U.S. President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a U.S. naval blockade on all Iranian ports and warned that power plants and bridges could be targeted next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations.
Bahrain's Interior Ministry says warning sirens have been activated across the country, urging citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran has allowed an American who was "wrongfully detained" under the Biden administration in 2024 to leave the country.
Iran has launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. military infrastructure in Kuwait, according to Iranian and Kuwaiti authorities.
Kuwait's air defences are engaging incoming threats, while officials have yet to report casualties or provide a full assessment of any damage.
Iranian state media say a children's cancer hospital in Ahvaz was evacuated after nearby U.S. airstrikes struck the surrounding area.
Reuters, citing state broadcaster IRIB, reported that the attacks landed near the hospital, while Al Jazeera said Iranian health authorities reported the treatment centre was affected and evacuated.
The claims have not been independently verified.
An Iranian army spokesman said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States accepts what he described as Iran's legal regime governing the strategic waterway, adding that U.S. military action would not succeed in reopening it.
A renewed wave of explosions was heard in at least five Iranian cities on Wednesday night as the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced more strikes across Iran.
Iranian media reported several explosions in the cities of Ahvaz and Chabahar in the country’s south.
The Mehr News Agency said US strikes hit near a children's cancer hospital in Ahvaz, triggering its evacuation.
US projectiles also struck an area near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, according to state news agency IRNA.
Another US projectile exploded near the southeastern city of Rask, the Tasnim news agency said.
Two blasts were also heard in the city of Konarak.
The U.S. military disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X on Wednesday.
"The commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade. A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel after firing hellfire missiles into the ship's smokestack. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran," it added.
The Kuwaiti army said that its forces detected four cruise missiles and 21 drones launched from Iran on Wednesday.
"The Iranian attack targeted several vital facilities across the country, resulting in material damage but no casualties," military spokesman Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan said in a statement on the US social media company X.
Several international airlines have extended or announced flight suspensions to destinations across the Middle East as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to escalate.
Air Canada, Aegean Airlines and Air France-KLM have all suspended services to cities including Tel Aviv, Dubai, Beirut, Riyadh, Dammam, Erbil and Baghdad, while Cathay Pacific plans to resume flights to Dubai and Riyadh from September 1.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to meet with the United States, adding that Washington will see whether the two sides can reach a settlement. "They want to settle," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
The U.S. military said in a post on X it had launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on Wednesday, saying it was targeting military capabilities used to threaten vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he does not like giving deadlines when asked by reporters on Wednesday if Iran had a deadline before the U.S. starts attacking Iranian bridges.
"I don't like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story ... they better behave," Trump said.
An explosive-Laden drone was shot down by air defences over Iraq's Erbil, security sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
The drone fell near the U.S. consulate in the city, sources added.
Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the U.S., "we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding".
Iran's national security depends on maintaining "Iranian arrangements" in the Strait of Hormuz, Ghalibaf added in a statement posted on Telegram.
He said Iran's approach to its war with the U.S. and negotiations to end it should be based on national interests, national security and a long-term perspective, adding that Tehran had no choice but to rely on its own strength.
Saudi Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Fayyadh Al-Ruwaili, met on Wednesday with the Deputy Commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Lieutenant General Patrick Frank, to discuss military cooperation.
They discussed ways "to develop cooperation in military fields, in order to achieve common interests" between the two countries, the Saudi Defense Ministry said on X.
No further details were revealed as yet regarding the content of their discussions.
At least 35 civilians have been killed and over 300 others injured in recent US attacks on southern Iran, the Iranian Health Ministry said Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said X that the attacks left 35 people dead and injured more than 300 others, including women and children.
He added that the provinces of Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Khuzestan were the hardest hit by the attacks.
Separately, US strikes targeted three locations in the southwestern Iranian city of Bushehr on Wednesday morning, with no injuries reported, the province's governor said, according to Fars News Agency.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has travelled to Doha to attend the funeral of ex-Qatari Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Iran's government-alligned ISNA News Agency reported.
Araghchi's visit comes just days after Tehran attacked Qatar. On Sunday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was launching ballistic misisles at Al Udied, in Qatar, which is the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East.
