live Bab el-Mandeb shipping slumps after Houthi attacks on Saudi oil sites
Ship traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait fell to its lowest level in months on Sunday after Yemen's Houthi movement attacked Saudi oil facilities...
Iran said no final decision has been made on a proposed agreement with Washington, despite suggestions from U.S. President Donald Trump that a deal could soon be signed in a European capital.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said most of the agreement had been prepared, dismissing media reports and comments by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting Tehran and Washington had reached a final decision on signing a peace deal.
“We have already said that the majority of the text was almost finalized. The problem arose as U.S. officials each time rose a new demand or changed their stance, both through their envoys (in mediated talks) and through frequent interviews with the media,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in an interview with state broadcaster IRIB TV on Thursday night.
Baghaei said Iran remained focused on protecting its interests and red lines regardless of U.S. rhetoric and threats.
“Our officials have repeatedly emphasised that regardless of the rhetoric, threats, and claims of the other side, we are focused on securing the interests of the Iranian nation.”
“As soon as we reach a final conclusion,” Baghaei added, “we will definitely announce it officially.”
Semi-official news agencies, citing unnamed informed sources, reported that Tehran could agree to a text guaranteeing its key demands, including lifting restrictions on maritime access through the Strait of Hormuz, releasing frozen Iranian assets, removing economic sanctions, and securing endorsement of the ceasefire agreement by the UN Security Council.
“Whenever we reach the conclusion that it secures the interests of the Iranian nation, we will definitely announce it transparently,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, downplayed threats by the U.S. President to target Iran’s oil infrastructure if Tehran does not agree to a deal soon.
He warned that Iran would cut oil and gas supplies from the region if its energy facilities were attacked.
“Either oil and gas exports are for everyone or it will not be possible for anyone,” official sources quoted the Iranian general as saying.
“We warn that if the U.S. tries to launch attacks against heroic Iran again, it will receive a more severe response than before, and the fire of war will become more widespread in addition to insecurity in the region,” he added, according to the Defa Press website.
His remarks came on the eve of the first anniversary of the Israel-U.S. war on Iran in June last year, which falls on Saturday.
In a separate statement marking the 12-day war, General Abdollahi said Iran’s armed forces were ready to respond to any threat against the country’s security, independence and territorial integrity with “impact-oriented operations”.
“This battle showed that the enemies, with their false and delusional calculations, failed to achieve their sinister and evil goals and faced a strategic and humiliating defeat,” the statement carried by the Sepah News website said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in a statement marking the anniversary of the June 2025 war, said Israel and the U.S. had failed in their efforts to divert Iran from the path of “dignity, independence, and progress”.
“But what happened in reality was a major defeat of the strategic calculations of the Zionist-American front and the recording of a lasting epic in the history of the resistance of the Iranian nation,” the Revolutionary Guards added.
Amid heightened tensions between Iranian and U.S. forces and an exchange of verbal threats, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held telephone conversations on Friday with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
According to Foreign Ministry statements, Iran’s top diplomat said U.S. attacks had rendered the fragile ceasefire “ineffective”.
Araghchi also criticised what he described as the silence of UN member states over repeated attacks on Iran’s territorial integrity, warning that this could “further increase insecurity” at both regional and global levels.
In separate calls with his Saudi and Turkish counterparts following the U.S. attacks, Araghchi reiterated Iran’s right to self-defence.
“He emphasized the inherent right of legitimate defense for a reciprocal response by our country's powerful Armed Forces,” the Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying.
Russian authorities said 11 people, including four children, had been killed by Ukraine in an overnight attack on a holiday camp, accusing Kyiv on Saturday of deliberately targeting civilians.
Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the United States maintains its pause on strikes, but Tehran remains sceptical of U.S. intentions, a senior Iranian source told on Sunday.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on Saturday for Russia and Ukraine to freeze the conflict and return to peace talks, saying a negotiated settlement remained possible despite the entrenched positions of both sides.
Marvel Studios used its return to San Diego Comic-Con to reveal several major projects, including a new Ghost Rider film starring Ryan Gosling and the long-awaited Black Panther 3.
U.S. President Donald Trump says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next week as tensions continue to rise across the Middle East.
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank early on Sunday, setting fire to two mosques and scrawling graffiti on buildings, Palestinian officials said.
A new state agency wants the world to take Georgian food as seriously as Georgians already do.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed regional and commercial agreements worth more than 80 billion tenge ($146 million). The deals aim to expand cooperation between the two Central Asian neighbors in trade, transport, industry and cross-border development.
UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived in Damascus on Saturday for the first trip to Syria by a serving United Nations' chief since 2009, before the start of a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
More than 100 Afghan business representatives travelled to Uzbekistan this week for a business forum aimed at expanding trade and investment, as Uzbek investors also expressed interest in Afghanistan’s mining sector.
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