiations.
A U.S. campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources said.
U.S. efforts to squeeze Iran’s economy through an oil blockade and sanctions are becoming increasingly difficult for Tehran to withstand, according to three senior Iranian sources. Washington is escalating pressure in hopes of securing concessions in future negotiations.
The Iranian Health Ministry said at least 18 people were killed and 142 others injured in U.S. airstrikes carried out between 30 August and 2 September.
The Iranian Army has again struck at U.S. bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for U.S. attacks on southern and western parts of Iran late on Tuesday, which reportedly killed 18 people and injured more than 100 others.
The U.S. has launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites as Tehran retaliated against U.S. positions across the region, while Iranian officials said at least five people were killed and dozens wounded at a wedding near Sirik.
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