Talks between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz have entered a new phase, a top Iranian official told state broadcaster Press TV.

Press TV reported on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) that continued Iran-Oman Hormuz talks reflect Tehran’s diplomatic engagement.

The official further noted that the understanding with Oman on Hormuz is within reach if U.S. stops interference.

According to the Iranian state broadcaster, the official said that the talks revolve around a new corridor to secure passage of ships via the critical energy chokepoint.

Read more

ANI

The United States military launched “powerful” strikes on Iran on Thursday, July 30, 2026 in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks targeting U.S. bases in Jordan as the war in West Asia reignited and again drew in the Islamic republic’s proxies.

The first strikes after a nearly week-long lull in fighting dashed hopes of a return to negotiations.

“The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East”, U.S. Central Command said.

Saudi Arabia and the United States also announced strikes on Wednesday on militant bases in Iraq, while U.S. ally Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation.- AFP

Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate against Saudi Arabia on Saturday (July 25, 2026) after they accused the kingdom of targeting civilian infrastructure, as the West Asia war widens across the region.

Riyadh struck Houthi military targets in Hodeida on Friday (July 24), with rebel media reporting two wounded after the Yemeni group announced a maritime blockade of the top oil producer and hit its ships.

The flare-up marks a new front of the war that has engulfed the region following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February, and comes on top of Iran’s parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh’s only other maritime route.

“The Saudi enemy’s targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeida and Kamaran island constitutes a dangerous escalation,” the Houthis’ Ansarollah media posted on Telegram.

“We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered.”

AFP

Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ​ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday (July 16, 2026), posing a potent ‌new threat to global energy supplies.

The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message ​has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter ⁠said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

West Asia war LIVE updates – July 16, 2026

The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran’s request, which has not been previously reported.

They did not give further details on how it had been conveyed or whether it was after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iranian power infrastructure on Tuesday (July 14, 2026).

Iran’s ‌Foreign Ministry and a spokesperson for the Houthi group were not immediately available to respond to Reuters’ request.

Houthis deploy drones near Bab el-Mandeb: sources

A source close to the Houthis said the group had completed preparations to attack ‌shipping by deploying missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb strait, the gateway to the Red Sea, in Yemen’s highlands overlooking Hodeidah ‌and ⁠the Gulf of Aden and was awaiting the order to begin.

Any threat to the Red Sea and its ⁠Bab el-Mandeb gateway risks hugely exacerbating the global energy crisis triggered by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and underscores the explosive risks stemming from a new round of warfare.

With the Hormuz strait already shut, any Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea would leave the Middle East’s two main oil export ​routes disrupted simultaneously, opening a new front in both the ‌energy crisis and Iran’s wider conflict with the United States.

Representatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who are already in Yemen will control the decision on when to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait, said the source close to the Houthis.

In a sign of escalating tensions in the region, the Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport ‌under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and the group.

Torbjorn Solvedt, principal West Asia analyst with risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the flare-up between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia had come at a bad time.

“If fighting intensifies and spills over into Red Sea export infrastructure and shipping, it ⁠will threaten the only major alternative route for oil exports from the region,” he said.

Two regional sources close to Riyadh said the kingdom was taking threats from Iran and the Houthis very seriously, adding that Riyadh was aware the Yemeni group was now closely coordinating with Iran ‌over the Red Sea.

The conflict began on February 28, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran, leading Tehran to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the main route before the war for around a fifth of global energy supplies.

Tensions have mounted since a fragile June truce between Tehran and Washington collapsed, reviving fears of full-scale war and disrupting energy flows through the Strait.

Analysis | Why Iran insists on controlling the Strait of Hormuz

Red Sea closure would not be difficult: source

A significant amount of Gulf oil has since been diverted to the Red Sea through a Saudi pipeline, and the waterway now carries around 7% of global energy supplies.

When the Houthis attacked shipping during the Gaza war, major shipping companies diverted their cargoes ‌to the much longer, more expensive route around Africa.

With Saudi Arabia having itself diverted 70% of its energy exports through its Red Sea port of Yanbu, ​any direct attacks there would also be a big problem for oil markets.

One of the regional sources said Iran’s clerical rulers were seeking to pressure the United States by raising the potential cost to the global economy, threatening ⁠Red Sea shipping and the flow of Saudi oil exports through the waterway, in what the source described as part of “Iranian thinking.”

