Al Jazeera

By Enes Abuomer, Rached El-Moctar, Leila Minkara and Ali Mustafa

    US President Donald Trump has pledged to respond to Iranian strikes on US personnel in Jordan, saying, “We’re going to hit them hard”.

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reports that its air defences intercepted a US MQ-9 drone over the eastern Strait of Hormuz following Trump’s comments.

    Trump also says the Strait of Hormuz remains secure while claiming that Iran’s financial systems, military, and leadership have been largely degraded, adding that “it doesn’t mean we won’t smack them to see what happens”.

    UK Maritime Trade Operations reports that a tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles near Khasab, Oman, while exiting the Strait of Hormuz.

    Iran’s state media says the US ⁠attack on Larak ⁠Island, which led to Tehran’s strikes on US bases in Jordan, killed three people and wounded ‌several Iranian fighters and civilians.

18 Updates

Iraq’s state oil marketer denies ties to Iran-linked sanctioned tanker

    Iraq’s State Organisation for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) says it has no contractual or commercial relationship with the Binary Star, a sanctioned oil and chemical tanker linked to the transport of Iranian petroleum products, or with its owner or operator.

    The vessel has been sanctioned by the US and the EU and identified as having transported Iranian fuel oil and bitumen in the Gulf.

    In a statement, SOMO said vessels nominated for Iraqi oil exports undergo compliance checks and must not appear on relevant international sanctions lists. It added that it monitors tanker movements in Iraqi waters, including the possible manipulation of location data and identification signals.

    The company stressed that a vessel’s presence in Iraqi territorial waters or its appearance on tracking systems does not mean it has any commercial relationship with SOMO.

    He noted that it took two years of sanctions to bring Iran to the negotiating table for the 2015 nuclear deal, but that China and Russia are not “fully on board” now, and Iran knows that Trump is “after regime change”, making a similar outcome unlikely.

    Watch the video below:

Israeli forces advance further into Syria’s Deraa province

    Israeli forces are advancing further into Syria’s Deraa province, south of Damascus, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

    At least ten Israeli military vehicles were seen near the village of Jumla in Deraa’s western suburbs, backed by reconnaissance aircraft overhead.

    We will bring you more as soon as we have it.

Asian fuel imports fall to lowest level since Iran war began

    Reuters reports that Asia’s imports of refined fuels have fallen to their lowest level since the US-Iran war, as supplies from the Gulf region have remained partially choked off.

    The region, which consumes about 90 percent of Middle East crude, has cut its imports by nearly 4 million barrels a day and is depleting its inventories.

    Imports of light and middle distillates fell to an estimated 5.10 million bpd (bpd) in August, down from 5.61 million bpd in July, according to data compiled by the commodities analyst Kpler and cited by Reuters.

    Before the US and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, the three-month average stood at 7.06 million bpd. The shortfall matches almost exactly the volume lost from the Middle East.

    While Gulf countries still retain the operational capacity to meet Asian demand, Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and a shortage of available vessels for shipping to Asia have kept flows constrained.

EXPLAINER

Why has Greece signed a $3.5bn missile deal with Israel

By Shola Lawal

    Greece and Israel have signed a deal that will see a $3.5bn multi-layered air defence system delivered to Athens, the largest defence agreement ever between the two countries.

    The agreement, signed on Monday in Tel Aviv, comes as Greece’s relations with its neighbour and rival, Turkiye, have grown more sour. It also, however, breaks with a broader European wariness of being seen as too close to Israel, following the genocidal war on Gaza and Israel’s increasingly blatant efforts to annex the occupied West Bank.

    Greece and Israel have long shared economic and diplomatic ties. They’ve also regularly conducted joint military exercises.

    The new purchase is part of Greece’s plans to modernise its military by 2030. Athens will spend about 28 billion euros ($32bn) by 2036 to build the Israeli defence system, known collectively in Greece as the Achilles Shield, as well as to buy up to 40 F-35 fighter jets from the United States and frigates from France and Italy.

    Read the full article here.

Oil prices climb amid renewed US-Iran conflict

    Crude prices extended their gains on Tuesday, driven by new concerns over potential supply interruptions in a critical petroleum-producing region following the flare-up of hostilities between the US and Iran.

    Brent crude futures advanced by 56 cents, or 0.6 percent, settling at $91.05 per barrel as of 00:44 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 83 cents, or 1 percent, to $86.59 per barrel.

Elderly Palestinian woman hospitalised after severe beating by Israeli settlers near Ramallah

    Fatima Muqattam, an elderly Palestinian woman, has been hospitalised after being severely beaten by Israeli settlers east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian medical sources.

    Settlers assaulted the woman and her husband, Wajih Hamdan, as the couple resisted the settlers’ attempt to steal their livestock in the village of Burqa, hospital sources told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Vance says US now focused on free flow of commerce in Strait of Hormuz

    US Vice President JD Vance has said that Washington, during the current phase of the war on Iran, is focused on ensuring the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Speaking to Fox News, he said that Sunday’s strike on Larak Island was intended to prevent Iran from placing mines in the strait.

    He accused Iran’s leadership of acting “not with a whole lot of strategic wisdom” in trying to choke off oil and gas exports.

    “What’s odd to me is that they will sometimes fire at their own allies just to prevent the free flow of oil and gas,” he said, calling Iran’s leaders “really crazy”.

    Vance added that Washington had expected Tehran to take that course.

    Want to come back to this article  Save it for later.

How many times has the US struck Iran during ceasefire periods

By Enes Abuomer

    Since the initial US-Iran ceasefire took effect on April 8, Washington has carried out multiple rounds of strikes on Iranian territory during periods of renewed escalation.

    The attacks took place on various dates, including May 25, May 27, May 30, May 31, June 2, June 5, June 9, June 10, June 26, June 27, July 7, July 8, a sustained period from July 11 to 23, and August 30.

    The strikes targeted radar sites, air-defence systems, and drone and missile facilities. US Central Command stated that these actions were responses to what it described as Iranian threats or attacks.

    Although Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire framework on June 17, subsequent violations led to renewed exchanges, and US President Donald Trump later declared the agreement void. The conflict saw heavy escalations in July, with multiple consecutive nights of operations.

    Iran responded with missile and drone strikes targeting positions associated with US forces in countries such as Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, alongside commercial shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

    The latest reported US strikes occurred on August 30, when US forces targeted two Iranian launchers on Larak Island.

US senator brands Trump’s war on Iran a ‘failure’ at six-month mark

    Democratic Senator Mark Warner has renewed his criticism of Trump six months into what he termed a “war of choice”.

    Warner wrote on X that “US-Iran strikes are escalating again”, while pointing out that oil prices are surging and American service members and military resources remain stretched. He added that the government in Tehran has become more “extreme” and that the country still retains “enriched uranium, missiles, and drones”.

    “The president’s war has been a complete failure, yet there’s still no end in sight,” Warner wrote.