Al Jazeera

By Tracy J. Jawad and Faisal Aziz Khan

    Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mohammed Al-Ansari, has told US media that opening the Strait of Hormuz is a priority, as the world faces an “industrial catastrophe” if the crisis continues.

    An average of 10 commodity ships transited the strait per day over the past 10 days, marking the lowest level since May following US and Iranian strikes on tankers, Kpler data shows.

    Brent oil futures hit a nearly six-week high of about $97 a barrel amid ongoing US-Iran strikes in the waterway.

    Israeli forces continue to bomb southern Lebanon, killing at least 16 people, including two infants.

Strait of Hormuz ship traffic drops as regional tensions persist

    Shipping data compiled by Kpler and cited by Reuters shows that seven commodity vessels have sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, down from eight vessels the previous day.

    The latest figures highlight a continued slowdown in maritime traffic through the critical waterway as regional tensions persist.

Iraq moves to bypass Strait of Hormuz to safeguard oil exports

    Baghdad is attempting to shift its oil export routes away from the Strait of Hormuz to protect its primary revenue source from ongoing regional conflicts, according to a senior government official.

    Mazhar Muhammad Salih, financial adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, told the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the government has moved from simply trying to cushion the impact of the regional crisis to actively managing it.

    “The issue of pipelines and finding alternative routes is part of state strategy to move oil policy and marketing away from geopolitical conflicts,” Salih said.

    He added that if disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz persist, Iraq will be forced to rely heavily on neighbouring transit regions.

    Before the US-Israel war on Iran, Iraq exported about 3.4 million barrels of crude per day, with roughly 80 to 85 percent shipped directly through the Strait of Hormuz. Salih said the government’s primary goal now is to secure those same volumes through alternative channels.

The threat of domestic armed groups to Iran’s security

    Iranian authorities have repeatedly publicised arrests and clashes with small armed cells inside the country, or skirmishes with armed groups along land borders, particularly in the lead-up to and during the US-Israel war on the country.

    They have endeavoured to frame the war as a national security struggle while sending a message of control and deterrence to domestic and foreign audiences.

    In one of the latest instances, state media said on Sunday that members of an eight-member network allegedly affiliated with “anti-revolutionary” and “pro-monarchy” groups were arrested.

    The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southern province of Fars accused those arrested of using Molotov cocktails and burning tyres during nationwide protests in January.

Oil prices climb on mounting Middle East supply fears

    Oil prices are continuing their upward trajectory, with Brent crude futures climbing 34 cents, or 0.35 percent, to $97.34 a barrel as of 00:00 GMT.

    US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up $1.15, or 1.26 percent, to $92.63 a barrel.

    The gains came as risks of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East grew after Iran threatened to retaliate against any new US attacks on its assets, heightening worries over supply disruption, Reuters reported.

    Brent rose to its highest level since July 24 in the previous session as traders continued to build a risk premium into prices amid heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global crude shipments.

Israeli air strike kills three generations of family in southern Lebanon

By Zeina Khodr

Reporting from Nabatieh, South Lebanon

    Three generations of one family have been killed under the rubble of an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon overnight, with children among the dead – the youngest a two-month-old baby.

    Civil defence workers worked through the night and into the morning to pull bodies from the rubble, a painstaking process of clearing collapsed concrete floors. The last two victims, including a child, were found two hours later.

    The family had believed they were safe after weeks of reduced violence, but that has since changed. For some, it may mean further displacement. Mustafa, a resident, left his village on the border nearly three years ago.

    “My village has been on the front line since late 2023, and now it is occupied by Israel. I don’t know what is next,” he said.

    The Israeli army has been trying to seize strategic high ground from Hezbollah for weeks and now says it has “operational control”. It may be trying to establish new rules of engagement in southern Lebanon, intensifying attacks while accusing Hezbollah of launching armed drones at its troops – an accusation the group has not commented on.

    A “ceasefire” remains formally in place, but talks have stalled.

Israeli forces raid towns in occupied East Jerusalem area at dawn

    Israeli forces, backed by military vehicles and bulldozers, stormed the town of Anata and the adjacent Shu’fat refugee camp northeast of occupied East Jerusalem at dawn on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

    Israeli troops sealed all entrances to Anata and Shu’fat, preventing residents from entering or leaving and announced a curfew over loudspeakers.

    During the raids, forces searched multiple homes and shops, destroyed main water pipelines in Anata, and arrested several Palestinians, including at least one woman.

    The Jerusalem governorate described the operation as “systematic military aggression”, comparing it with last month’s large-scale raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem.

US State Department says will take ‘decisive measures’ over Iran’s Hormuz blockade

    A US State Department spokesperson has told Al Jazeera that Washington is coordinating with regional partners to ensure that Iran’s disruption of navigation does not become an accepted state of affairs.

    “We will continue to take decisive measures against Iran’s attempts to blackmail the global economy,” the spokesperson said.

    “We will not allow Iran to disrupt navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and hold the global economy hostage.”

Yemen fighting kills or wounds nearly 900 as clashes intensify in Taiz and al-Jawf

By Yousef Mawry

Reporting from Sanaa, Yemen

    According to the WHO, the fighting [in Yemen] has resulted in the death and injury of almost 900 people so far, with 670 of those casualties coming from Taiz and the west coast front.

    Twenty thousand individuals and families have been displaced in Taiz, where most of the fierce clashes between Ansar Allah (the Houthis) and Yemen’s internationally recognised government have taken place. Casualties are expected to increase, as these figures exclude today’s toll, which is set to reach the hundreds.

    Reports indicate air attacks and fighting in the al-Jawf governorate. Ansar Allah accuses Saudi Arabia of carrying out the strikes in the province, while the Yemeni government has opened a new front in al-Jawf as part of a strategy to regain territorial integrity, particularly after losing ground on the western coast fronts. For the time being, the government is attempting to reclaim those territories by opening new fronts across strategic Ansar Allah positions in al-Jawf.

    Al-Jawf governorate and Taiz form the endgame that both sides are fighting for. Al-Jawf serves as the gateway to the Yemeni capital, which is under Houthi control, while the fronts opened in western Taiz represent a push by the Houthis to gain control of the city and the Red Sea port city of al-Makha (Mocha).

US senator slams Trump over Iran war costs, lack of strategy

    Democratic Senator Mark Warner has criticised Trump in a video message released on X, arguing that “the Iran war of choice that Donald Trump started cost Americans $100bn” and “every two minutes, it goes up by another $1m.”

    Warner said that “if you view this, you know, an hour after I record it, another $30m there, and where are we  Nowhere in terms of any of the goals Trump laid out for this war of choice.”

    “This is what happens when you start a war of choice with no plan, no strategy, no allies, and no way to get out,” he added.