Trump ‘very happy’ over signing of Makkah Joint Defense Agreement

Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to “fully offensive” due to the deadlock in ​efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday.

Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of ‌oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on February 28.

“Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as Iran will be ready to make decisions and take action on difficult decisions,” the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack ​to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy failed.

There was no immediate response to those comments from Washington, but US President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox ​News earlier today that Iran “should put up the white flag of surrender”.

Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a ⁠peace deal is imminent.

Iran’s IRGC dismisses Trump’s claim of backchannel talks as ‘lies’

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday dismissed as “lies” Trump’s claim that Washington was holding back-channel talks with IRGC officials on war-related issues.

“No talks are taking place between IRGC officials and the Americans,” spokesman Hossein Mohibbi told Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

He said the US leader’s claims were “lies” and “fantasies born of delusions and nightmares resulting from defeat and desperation in the war.”

The spokesman added that diplomatic matters were handled by other Iranian state institutions and fell outside the IRG’s purview.

“According to the information we have and statements by Foreign Ministry officials, no talks are currently taking place with the Americans – even at that level,” he said.

“Trump’s fantasies will not help him on the battlefield,” he added, describing the US leader’s assertions as an attempt to influence global energy prices.

Earlier on Monday, Trump told reporters that his administration maintained a “backchannel with the IRGC.” “We are speaking directly with IRGC officials in Iran,” the US president claimed.

Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of US-Iran negotiations

Trump earlier threatened military action against Oman if it interferes with US-Iran negotiations, while saying Washington is in direct contact with officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News when asked about Oman’s role in negotiations involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran said Saturday that it had reached an agreement with Oman on a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz following weeks of technical negotiations.

Turning to Iran, Trump said Tehran should raise a “white flag of surrender,” adding: “They’re good poker players, but they’re dying.”

He also confirmed that Washington has a backchannel with the IRGC. “We have a backchannel with the IRGC. We are speaking directly with the IRGC officials in Iran,” Trump said.

On Gaza, he said: “Israelis should not be striking in Gaza. Hamas agreed to lay down their weapons.”

Trump also said the US maintains a separate channel of communication with Hamas. “We have a different channel with Hamas, and ultimately they are giving up their guns,” he said.

The remarks come as Washington pushes ahead with efforts to implement Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which includes the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli military withdrawal from the enclave.

Asked about Israeli politics, Trump said he believed it was “most appropriate” for him to stay out of the country’s elections, while leaving open the possibility of endorsing a candidate. “I think it’s most appropriate for me to stay out of Israeli elections, but I may endorse somebody,” he said.

Yemen’s Houthis strike Saudi naval vessels, arms depot, says spokesperson

Yemen’s Ansar Allah group, also known as the Houthis, claimed on Monday that its forces had targeted several Saudi naval vessels – along with a weapons depot – in a wide-ranging missile and drone barrage.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said a Saudi amphibious transport ship and several accompanying naval vessels had been successfully struck in an aerial attack involving “a number of” ballistic missiles

Describing the missile strike as “precise,” Saree said that several of the targeted ships had been sunk – while the rest had caught fire – as a result of the attack.

Houthi forces also targeted a Saudi weapons depot in the Sahn al-Jin camp, located in Yemen’s central-eastern Marib province, with multiple drones, he added.

As of publication, the claims had not yet been confirmed by the Saudi authorities.

IRGC claims over 200 aircraft shot down during Middle East war: Iranian media

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Deputy Commander-in-Chief Major General Mostafa Izadi said that during the US-Israeli war on Iran, over 200 enemy aircraft were shot down, the Fars news agency reported.

“In the recent war, not only did Iran not disintegrate and no damage was inflicted on the Islamic system, but it demonstrated itself to the world as stronger and more steadfast,” Fars quoted him as saying.

Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon ‘in any way, shape or form’: Trump

Trump said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon “in any way, shape, or form”.

He made the statement on his Truth Social platform, adding that this was and “always will be” the “number one Goal.”

Iran blames US presence for Gulf waters pollution after oil spills

Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday blamed pollution in Gulf waters on US military operations in the region, after several oil spills were reported.

“This environmental damage stems from the US military presence and the wars it has waged in the region over the past five decades,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a news briefing.

“The damage caused to the environment of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is not solely linked to this war.”

He called for the United States to be held accountable, estimating the damage at “trillions of dollars.”

Last week, Iran called for compensation after an oil slick in the Strait of Hormuz reached the island of Qeshm, affecting beaches and an environmentally sensitive mangrove forest.

At the time, Baghaei cited preliminary evidence identifying “a foreign bulk carrier” as the source of the spill, which Iranian officials later said had been “completely cleaned up.”

