Iran | Pakistan

Iran is fighting a “full-scale war” with the United States, its president said on Monday, as Washington expanded its strikes across the Islamic republic including a city hosting a nuclear power plant. Iran kept up its own attacks across the region in response, with its Revolutionary Guards announcing they had hit targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Syria, while Bahrain said Tehran had targeted its air navigation systems. “The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to a presidency statement. He added that “we must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance”. His comments came after state media and local authorities reported US strikes on Monday in the north and centre of the country, further than areas near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz waterway through which a fifth of world oil supplies transited prior to the war. The Middle East war resumed after a weeks-long lull prompted by an agreement signed in ...

Brent oil prices rose two per cent to more than $90 per barrel on Monday, as escalating US-Iran hostilities in the Middle East restricted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures LCOc1 climbed $2.09, or 2.37pc, to $90.19 by 0241 GMT, touching the highest since June 11, extending gains after rising 15.9pc last week, its biggest weekly gain since April. US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was at $84.20 a barrel, up $1.71, or 2.07pc, the loftiest since June 12. Front-month prices gained 15.5pc last week, the largest weekly ascent since early March. The Middle East conflict escalated over the weekend with the US conducting a ninth straight night of attacks against Iran, while US allies Kuwait and Bahrain reported more Iranian strikes. “ICE Brent broke above $90 per barrel this morning with no let-up in the escalation in the Gulf,” said ING analysts in a note on Monday. “The US and Iran continue to exchange strikes, which are proving to be deadly for both sides. If this escalation goes unc...

US forces hit Iran for a ninth consecutive day on Monday as concerns grew over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran said two oil tankers had exploded and been immobilised, adding that the waterway would remain unsafe as long as US “aggression” in the region continued. In a statement, US Central Command said it targeted “Iranian military command centres, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz”. The strikes are part of an escalating cycle of attacks between the US and Iran after an interim ceasefire agreement signed a month ago unravelled, deepening a struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz that has disrupted energy supplies and stoked fears of global inflation. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing its own reporters, said US missiles struck several Iranian cities early on Monday....

• Strikes reported near Iran’s Darkhovin nuclear facility • Iran targets American bases; Kuwait’s power, desalination plants hit again • Momeni may visit Islamabad today for high-stakes talks • Jordan, Qatar, Iraq press Washington and Tehran to resume dialogue • Arab League warns war could rattle energy & trade GULF nations have called for an urgent return to diplomacy as the United States and Iran continue a widening exchange of attacks, raising concerns that the confrontation could spiral into a broader regional war. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani have held a phone call, stressing the need for joint efforts to end the dangerous regional escalation, Jordan’s state media reported. They called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to negotiations to secure a comprehensive resolution. They noted that a final agreement must address all root causes of tension and guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormu...

Iran will end war with US when it has “the upper hand in the field”: FM Araghchi

The United States launched new strikes on Iran early on Sunday after the US military earlier announced that two US military personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian attack. Later, Iran’s army said it had targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones in response to American attacks on Iranian territory. The Islamic republic’s army said it carried out “large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones against the US military’s ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and the Patriot radar system and air surveillance radar at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait”, according to a statement carried by the state broadcaster. Before the US strikes, Iran’s supreme leader said Washington would pay for “seeking to escalate the conflict”. US Central Command said in a statement that the airstrikes began at 6pm ET (2200 GMT), at President Donald Trump’s direction. “The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolu...

Iran launched more attacks on Washington’s Gulf allies and Jordan on Saturday after a seventh straight night of US strikes on Iranian military targets, escalating the war one week after a ceasefire collapsed. Kuwait came under sustained attack, with a desalination plant hit and operations at Kuwait International Airport suspended due to repeated missile and drone threats. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a US military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in “repeated Iranian attacks”, causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency. Kuwait’s armed forces said they had intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones early on Saturday, adding that a number of firefighters and oil sector workers had been injured while responding to the attacks. Iran was responding to US attacks on bridges, power facilities and other infrast...

In the labyrinthine alleyways of Cairo’s Garbage City, recycling specialist Peter Romany finds himself fielding calls from factories scrambling for plastic to plug supply shortfalls caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. The 25-year-old is among the hundreds of recyclers and manufacturers across Egypt benefiting from a war-driven surge in demand ever since the United States and Iran choked off the Strait of Hormuz — a major shipping lane for the raw materials from which plastic is made. At the heart of the boom is the sprawling eastern Cairo settlement of Manshiyet Nasser, where generations of garbage collectors have built one of the world’s most sophisticated informal recycling systems. An Egyptian worker pepares plastic for processing at a recycling plant at the garbage city in the Manshiyet Nasser neighbourhood in Cairo on July 6, 2026. — AFP “Before the war, we were the ones calling factories, trying to sell our material,” Romany told AFP, standing beside towering bales of compressed plastic. “But after the...

Iran launched renewed attacks on US Gulf allies on Saturday after a seventh straight night of US strikes targeting Iranian military sites, including logistics infrastructure, escalating the war one week after a fragile ceasefire agreement fell apart. Both sides also took aim at shipping traffic, with the US saying it was enforcing a naval blockade while Iran said it targeted vessels that violated its rules on navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Oil prices climbed more than four per cent on Friday to their highest level in more than a month, applying political pressure on US President Donald Trump as his Republican Party tries to hold on to power in November congressional elections. Washington and Tehran have been testing the limits of escalation since their ceasefire agreement collapsed last week, raising the prospect of a return to all-out war. The US military’s Central Command said it concluded its latest round of attacks by hitting surveillance sites...

• China, Pakistan urge adherence to ceasefire, talks resumption • Iran strikes US bases in Gulf countries • Kuwait

Iran said it launched fresh attacks on American facilities in the Gulf on Friday after a sixth consecutive night of US strikes on Iranian military facilities, as last month’s truce descended into daily attacks and counterattacks. The US military said it completed another night of strikes on Iran “to further degrade Iranian military capabilities”, including on Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Revolutionary Guards facilities. “US forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” the US Central Command said in a statement. Iran has fired missiles and drones at US military bases in neighbouring states, including an air base in Jordan. In the early hours of Friday, Iran’s military said it had attacked US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. Several explosion-like sounds were...

China and Pakistan on Friday called on the United States and Iran to end fighting and return to the negotiating table, after they met in Shanghai, according to a government statement issued by Beijing. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar jointly “expressed concern over the deterioration of the current situation, calling on the involved parties to immediately cease hostilities… (and) return to dialogue”, the statement by Beijing’s foreign ministry said. Both countries have sought to mediate in the months-long Middle East conflict, which rekindled with renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz a month after the signing of a preliminary deal aiming to end the war. That agreement was “hard-won”, Wang said. “Peace is before our eyes, (we) cannot fall at the last hurdle and even more so cannot lose what we have gained,” he added. It should be mentioned that DPM Dar was in Shanghai for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office (...

Iran said it launched fresh attacks on US facilities in the Gulf on Friday after a sixth consecutive night of US strikes on Iranian military facilities, as last month’s truce descended into daily attacks and counterattacks. The US military said it completed another night of strikes on Iran “to further degrade Iranian military capabilities”, including on Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Revolutionary Guards facilities. “US forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” the US Central Command said in a statement. Iran has fired missiles and drones at US military bases in neighbouring states, including an air base in Jordan. In the early hours of Friday, Iran’s military said it had attacked US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. Several explosion-like sounds were heard...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Thursday expressed deep concern over the continued escalation between Iran and the United States, urging all parties to exercise maximum restraint and return to dialogue while reaffirming that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) remains the framework for achieving lasting regional peace.

The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday urged the United States and Iran to “end violence” and resume technical-level talks, while noting that the Pakistan-mediated interim peace deal was “facing challenges”. Addressing a weekly press briefing, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi noted that the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed between the US and Iran last month was “facing challenges”. He affirmed that “Pakistan will continue to encourage all sides to end violence and resume technical-level talks in accordance” with the MoU and the joint statement issued by mediators Pakistan and Qatar on June 20 following the direct talks in Switzerland. “We hope all parties will remain committed to the path of dialogue and diplomacy in resolving their outstanding issues,” Andrabi added. The remarks come as the warring parties continued to trade attacks on Thursday, with the US hitting Iran’s coastal defences and missile sites and Iran retaliating by targeting American military sites in neighbouring G...

‘The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,’ US president says

US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent transit fee to guard the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway as part of the conflict with Iran, saying on Tuesday he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states. US forces had carried out waves of attacks for the third night in a row after Tehran said it had closed the strait, prompting Trump on Monday to reinstate a blockade of Iranian shipping and propose the fee. But just a little under five hours before the fee had been due to come into effect at 2000 GMT, Trump said the strait was open to all shipping traffic except that of Iran. “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” he said in a post on Truth Social. Iran reports new strikes, sirens in Kuwait The governor’s office of Iran’s Qeshm Island, on the Strait of Hormuz, said it was ...

Iran threatens a new pressure point at Bab el-Mandeb after disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz

Says region must learn from Iran war, not dwell on past; urges inclusive Gulf security architecture after conflict

The United States launched another wave of strikes on Iran for the third consecutive day early on Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a blockade on Iranian ports and floated a 20 per cent fee on cargo in the vital Strait of Hormuz. Trump said a deal with Iran was still possible even as attacks were carried out, with Tehran striking two ships in the Strait of Hormuz and killing one crew member, according to the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said two “offending supertankers” were hit and disabled in the Strait of Hormuz. It said the tankers ignored warnings, turned off navigation systems and tried to pass through a “mined route”. The statement did not name the vessels or say whether it was referring to the same tankers cited by the UAE’s Ministry of Defence. The Guards said the US was “inciting vessels to use an illegal route” and warned that cooperation with the “aggressor enemy” would result in damage, delays in reopening the strait an...