Iran-US war latest: Trump military chief seeks ‘off-ramp’ from conflict as Strait of Hormuz ‘hit by missile strike’

Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close but would not be enough to free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran had hit another ship there.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and Oman were “very close” to an agreement on a new shipping route through the strait, but reopening it would depend on other conditions, including US compensation to Iran.

The secretary of Iran’s top national security body, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, listed other demands including ending US threats against Iran, stopping aggression ⁠against Iran and its Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni and Iraqi allies, lifting a blockade and sanctions on Iran and ​freeing ⁠Iranian assets.

Our recent research shows that the more than 1,500 commercial vessels that have been laid up in the Persian/Arabian Gulf since February pose a significant environmental threat because they have been accumulating marine biofouling species on their hulls.

As the strait reopens, these ships may spread these organisms to ports they visit, potentially causing an international biosecurity “super-spreader” event.

In a memo on Wednesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg gave companies three weeks to lay out how they would “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.”

“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Feinberg added in the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”

Firefighters extinguished a ​fire that broke out early on Sunday at a facility at Aramco’s Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Energy Ministry said, adding that there ⁠were no injuries.

Aramco’s industrial security teams had brought the fire under control and the relevant authorities were completing procedures to deal with the incident, the ministry said on X. It did ⁠not say what caused the ​fire.

Jazan is on the Red Sea near the border with Yemen.

The Jazan refinery processes 400,000 barrels ⁠of crude oil per day and produces refined products including ​gasoline ⁠and ultra-light sulfur diesel.

Aramco shut ‌down the refinery on 27 July following an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants that damaged the plant’s Integrated Gasification ‌Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and tank farm ‌area, according to a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters.

The Houthis said at the time they had struck Aramco sites in Jazan and Yanbu.

Iran’s politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behavior,” issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway and traffic on it.

Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region.

The U.S. must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S., which has wanted an acceptable deal first on the strait before ending the blockade.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon on Thursday, marking the first Israeli fatalities since a fragile truce between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah was implemented in June.

Four additional soldiers sustained serious injuries, the military said. The deaths had been reported by Israeli media the previous day.

An Israeli military official, speaking anonymously in line with army policy, stated that “an explosion was detonated” as the soldiers entered a site in the village of Majdal Zoun, adding that the nature of the explosive device was under investigation.

The United Arab Emirates condemned an Iranian missile attack on its carrier as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz today, accusing Tehran of “acts of piracy”.

State news agency WAM initially reported ADNOC as saying one of its vessels had been targeted by a missile early on Saturday and that the situation was under control.

The UAE Foreign Ministry later condemned what it called “the hostile Iranian attack” on an ADNOC vessel.

Neither statement gave details on the tanker, its cargo or possible damage. No injuries were reported.

The ministry said the attack violated a U.N. Security Council resolution on freedom of navigation and accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of “acts of piracy” by targeting commercial shipping and using the waterway as a tool of economic pressure.

It called on Iran to halt the attacks and reopen ⁠the strait fully and unconditionally.

The economic fallout from the regional conflict has driven up food and fuel prices, while more than four months of conflict with Iran has driven renewed escalation in Yemen, compounding one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

More than half the population were already facing hunger, but slow progress from world leaders to re-open the Strait has caused months of disruption to global food and energy supplies, disrupting humanitarian aid operations.

The Pentagon has asked the US defence industry to ramp up production of weapons amid reports of depleted stockpiles due to the war in Iran, according to a memo.

The Washington Post reports that secretary Steve Feinberg told industry leaders on Wednesday that they had 3 weeks to bring together plants to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities”.

“We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now,” he was reported to have said.