27 entries, newest first, by day in U.S. Mountain Time.
Israeli warplanes struck a house in the al-Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and Israeli forces shelled the area around the Ali al-Taher ridge and the heights of Doha Kfar Remman, Lebanon's National News Agency said; casualties were unclear. The same area had been hit by overnight air strikes and shelling the night before.
Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and envoy for Syria, said in a statement to AP on Sunday that "United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged," after saying in a podcast interview on Friday that Israel "still" occupies the Golan against U.N. resolutions.
Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority said vessels that violate 'Iranian protocols for the Strait of Hormuz shall face restrictions on future passages, including fines, detention, or confiscation,' and urged cargo owners to check its 'Non-Compliant Vessels' list before chartering ships.
A day after his television interview, security council secretary Mohsen Rezaei wrote on X: 'If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country's participation in or support for America's economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.'
The parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission approved Article 3 of its 'Strategic Action to Ensure the Security and Progress of the Strait of Hormuz' plan, under which ships from countries permitted to transit would pay for maritime, environmental, fuelling, insurance, safety and other services. Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said fees would be paid in rials or another currency Tehran designates.
In a Financial Times op-ed, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote that 'at dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary,' aimed at severing 'every economic lifeline' of the regime, and warned countries that buy and ship Iran's oil or let their banks be used. He gave no details ahead of a news conference set for Monday at 2 p.m. ET.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said the June memorandum with the U.S. was the best way out of a state of 'neither war nor peace,' that 'there is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,' and that 'the supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path.' He also said Iran 'cannot continue with war forever.'
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on state television that 'any country participating in the imposition of economic restrictions against us is considered an enemy' and that Iran would harm its interests. If neighbours joined the U.S. 'economic war,' he said, 'we will not allow a single drop of oil to pass through the Persian Gulf,' and he threatened the alternative routes Gulf states use to export around Hormuz.
Iran granted a number of Iraqi oil tankers permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz, IRNA said, describing it as one of Baghdad's main requests during parliament speaker Ghalibaf's visit to Iraq. Neither government said how many ships passed or on what terms.
The World Bank projected Lebanon's real GDP will shrink 6.4 percent in 2026, 'reflecting the collapse in tourism, weaker consumption, disrupted supply chains, heightened insecurity, and prolonged displacement,' with inflation rising to 17.5 percent.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi and Iran's Abbas Araghchi discussed by phone 'ways to create favorable conditions for resuming dialogue and negotiations' and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, Oman's news agency said, after the Iran-Oman route talks had gone quiet. Iran's trade promotion body said it had finalized a preferential trade agreement with Oman, which Oman had not confirmed.
Treasury designated 10 people, including Turkish businessman Yunus Alper Yilmaz, in a network that uses couriers on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah outside the banking system. It also redesignated Hezbollah as acting for the Iranian regime under the command of the IRGC-Qods Force, which a State Department official said shows it is 'not a stand-alone operation.'
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said two drones hit a 'sensitive' target at Najran airport and a facility of Saudi Aramco in the same city, in response to Saudi drone flights over Yemen's Saada province. Saudi Arabia did not confirm any strike.
CENTCOM said the USS George Washington carrier strike group was operating in the Middle East 'after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday,' to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln after its nearly nine-month deployment. A U.S. official said later that day the Lincoln had begun heading home.
Brent crude rose 2.4 percent to almost $94 a barrel early Thursday, its highest since late July, and WTI rose 2.5 percent to $86, after Trump promised a 'crushing economic operation' against Iran and penalties for countries doing business with it.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote that 'the so-called Economic D-Day is a diversion from America's own crisis' of debt, and that 'doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat.' The foreign ministry called the threat 'the other side of the coin of war' and said those who order or implement the measures 'are liable to prosecution and punishment.'
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. would begin 'the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY,' an 'economic D-Day,' and that any country letting its banks, businesses, airports or government entities give Iran 'any type of lifeline' would face 'TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,' naming oil smuggling, swap lines, exchange houses, ship registries and front companies. He gave no details. Earlier that day he said the naval blockade had been 'extremely effective.'
The Financial Times reported, citing two people close to Iran's leadership, that Iranian forces had assessed striking U.S. assets in Europe if Trump escalated, naming Bulgaria's Bezmer air base, used by U.S. refueling aircraft, as well as Cyprus and undersea cables in Hormuz. A NATO official said the alliance is 'prepared to address any threat,' noting it intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles heading to Turkey four times earlier this year.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf began a three-day visit to Iraq with a parliamentary delegation, praising Iran-backed militias as 'the resistance in Iraq' and a 'key component of the country's national power.' Iraq's parliament speaker said Baghdad was asking Iran to give Iraqi oil exports special status through the Strait of Hormuz.
The UAE foreign ministry said 'all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice' in light of regional escalations, hours after it accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles at Gulf shipping. Iran denied firing the missiles.
The UAE Defense Ministry said its air defenses detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran that were 'targeting maritime navigation,' one falling outside and one inside UAE territorial waters, with no damage or casualties reported. Iran's foreign ministry called the accusation 'baseless' and warned of 'false-flag operations.'
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.
UKMTO said an unknown projectile struck a vessel making an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz, damaging its engine room and causing a crew casualty, with the Omani coast guard assisting the rest of the crew. The International Maritime Organization lists the ship as the Minoan Dignity and records one seafarer killed and no pollution.
MarineTraffic and Kpler counted 95 crossings of the Strait of Hormuz in the week to Aug. 16, down 19.5 percent, falling from 19 on Aug. 11 to three on Aug. 16; 51 used Iran's designated route and 44 other routes. Kpler counted five commodity vessels on Saturday and none on Sunday, against 31 the previous weekend, while Bab el-Mandeb transits rose to 254 from 238.
Trump told Fox News' Trey Yingst, 'If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--- out of them,' hours after Iran said it had agreed a transit route map with Oman. Later in the Oval Office he said Oman had not 'behaved very well' but the U.S. would 'handle them very easily'; he had made a similar threat against Oman in May.
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.