Earlier, Omani state media reported that an oil slick from a tanker that ran aground off Oman had reached the coastline.

An AFP investigation previously found that the vessel had been stranded for weeks near Oman’s Al-Qibliyyah island after it was damaged by explosions.

Baghaei also said on Monday that in the Islamabad MoU, “there is no subject titled a 60-day deadline”, according to ISNA.

“What was envisioned in the memorandum was merely a 60-day period for discussions regarding ‘lifting sanctions’ and the ‘nuclear issue,’ which, in the event of failure to reach a result, had the capability of extension.”

Baghaei said that the “flagrant violation of the memorandum” by the US halted discussions.

Regarding the status of three military pilots missing since an operation in March in Qatar, Baghaei stated that “as long as the status of the pilots remains unclear, it is assumed that they have been taken captive.”

“Diplomatic exchanges with Qatar do not conflict with the serious pursuit of the pilots’ fate.”

Speaking on a “secret meeting between Iran and America in Erbil”, Baghaei said that the report was “fabricated”, and the “claim of a communication channel between the IRGC and America via the Kurdistan Region” was a “psychological and media warfare tactic” to “sow discord among Iran’s decision-making bodies.”

Separately, the head of the national security commission of the Iranian parliament, Ebrahim Azizi, said that Trump “should be thinking about securing his own safety so that he doesn’t have to resort to fleeing to a food truck” instead of making “endless bluffs regarding the Strait of Hormuz.”

Tanker salvage and oil spill clean-up hampered by weather and technical challenges, Oman says

Weather conditions and operational challenges are hampering salvage efforts for a grounded tanker leaking Russian crude in a protected marine area off Oman’s coast, Reuters reported, citing the sultanate’s state news agency.

Oman has been coordinating the salvage operation with risk-management company Ambrey as part of efforts to contain environmental damage from a spill that some estimates put at 2,000 square kilometres.

Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Rawahi, Director General of Maritime Affairs at Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, says that difficulties emerged from the monsoon in the area and the shallow and rocky nature of the site where the vessel ran aground, the news agency reports.

The conditions put salvage vessels and equipment under “operational and navigational risks”, he is quoted as saying.

He adds that the operation is further complicated by the damage to the vessel, with a large area flooded on one side.

Iranian parliament speaker Ghalibaf declares ‘military, political’ victory against US, Israel

Iran’s Parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared both a military and political victory in the war against the US and Israel on Monday, according to Al Jazeera.

He said that as someone who was “familiar with the details”, he declared that Iran had won the war “in the most literal sense of the word.”

“I do not mean that we had destroyed the American and Zionist armies, rather I mean that the US and Israel, with clear and explicit objectives—nine official and written goals that they repeatedly announced—attacked us. But they failed to achieve any of these nine goals at any level.”

“This was the absolute and biggest failure for the Americans and the Zionist regime.”

Ghalibaf’s remarks came on the day the 60-day ceasefire agreed upon in the Islamabad MoU is set to expire.

Houthis fire 2 hypersonic ballistic missiles toward Mocha, Red Sea: Yemeni army

The Yemeni army said on Monday that it had detected the launch of two hypersonic ballistic missiles by the Houthi group toward the southwestern city of Mocha and the Red Sea.

The missiles were launched from the former headquarters of the 170th Air Defence Brigade on Mount Oman, east of Taiz, an area under Houthi control, the army’s Taiz Military Axis said on the US social media company Facebook.

It did not provide any information on casualties or material damage resulting from the missile launches.

The Houthis did not immediately comment on the statement.

The escalation came a day after the National Resistance Forces, aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said the Houthis had targeted Mocha with seven drones on Sunday.

Yemen had been under a relative lull since April 2022 after nearly 12 years of war between government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of the country in 2014.

Since late 2023, after the Gaza genocide began, the Houthis have become increasingly involved in regional hostilities, launching attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, while recent renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to full-scale conflict in Yemen.

Kushner to hold talks with Netanyahu after rare meeting with Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Monday, a day after he held a rare meeting with Hamas officials in Cairo, in a bid to push forward the US president’s Gaza peace plan.

A diplomatic source said Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya was present at some of the meetings that mediators held with Kushner and Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, in Cairo on Sunday.

It marks Kushner’s second known meeting with representatives of Hamas, the Palestinian group designated a “terrorist movement” by the United States, the latter of which has assisted Israel in perpetrating its genocidal war on Gaza’s civilian population.

Kushner previously met Hamas officials alongside US envoy Steve Witkoff in October 2025, helping clinch a deal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Trump said in late July a deal was reached for the complete disarmament ‌of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

But Netanyahu, who is seeking re-election at a vote due in October, has publicly rejected Trump’s plan.

Trump had said the deal would be carried ​out in phases, with Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza as disarmament ​proceeded and an International Stabilisation Force working with a new Palestinian police force to secure the enclave.

Hamas has said it agreed to the plan, but the deal’s implementation would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawal and halting attacks.

Trump ‘very happy’ over signing of Makkah Joint Defence Agreement

Trump welcomed the signing of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement by Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement,” he said on Sunday on Truth Social.

Trump said the deal shows “how the Middle East is coming together, and how countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way. Congratulations to the Great Leadership of the three nations mentioned.

“THIS IS A BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP — WOW!” he added.

Read: Makkah Defence Agreement extension of Pak-Saudi bilateral defence pact: PM Shehbaz

Iran slams Canada’s participation in US war on Iran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry criticised Canada on Sunday over its participation in the US war on Iran, highlighting Washington’s continued economic pressure on Canadian sovereignty.

“Washington calls Canada its 51st state; Washington imposes tariffs on Canadian goods; Washington insults Canada and threatens to punish it over wildfire smoke; Ottawa’s response: Understood, Sir! Meanwhile, Ottawa participates in the US-led unlawful war of choice against Iran, to appease Washington! What’s the reward? THIS IS NOT HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA; IT IS WASHINGTON’S FARM TEAM,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on the US social media platform X.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in March that Canada was prepared to help with efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, indicating Ottawa’s willingness to support broader US-led objectives in the region.

Israeli army attacks town in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army carried out an attack on Sunday on the town of Hadatha in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon in yet another violation of an ongoing “ceasefire”.

Israeli soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons on a western neighbourhood, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli military vehicles were also reportedly moving inside the town at the same time.

The Israeli army launched intensive airstrikes on Lebanon on March 2 and occupied several towns in the country’s south.

The Lebanese government said the number of people displaced during the escalation had exceeded 1 million.

Read more: Strait of Hormuz defenders will ‘break your legs’, Iran army chief to Trump

A ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel that took effect on April 17 was later extended several times. Despite the truce, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on Lebanon in the early hours of August 15.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 4,346 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the country since March 2.

Israeli airstrike targets outskirts of Lebanese town of Al-Qantara: reports

An Israeli airstrike targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Al-Qantara while Israeli artillery shelled the town of Al-Mansouri in the same region, local media reports said early Monday.

In the town of Kafra in Bint Jbeil district, an explosive-laden drone struck a house, damaging part of it and injuring two civilians.

The town had also reportedly been targeted earlier by a quadcopter.

Additional strikes and military activity were reported around the Ali al-Taher ridge, near Dawhat Kfar Rumman, in Deir Siryan and in Al-Qantara along Wadi al-Hujair, where an Israeli tank reportedly entered the area.

Some residents believe the repeated attacks are intended to pressure people into leaving their communities and to punish areas associated with support for the resistance.

Following a strike in Ansar on Saturday that reportedly killed seven members of one family and injured three others, residents also expressed deep scepticism toward government claims that direct negotiations with Israel would lead to peace.

Israeli army prepares for possible days-long escalation in Lebanon: report

The Israeli army is preparing for a possible escalation lasting several days in Lebanon as it continues attacks in the country’s south, Israeli media reported Sunday evening.

The army is preparing “for the possibility of several days of fighting in Lebanon,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported, citing unnamed military sources.

According to the broadcaster, the Israeli army is planning further attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure, claiming that Israel “insists on completing the destruction of that infrastructure.”

It also claimed that dozens of Hezbollah members were trapped underground in the Jabal Ali al-Taher area of southern Lebanon, without providing further details.

Despite continuing Israeli violations, Channel 12 claimed that Tel Aviv exercised “restraint” in recent days to avoid affecting ongoing US-mediated negotiations with the Lebanese government.

“The Israeli political leadership has not approved some operations proposed by the army in recent days in response to Hezbollah’s activities, in an attempt not to affect the course of the negotiations,” the broadcaster said.

Tensions along the Lebanese front have increased in recent weeks as Israeli military offensives continue amid US efforts to reach understandings between Israel and Lebanon.

Despite months of negotiations, Israel has continued its military campaign against Lebanon, which began March 2 and has killed 4,346 people, mostly civilians, wounded 12,301 and displaced more than 1 million, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel continues to occupy areas of southern Lebanon, some for decades and others since the 2023-2024 war. Israeli forces have advanced more than 10 kilometres (6 miles) into Lebanese territory during the current invasion.