Talks, statements, sanctions, nuclear policy, and government decisions.
440 entries, newest first; showing 151–180. Show all updates
Trump wrote that 'there are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled' with Iran, that the naval blockade 'remains in full force and effect,' that the strait 'is open and operating' and that all mines had been removed. The day before he had told Fox News there was a backchannel with the IRGC, and on Tuesday he also posted a map labeling the strait 'New US Territory.'
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a speech on state television that 'the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the American commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding are implemented,' listing the release of frozen assets, lifting of oil and gas sanctions, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade and military threats.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said 'an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route' with Oman and that the two were finalizing a joint statement, blaming 'malevolent parties' for delays. Iran discussed the strait the same day with China, where deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi met Vice Foreign Minister Miao Deyu, and with Turkey in a call between Abbas Araghchi and Hakan Fidan.
The 14-point memorandum signed in June set 60 days for a final deal to end the war; the window closed at midnight with nothing agreed, after Trump had declared the memorandum 'over' on July 8. Iran's foreign ministry said the deadline had 'no relevance' because the U.S. violated the deal soon after it was signed, and its legal chief Abbas Baqerpour said the memorandum was in a 'coma' but could be revived if Washington changed course.
Reuters text of the 14-point memorandum, CNN live report on the expired window +6 more
Trump wrote that he had ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to 'substantially reduce' the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises with South Korea, calling them costly and hostile toward North Korea, and added that South Korea had said 'No thanks!' when he asked it to join 'the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' He called the two issues 'somewhat unrelated.'
Gen. Mohammad Bagherzadeh, who leads the Iranian armed forces' missing-persons committee, wrote to the Red Cross that Qatari forces captured three Iranian pilots, whom he named, after two Su-24 bombers were downed attacking the U.S. base at Al Udeid in March. Qatar's foreign ministry 'categorically' denied detaining them, said its search teams recovered remains and coordinated handing over one pilot's body, and said Iran never answered an April invitation to be briefed.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote that the strait 'cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech,' that it 'has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,' and that it 'will only be closed and opened under Iran's command.' Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei called Trump's remark 'ravings.'
AP reported that the Austrian and Greek foreign ministers spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after separate contacts with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department said Iran was discussed but denied asking either country to carry messages, so the contacts do not amount to formal mediation.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Lebanese authorities were exposing the army to 'ongoing humiliation' and Israeli pressure by implementing the June framework with Israel, rejected a proposed verification committee over the army's deployment, and said the authorities were 'targeting the resistance instead of targeting the enemy.' He again rejected the framework and Hezbollah's disarmament.
Saudi Arabia hosted the third planning meeting of the Multinational Maritime Defence Alliance in Jeddah with 39 countries, its defense ministry said. Fifteen have signed the joint statement and 13 have completed national procedures, signed the alliance charter and announced their accession, with the rest still finalizing.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army would 'not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon as long as Hezbollah is not disarmed and the threat of Hezbollah in all of Lebanon is not removed,' and that he had told it to prepare for 'an extended presence' there. He spoke at a ceremony for a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reported.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei made six senior military appointments, formally naming Ahmad Vahidi commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards and Ali Abdollahi chief of staff of the armed forces in place of Abdolrahim Mousavi. His decree also ordered the merger of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters with the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
After Iran's security council made war compensation a condition for reopening the strait, Trump wrote that he was 'likewise demanding compensation from Iran' for people killed and wounded by its 'roadside bombs,' the 17 sailors killed on the USS Cole and protesters killed in Iran, and later added damages in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza. He said he had told his negotiators to put this 'firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.'
Associated Press live report, Associated Press sanctions analysis +4 more
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed Mohsen Rezaei, his military adviser and a former Revolutionary Guards commander, as his representative to and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who took the post in March after Ali Larijani was killed and becomes a political adviser.
Trump told Axios by phone, 'We are low-keying it. We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,' adding that Tehran cannot pay its soldiers and that 'it's like a chess game.'
In a statement by secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on state TV, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the U.S. "corrects its behavior," demanding a permanent end to the war including against Iran's allies, lifting of the naval blockade, withdrawal of U.S. forces, full war compensation, sanctions relief and release of frozen assets.
