16 entries, newest first, by day in U.S. Mountain Time.
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.
ADNOC said one of its tankers was targeted by a missile while transiting the strait that morning, with no injuries and a fire brought under control, and the UAE foreign ministry called it a 'hostile Iranian attack.' ADNOC said 15 of its vessels have been attacked since the war began, three of them that week, with one crew member killed and 20 injured.
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.
The Saudi-led coalition said a Houthi attack late Thursday on the Najran border region wounded at least 11 civilians, seven of them Saudis including a woman and a four-year-old child, along with two Egyptians, a Yemeni and a Pakistani. Earlier that day Houthi missile and drone strikes killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops, according to a military source.
A bill under review by the Iranian parliament's national security commission would bar ships of the U.S., Israel and other countries Iran deems hostile from the Strait of Hormuz, ban vessels linked to countries that 'have caused damage' to Iran until compensation is paid, and fine violators up to 20 percent of their cargo's value, Fars and IRIB reported. Lawmaker Alireza Salimi said it was still under expert review.
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.
An explosive device killed Maj. Harel Birenstock and Sgt. Maj. Tamir Vaknin and seriously wounded four soldiers in Majdal Zoun, the first Israeli deaths since the truce began nearly two months earlier. Israel called it a 'blatant violation of the ceasefire,' ordered residents of Mansouri to leave and struck southern Lebanon, and U.S.-mediated Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome ended three hours early.
India's shipping minister said the mechanised sailing vessel Faize Noore Oliya capsized after being hit near Yemeni waters and that all 14 on board, 13 of them Indian, were rescued by Yemen's coast guard. UKMTO said the ship was struck by an uncrewed surface vessel about 9 nautical miles off Mokha and sank; Yemen's transport ministry blamed the Houthis.
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.'
UKMTO said a cargo vessel made a distress call after being hit by an unknown projectile about 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman. Greek risk firm Marisks named it as the Liberian-flagged Minoan Pioneer and said the strike caused a complete blackout; maritime sources told Reuters the crew abandoned ship and the third engineer was missing.
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.'