West Asia conflict

August 26, 2026 8:41 AM

Iran vows to resist widened US sanctions, says Washington seeks talks

Iran denounced on Tuesday expanded U.S. sanctions aimed at isolating its economy as an act of "gross lawlessness", expressing confidence that many countries wouldnot join the pressure campaign. Almost six months into a conflict the U.S. has struggled to resolve, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the measures on Monday but stopped short of the most punishing options. While he said countries that continued trading with Iran risked being forced out of the dollar-based financial system, he...

August 26, 2026 8:38 AM

Trump says Strait of Hormuz has been demined, warns Iran not to plant more

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that all mines had been detonated or removed from international waters of the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran has been told that any ship or boat placing new mines will be destroyed. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States, through its Space Force, was watching "every square inch" of the Strait, a key waterway in the global energy supply chain. "There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect," Trump said. ...

August 24, 2026 11:52 AM

‘Entering the endgame’: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces ‘economic D-Day’ against Iran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday (local time) said the Trump administration was entering the “endgame” in its campaign against Iran and announced what he described as an “economic D-Day” aimed at severing the Iranian regime’s economic lifelines. In a post on X, Bessent said, “President Trump has dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program.” “We are now entering the endgame. At daw...

August 19, 2026 1:12 AM

Kushner’s talks with Israel, Hamas end without breakthrough on Trump Gaza plan

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner left Jerusalem on Monday without a breakthrough after two days of talks with Israeli and Hamas leaders over a stalled U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza, with both sides standing firm on key demands. Kushner met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel a day after meeting the political leader of Hamas in Egypt in a bid to revive the plan. Israel has carried out air strikes and seized more territory in Gaza despite an October...

August 19, 2026 12:28 AM

Trump says no talks planned with Iran, Tehran says Strait of Hormuz still shut

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday no talks were taking place with Iran and none were scheduled, and he insisted that the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting an earlier Iranian assertion that the critical waterway remained shut to shipping. The receding prospects of a deal to end the nearly six-month conflict drove up oil prices again on Tuesday, while stock markets sagged and borrowing costs for major economies including the U.S. hit multi-decade highs, amid concerns about the lo...

August 15, 2026 7:33 PM

Iran defiant on strait as Trump tells Americans to accept high gas prices

Iran called on the U.S. to accept defeat while President Donald Trump blasted Tehran as "very evil" and told Americans to brace for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war. Progress toward peace talks and oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway remained halted, with no sign the warring parties were moving toward ending the conflict that the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28. "This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran's command, and so long...

August 17, 2026 3:10 PM

Trump’s Secret Flight: When Presidential Security Means Keeping Everyone Guessing

The most extraordinary detail about Donald Trump’s secret aircraft switch in Ankara may be the catering truck. But the real story is not the truck. It is why U.S. security officials decided that the President’s location had to be concealed, even from some of the people travelling with him. On July 8, after the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump publicly boarded the familiar blue-and-white Air Force One. Cameras filmed him climbing the stairs. Journalists followed him onto the aircraft. https://y...

August 14, 2026 12:36 AM

Iran, US make competing claims over control of Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management", the recently appointed head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit said on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States had "total control" of the strategic waterway. Hossein Taeb said the U.S. had sought to disrupt what he described as the Islamic Republic's popularity in the region by launching another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force...

August 14, 2026 12:32 AM

US can keep naval blockade on Iranian ports ‘indefinitely,’ Pentagon chief says

The U.S. military has enough assets to maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, adding ships could be rotated in and out of the region as needed. Hegseth's comments suggest he is advising U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. military can keep applying economic pressure on Iran for as long as needed to help so-far failed negotiations to end the conflict, begun in February. "Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade l...

August 14, 2026 12:26 AM

After US criticism, Israel ties Lebanon withdrawal to Hezbollah disarmament

Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism. Israel seized a swath of south Lebanon during a war with Hezbollah earlier this year and has said it will keep forces there to shield northern Israel from attack by the Iran-backed group, which ignited the latest hostilities when it opened fire at...