OFAC designated Shahr Bank and two Dubai-based exchange houses, Titan Exchange and Alps International, which it said helped retrieve oil revenue for the National Iranian Oil Company and other exporters, in its eighth action this year against Iran's shadow banking. In a separate action it sanctioned two digital asset exchanges and the head of a network of front companies it said laundered funds for the IRGC.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of the Treasury (2) +1 more
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed an agreement under which 'any armed attack against any one of the three States shall be regarded as an attack against them all.' Iranian lawmakers said a 'paper agreement' would not give Saudi Arabia security.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said 'the geographical coordinates of the route envisaged by the two sides have been agreed upon' and a joint statement was in final drafting 'if certain third parties do not obstruct the process.' Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the corridors would partly pass through Iranian waters, run for two to four months or longer, and need a separate decision by Iran's leadership.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said talks with Oman on inbound and outbound shipping routes were assessed positively at technical and political levels. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said drafts of a possible U.S.-Iran agreement were 'being circulated' but that no direct talks were scheduled, and an Iranian source told CBS the proposal has ships enter on the Iranian side and leave on the Omani side, with a service fee split between the two.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC 'there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow' on the strait because Iran's air force, navy and much of its missile force were 'wiped out.' Later Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. is 'involved in' the Iran-Oman talks, that 'there's been progress made in those talks, but not finality yet,' and that denuclearization is 'the ultimate deal' while the strait is 'the immediate deal.'
In the Oval Office Trump said Gulf states had asked him to give diplomacy 'a last chance. This is a last chance,' adding, 'I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.' He said the Strait of Hormuz could open fully by Tuesday as 'phase one,' with denuclearization to follow, and that he would not let Iran charge ships for transit.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a news conference that 'we are not negotiating with the United States at this time' and that Iran's talks with Oman, under way for 7-8 days, aim at a temporary safe route through the Strait of Hormuz and had made some progress. He said a route deal with Oman would not by itself reopen the strait while U.S. attacks continue; a day earlier he said the strait 'will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th.'
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran 'and other Middle Eastern Countries' had asked him to hold off because 'the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,' and that he would cancel the attack 'subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL' including the full reopening of Hormuz and 'an end to Iran's nuclear threat.' The next day he said negotiations would begin Monday and that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar had asked him to call it off; Iranian state-linked media denied Tehran had asked for anything, and acting Defence Minister Majid Ebn-e-Reza said the pullback was made 'within the context of psychological operations and a war of calculations.'
Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia issued a joint statement backing a multinational alliance to protect shipping routes, after a meeting attended by military chiefs and representatives of 43 countries and an EU delegation. Saudi Arabia is to found and lead the alliance and host its headquarters.
Treasury designated the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, which it said sell IRGC-approved policies ships must buy to cross the strait, covering risks such as seizures that Iran itself creates, with payment accepted in digital assets. It also sanctioned eight companies operating shadow-fleet tankers that carried Iranian oil and petrochemicals to China and the UAE.
President Masoud Pezeshkian called on Iranians to 'fight the enemy and stand firm against them so that we do not submit to injustice and oppression,' IRNA reported, adding that Iran had shown 'a unique model of resistance.'
Netanyahu arrived at 10:57 a.m. ET and met Trump for a little over an hour, with Vance, Rubio and Hegseth present, right after Trump met Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. An Israeli source called the talks 'extremely positive' and said both reaffirmed that Iran must never have nuclear weapons; beforehand Trump said of Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site, 'I don't need Bibi to tell me that.'
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the U.S. halted strikes because Iran asked: "They asked us very nicely, 'Please stop, let's meet.'" Earlier that day Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said "We currently have no negotiations with the United States," describing talks with Oman on Hormuz traffic as Iran's only channel, while AP reported that Qatari and Pakistani mediators had made significant progress toward restarting U.S.-Iran talks.
OFAC designated four individuals and nine entities in Babak Zanjani's sanctions-evasion network, including his Iran-based 'Dot One' conglomerate and companies outside Iran supporting his already-sanctioned Zedcex and Zedxion digital asset exchanges. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the regime is paying 'a steep economic price' with the rial at another record low.