The U.S. has completed a round of strikes targeting coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran's Greater Tunb Island, Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said.
The 90-minute wave of attacks were aimed at curbing Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Central Command.
The United Arab Emirates's Fujairah Port has shut down following Iranian strikes on two supertankers, the government-alligned newspaper Tehran Times has reported.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces began launching a wave of strikes against Iran at 10 a.m. GMT on Wednesday. According to CENTCOM, the operation is intended to further degrade the military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain said its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks on Wednesday morning, according to an official statement.
At least seven personnel were killed in U.S. strikes on an Iranian military base in Bampur overnight, Iran's army said on Wednesday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The army said the strikes were intended to cause maximum casualties, with 13 missiles hitting a guesthouse, guard posts and accommodation facilities at the base near the southeastern city of Iranshahr.
It added that a number of personnel were also wounded and promised a "decisive response" to the attack.
Iran executed a man on Wednesday who was convicted of setting fire to a governor's office and attacking a police station during unrest in the central city of Dehaqan in January, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported.
Mizan identified the man as Mohammad Amini Dehaghani and said the Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will defend every inch of its territory "in practice" and dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks about Iranians as disrespectful. Speaking Tuesday (14 July), Pezeshkian said hostile rhetoric from Iran's adversaries had failed to achieve its objectives, adding that Iran's response would be demonstrated through action rather than words, according to IRNA.
Britain summoned Iran’s top diplomat in London, accusing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force of directing proxy groups to carry out attacks across Europe between March and May. The UK recently designated the IRGC and a linked group as security threats, while Iran rejected the accusations, condemned the move as illegal, and denied using proxy groups.
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported that a U.S. strike hit a wheat storage silo in the city of Hoveyzeh early Wednesday.
The U.S. imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports starting Wednesday, prompting an increase in Iranian-linked vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday before the restrictions took effect.
Shipping through the strait remains sharply reduced due to escalating U.S.-Iran conflict and recent attacks on commercial vessels, raising concerns over global oil supplies and keeping shipping companies cautious.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had targeted what it described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
This was in response to what it said were U.S. actions in the Indian Ocean and efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz and restrict shipping routes.
The Guards warned that if Washington sought to block the region's oil and gas exports by controlling maritime routes, other export routes serving U.S. and allied interests could also be closed, saying regional energy exports would be "for everyone or for no one".
Earlier on Wednesday, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said air raid sirens had sounded and urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.
The U.S. military also launched new strikes aimed at degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded by claiming it had closed the strategic waterway again and launched drone and missile attacks targeting U.S. positions and Gulf states, including Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
The renewed fighting has intensified concerns over regional stability, global energy supplies, and the safety of commercial shipping.
Oil prices have climbed sharply as the conflict threatens one of the world's most important energy transit routes. The escalating hostilities have also raised humanitarian and legal concerns, with Trump's threats against civilian infrastructure drawing attention to international laws governing armed conflict.
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Shipping traffic through the key Gulf waterways of Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz remained largely unchanged at the start of the week, shippin...
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has a "last chance" to sign what he described as "a good document", claiming talks are continuing at Tehran's request with backing from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, killing two crew members as emergency services continued efforts to contain fires fuelled by extreme heat and dry conditions across Europe.
Apple Pay has launched in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, expanding digital payment services across Central Asia and supporting the region's shift towards cashless transactions.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said wildfires that swept across France were now under control. Authorities warned that risks remained as Greece and Spain continued battling active blazes across parts of Europe.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 4th of August, covering the latest developments.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged authorities to increase support for people affected by a record heatwave, as the death toll reached 16.
The United States State Department is planning to close five diplomatic missions overseas in an uncommon reduction of its global diplomatic network, according to people familiar with a notice sent to Congress.
Morocco has blamed a recent Spanish court ruling for last week's mass migrant crossings into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, arguing that the decision weakened a key deterrent against irregular migration and was quickly exploited by people-smuggling networks.
A coalition of 25 US states has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration, arguing that its latest attempt to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from around the world exceeds presidential powers and risks pushing up prices for American consumers.
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