Closing down the ⁠strait would not be difficult, the source said, adding: “Anybody with a firing rifle can interrupt the shipping. You don’t have to have sophisticated missiles to interrupt the shipping.”

Iran views the Houthis as part of its regional “Axis of Resistance”, an alliance that ‌also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi’ite armed groups that have already joined the regional conflict between Tehran and Washington.

But the Houthi rebels have not formally entered the fray.

The United States says Iran has provided the Houthis with weapons, funding and training, ​including support channelled through Hezbollah. Tehran has denied the accusation.

Published – July 16, 2026 06:04 pm IST

Iran prepared on Friday (July 3, 2026) for the dayslong funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with banners across Tehran urging the public to rise up in support of the Islamic Republic after the devastating war that killed the 86-year-old cleric.

The country’s theocracy plans to see millions flood the streets of the capital beginning on Saturday (July 4, 2026) in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

That could provide a boost for Iran’s government, particularly as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war, and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again.

Despite that, a powerful general who leads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged publicly for the first time in months for the funeral. Other top government officials will also likely will be on hand alongside foreign dignitaries in a show of strength of Iran.

“As long as these people, who are chosen (by God), are on the field, we will definitely continue the same ‘no to humiliation’ policy that was founded by the Islamic Republic,” said Mohammad Hossein Rezaei, a volunteer preparing for the funeral on Friday (July 3, 2026).

“We will continue our policy of pursuing independence, and decisions will be made inside the country, and the people will decide their own fate,” he said.

Caskets displayed in Tehran

Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin sat at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla alongside family members killed in the Israeli airstrike that came in the first moments of the war on February 28.

The dead being honoured include a son-in-law, his eldest daughter, a 14-month-old granddaughter and the wife of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous leader who remains in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the attack.

Religious leaders and foreign dignitaries walked up to Khamenei’s casket as a military band played or a man sang prayers. Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian, key leaders in the country’s civilian government, all paid their respects.

Video published by Iranian state media showed an earlier mourning ceremony on Thursday (July 2, 2026) night for Khamenei. The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing.

Later, state media showed images of Khamenei’s casket draped by a red flag with white calligraphy reading “Ya Hussein,” a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. It had been flying over the Imam Hussein golden-domed shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The flag also traditionally symbolises both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.

Top general appears for first time in months

Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting on Thursday (July 2, 2026) about the funeral of Khamenei, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran’s theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday (July 2, 2026) night near the supreme leader’s former home in downtown Tehran.

“They must know that the pure blood of our martyred imam will mark another turning point in the victories of beloved Islam across the global arena,” Mr. Vahidi told state television in comments aired on Friday (July 3, 2026). “They will take to their graves the wish to see this nation surrender. This nation will rise higher day by day through this pure blood.”

Mr. Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the war with the United States, experts say. He had not been seen publicly since February 8, weeks before the Iran war began.

Israel killed top leaders in Iran’s military and government during the war, and has threatened the life of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as well. Vahidi is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with the younger Khamenei.

It remains unclear whether Khamenei will appear at his father’s funeral. His father appeared in 1989 at Khomeini’s funeral, weeping visibly, as he began his journey to lead Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.

Israel’s repeated threats to kill Khamenei drew a warning from Iran’s joint military command on Thursday (July 2, 2026).

“We warn the enemies of a strong Iran, especially the United States, the Israeli regime and their regional and extraregional accomplices, to avoid any miscalculation and to consider the harsh and regret-inducing responses that the sons of the Iranian nation in the armed forces will give to any threat or aggression against our beloved country,” the military command said.

Funeral to go on for days

Beginning Saturday (July 4, 2026), Iran will hold the days-long funeral for Khamenei, and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighbouring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei.

In Tehran, images of the late Khamenei’s fist could be seen in banners and in a giant statue in Tehran’s Enghelab Square, framed by what appeared to be ballistic missiles flying through the air.

In his first message to the nation, read by a state television anchor, Mojtaba Khamenei said he saw his father’s body after his death with raised, clenched fist.

The banners read in Arabic, English and Farsi: “We must rise.”

“This fist is the clenched fist of all us Muslims,” taxi driver Jafar Javadi said. “The leader’s fist is a sign all our fists are clenched and they (the enemies) will be destroyed with these fists, God willing. We will continue chanting death to America and death to Israel with the same clenched fist.”

Published – July 03, 2026 10:26 pm IST

A child holds an Iranian flag through the window of a vehicle in northern Tehran, Iran, May 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP