Iran threatened on Monday (September 7, 2026) to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets, warning that energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including U.S. oil and ‌gas interests, was vulnerable.

“Strike our assets and you get struck,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said after ​U.S. and Iranian strikes on shipping at the weekend that pushed oil prices up near six-week highs on Monday (September 7).

The ⁠latest threat underscores the risks of further escalation after the sides traded blows again at the weekend, with no sign of progress towards a diplomatic breakthrough that could end more than six months of conflict and restore normal energy flows through the Gulf.

Iran has tightened restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, ‌a critical artery for global oil and gas supplies, since the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28.

On Sunday (September 6, 2026), senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran would soon announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf ‌and unveil a new shipping corridor through the strait.

Mr. Rezaei said the zone would begin where a U.S. naval blockade of Iran ‌starts ⁠and extend into parts of the Gulf. Any vessel entering the area would be placed on an Iranian ⁠sanctions list.

“We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being open when they [the Americans] stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran,” Mr. Rezaei said.

Mr. Qalibaf later reinforced Tehran’s warning in what appeared to be a response to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had described Iran’s oil tanker fleet as “defenceless”.

“It’s simple: the oil and gas production ​chain here is sprawling, accessible, and exposed. American oil and ‌gas companies across these waters and facilities share that exposure,” Mr. Qalibaf, who is Iran’s top negotiator, wrote on X.

LEBANON BOMBARDMENT RAISES ESCALATION FEARS

Regional tensions were heightened by Israeli strikes on a town in southern Lebanon that killed at least 12 people on Monday (September 7, 2026), according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, marking one of the deadliest days of bombardment in recent weeks.

The attacks have fuelled fears of a renewed ‌Israeli military campaign despite a June ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. They also complicate efforts to end the wider ​conflict, with Tehran insisting that any lasting agreement with Washington must include an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to achieve the aims he set out when he launched “Operation Epic Fury” in February: ⁠to end Iran’s nuclear programme, halt its ability to attack its neighbours and create conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership.

Tehran’s clerical rulers remain in power and aim to emerge from the war stronger than before. They continue to demand sanctions relief and hope eventually to collect fees from ‌ships using the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.

After a relative lull through much of August, hostilities have intensified again following the collapse of an interim ceasefire reached in June. Diplomatic efforts have made little headway.

TANKER ATTACKS PUSH SHIPPING TO LOWS

On Saturday (September 5, 2026), U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers, including one near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, according to U.S. Central Command. The attacks followed strikes by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on U.S. warships operating in the region.

Tehran has demonstrated it can still attack U.S. interests in neighbouring countries and disrupt oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Shipping data showed an average of just 10 commodity vessels per ‌day transited the strait over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May.

SANCTIONS, OIL BLOCKADE SQUEEZE ECONOMY

Iran has said it will step up efforts to ​tackle problems created by U.S. sanctions that are crippling its economy.

Yet the pressure is mounting. Three senior Iranian sources told Reuters that Washington’s campaign to choke off Iranian oil exports and curb sanctions evasion is becoming increasingly difficult for Tehran ⁠to withstand.

Qalibaf acknowledged at the weekend that Iran’s struggle was no longer confined to the battlefield. Alongside the military confrontation, he said, the country ⁠faced major domestic challenges, including inflation, unemployment, currency volatility and market instability.

The conflict has also impacted oil-producing Gulf Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates, which has come under fire from Iranian missiles and suffered attacks on its oil tankers in the ‌Strait of Hormuz.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on Monday (September 7, 2026) the country was building alternative routes for its energy exports and trade to ensure they are not “held hostage” by the war.

The disruption has also been felt in the United States, where higher fuel ​prices have added to economic pressures and weighed on Trump’s popularity ahead of November’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

Published – September 07, 2026 10:51 pm IST

Israel renewed its strikes on Lebanon on Sunday (June 28, 2026), Lebanese state media reported, two days after an agreement was signed by the two countries, which a Hezbollah lawmaker warned would lead to “internal conflict”.

The strikes come a day after one person was killed in an Israeli strike on the south, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, with the Israeli military saying it targeted Hezbollah members near its self-proclaimed “security zone”, which reaches 10 km (6 miles) into Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes on Sunday (June 28, 2026).

The Israeli army said a soldier “fell in combat” in southern Lebanon.

In a later statement, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir approved plans for “continued operations in the security zone, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement”.

Hezbollah drew the country into the West Asia war in March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in U.S.-Israeli strikes, and Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on Saturday (June 27, 2026) that his country “would assume its responsibilities” in implementing the framework agreement, which was signed in Washington on Friday (June 26, 2026) after five rounds of talks.

The deal aims to pave the way for peace between Israel and Lebanon, which have officially been at war for decades, though Israel’s many conflicts across its northern border have largely been with non-state actors.

The agreement makes any Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese land conditional on Beirut disarming Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “historic” for his country.

‘Internal conflict’

Hezbollah strongly opposed the talks with Israel from the start and rejects the agreement, with leader Naim Qassem saying on Saturday that the group would treat the deal as “null and void” and describing it as “a surrender of sovereignty”.

His supporters took to the streets on Friday evening (June 26, 2026) to protest the framework.

An AFP correspondent saw signs on Sunday morning (June 28, 2026) that read “Lebanon first” being burned along Beirut’s airport road, which borders the city’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, after previous billboards saying “thank you Iran” were removed.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said on Sunday (June 28, 2026) that “the agreement of humiliation and disgrace signed by the authorities will never see the light of day”.

He added that what “the authorities have done amounts to sedition aimed at pushing the country into chaos and shifting the conflict from one with the enemy to an internal conflict”.

Hezbollah repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to link themselves to Iran’s negotiations to end its war with the U.S., while Tehran has insisted any ceasefire for the West Asia war should include Lebanon.

In a phone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri, Iranian parliament speaker and head of Tehran’s negotiating delegation Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that “our goal is to end the war in Lebanon, return the refugees to their homes and remove the occupation and the withdrawal of the Zionist regime from the Lebanese territory, and we are seriously pursuing this issue”.

According to the text of the deal shared by the U.S. State Department, Lebanon and Israel expressed their intent to “conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes and… formally conclude any state of war between them”.

Under the agreement, Lebanon’s military will “restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups”.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, however, has insisted troops will stay in Lebanon so long as Hezbollah remains armed.

Published – June 28, 2026 11:13 pm IST

People walk past rubble at the site of an Israeli strike following a deal between the U.S. and Iran in Tyre, southern Lebanon on June 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (June 14, 2026) urged no further attacks by anyone after Israel’s military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut, potentially complicating efforts to finalise a deal to end the U.S.-Iran war.

Smoke rose over the Lebanese capital, and the Civil Defence said it retrieved three bodies and six wounded people from the rubble.

Iran threatened a military response. Mr. Trump reacted on social media: “We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region,” and “Let’s not blow it!” The deal in its current form is a deep disappointment to Israel’s government, which has been sidelined in negotiations led by Pakistan and others. The last time Israel struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, it set off the most serious escalation of fighting between Iran and Israel since the tenuous ceasefire took hold April 7.

Mr. Trump, who had said the deal could be signed on Sunday (June 14, 2026), has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop hitting Lebanon hard while a deal is near, but the Prime Minister has defied him.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. Israel’s military said Hezbollah launched three projectiles, releasing footage where an audible boom was followed by rising smoke. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

“Israel will not tolerate firing into its territory,” Mr. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The military later said it was preparing for potential incoming fire in the coming hours.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene in Beirut said a five-story apartment building with shops on the ground floor was struck. The two lowest floors were the most heavily damaged. Residents of the southern suburbs, many of whom had returned home after weeks of relative calm, could be seen fleeing.

Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel on March 2, two days after the US and Israel attacked Iran, sparking war in the Middle East. Israeli troops have since pushed their invasion of Lebanon deeper than at any point in over a quarter century.

Iran wants a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon.

Mediators push Iran and the US closer to a deal

Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a lead negotiator for Tehran, warned the U.S. on X after Israel’s strikes that “if you lack the will and ability to fulfill your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible.” “Without a doubt, these crimes will not go unanswered,” said Gen. Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy commander of Iran’s Joint Command Headquarters, the official Mizan news agency reported.

Qatari mediators travelled to Tehran on Sunday to finalise the agreement, according to two regional officials.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, expressed cautious optimism that the U.S. and Iran were finally approaching a deal that could halt hostilities that have killed thousands of people and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has thrown world markets into disarray.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday (June 13, 2026) the deal would be signed Sunday, while Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said it could happen in the coming days. Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately after the signing.

The deal is expected to be signed electronically, without an in-person ceremony, though it’s unclear when or how the signing will take place.

Iran’s government warned that any division at home over the deal weakens its negotiating position, and those criticizing negotiators are taking aim at a national decision. Iranians must recognize that no war lasts forever, spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.

Nuclear and other issues still to be finalised

The deal does not solve the thorniest issues between the U.S. and Iran, including Iran’s nuclear program or its billions of dollars in frozen funds, but offers a 60-day framework for technical discussions on those issues, according to Pakistani and regional officials familiar with the ongoing negotiations. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

The officials described Pakistan’s effort leading the negotiations, struggling for months to keep both sides from walking out on multiple occasions.

Under the deal being discussed, US and Israel appear to have fallen short of their original goals of destroying Iran’s missile and nuclear programs and ending its support for armed proxies in the region. It is not clear how the deal will address these issues, or if they will be part of the final agreement.

Iran’s nuclear program and highly enriched uranium have long been at the centre of tensions with the US and Israel and an international source of concern. Trump on social media asserted Saturday that “when all is calm,” the US would go in and “downblend and destroy” the enriched uranium in Iran or in the US.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last year.

Critics in Trump’s Republican Party, struggling with an unpopular war ahead of the midterm elections, have criticized the emerging deal. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term and which he still describes as “bad.” Meanwhile, Mr. Trump was expected to discuss demining the Strait of Hormuz during the Group of Seven summit that starts on Monday (June 15, 2026).

Published – June 14, 2026 10:48 pm IST

A man speaks on a mobile phone while standing near a destroyed building at a neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on June 2, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Israeli troops entered a southern Lebanese village early on Friday (May 29, 2026), pushing deeper into the country as Lebanese and Israeli military officials held direct talks at the Pentagon over the deadly conflict.

The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the village of Ebba, state media reported.

Also read: West Asia war updates on May 30, 2026

In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation met on Friday (May 29, 2026) with Israeli military officials in the first direct military talks between the two countries in decades.

The Pentagon, in a statement released late on Friday (May 29, 2026), said the talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements. It said the talks “focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and the “tangible outcomes” from their discussions will directly inform the negotiations with political leaders being conducted by the State Department next week.

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.

A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese military official told The Associated Press earlier on Friday (May 29, 2026) that the Lebanese delegation, led by the army’s head of operations Brigadier General George Rizkallah, would aim to make it comprehensive.

The official added the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.

Another Lebanese official, who was briefed throughout the day about the talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing hostilities.

He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on matters, such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.

President Joseph Aoun’s office said he received a call on Friday (May 29, 2026) from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun’s office said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on implementing the ceasefire, as it is “the essential entry point for transitioning to any other issues”.

In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington in more than three decades.

The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon on Friday (May 29, 2026), forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas further north.

Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani river, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.

Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli troops inside Yohmor.

The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if Israeli troops were trying to capture the castle, which lies north of the Litani.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern front on Friday (May 29, 2026), where he spoke to members of the military. “I must tell you that there are very impressive results here. Our forces have crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he said.

“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa, across the entire width of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow,” Mr. Netanyahu said, referring to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Israel’s air force struck on Thursday (May 28, 2026).

The violence in southern Lebanon came as US and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement on Thursday (May 28, 2026) to extend the ceasefire in the three-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President J.D. Vance on Thursday evening (May 28, 2026) confirmed there was a tentative agreement but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.

Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said on Friday (May 29, 2026) that any deal between Iran and the US would stop Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Officials in Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, have said that they insist that a deal with Washington would stop the latest Israel-Hezbollah war that started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has left 3,200 people dead in Lebanon and over one million (10 lakh) people displaced.

Published – May 30, 2026 09:03 am IST

Military officers from Lebanon and Israel are set to meet in Washington as Israeli strikes continue amid heightened regional tensions.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

 Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) struck seven vehicles in Lebanon.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pictures of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are displayed inside the Iranian embassy in Beirut, as people attend a gathering to pay tribute to him and to show support for Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in Beirut, Lebanon, April 22, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A man uses a broom to sweep broken glass inside a classroom at an elementary school, near a Byzantine church, which was damaged after a barrage of projectiles was launched towards Israel from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, in Nahariya, northern Israel, on April 10, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters