An Iranian official dismissed as “laughable” ‌on Monday (August 31, 2026) a post by Donald Trump of an AI-generated video clip that the U.S. President said showed Iran’s oil hub Kharg ​Island being “blown to smithereens”.

Hours after Sunday’s (August 30) post, there was no evidence Kharg had been attacked. The White House and the U.S. Defence Department did ⁠not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.

Mr. Trump’s post came shortly after the U.S. and Iran resumed hostilities for the first time since late July, further denting hopes for any early resolution of a conflict now in its sixth month and driving oil prices nearly 2% higher on Monday (August 31).

U.S. forces on Sunday (August 30) struck two Iranian launchers on ‌Iran’s Larak Island, some 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg, a U.S. official said, prompting Iran to retaliate by attacking two U.S. bases in Jordan, according to Iranian media.

Also read | West Asia LIVE- August 31, 2026

“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Mr. Trump had said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday (August 30), with no further details.

Reuters ‌confirmed that an accompanying video clip showing dramatic explosions was most likely synthetically generated, using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery.

“Mr. Trump’s tweets are laughable, and conditions in ‌Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard, chief executive of government-run National Iranian Oil Co, said on Monday (August 31).

Oil operations have not stopped, and workers ⁠were busy repairing previous damage and modernising facilities, he added in comments cited by Nournews, a semi-official outlet close to Iran’s top security body.

Iran vows to respond to any attacks

Kharg handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war launched by U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28, and attacking it would severely disrupt energy trade and put huge pressure on the economy.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country ​was not seeking war but would respond decisively to any aggression.

“We will ‌never remain silent in the face of any aggression…,” state media quoted him as saying on Monday (August 30) ahead of a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

It was not clear if he was speaking before or after Mr. Trump’s post on Kharg Island.

A U.S. official said forces had attacked the Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday (August 30) after “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz”.

Larak is a small island in the strait near ‌the strategic Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The strait, which normally handles a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, has been effectively ​blocked since the start of the war.

In a statement, the U.S. Central Command said it took “limited, precise” action against minelaying forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the strait. It gave no details.

In retaliation, as well as attacking the U.S. ⁠bases in Jordan, Iran’s army said it had also struck the Al Minhad air base in the United Arab Emirates early on Monday. However, the UAE’s Defence Ministry dismissed that report as false.

The UAE Defence Ministry later said its air force engaged a drone that had come from Iran over its territorial waters. It provided no further details, including ‌whether it was shot down.

The Jordan strikes targeted U.S. bases used to launch and support the attack on Larak, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Revolutionary Guards used air defence missiles to shoot down a U.S. drone that crashed in Gulf waters, the Mehr news agency said on Monday (August 31), citing a statement from the elite force.

A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV said, citing a Guards’ statement.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said Iran’s policy of targeting Gulf Arab states and Jordan had failed.

“A state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution,” Mr. Gargash said in a post on X, adding that realistic political solutions should begin with de-escalation and the restoration of normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Piling economic pressure on Iran

Mr. Trump has yet to achieve the objectives he set out at the start of the war: dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, curbing its ability to attack regional rivals and creating conditions for Iranians ​to overthrow their clerical rulers.

Sunday’s (August 39) return to hostilities followed weeks in which his administration has stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners with costly economic sanctions, shifting away from military options.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday (August 31) that new secondary sanctions were likely ⁠to be unveiled weekly in the effort to pressure Iran, with an initial focus on banks.

Amid threats to shipping, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of ⁠Hormuz dropped to five a day over the weekend, shipping data showed.

The actual number could be higher as some vessels have switched off automatic identification systems to evade attacks.

The Guards said the supertanker on fire after being hit by mines had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally, but ‌gave no details of the vessel or crew, according to a statement cited by state television.

Last week, Mr. Trump said all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait, and Iran had been warned that any vessel placing new mines would be destroyed. Iran denied Mr. assertion.

Published – August 31, 2026 06:05 pm IST

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed once again after a warning shot fired by its military struck a vessel using an unauthorised route in the critical waterway, further jeopardising the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the United States.

U.S. Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran. There were explosions in Bandar Abbas and Sirik, two towns along the shores of the strait, Iran state media reported.

“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the American military said.

A Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engine room damage,” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.

Senior U.S. officials had previously said in Washington that negotiations to further cement last month’s deal to end the war would be unable to progress without the strait being secure — and even said they wanted Iran to offer public statements to that effect.

Instead, the Revolutionary Guards Corps said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”

Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.

A little more than an hour later, the U.S. announced its own new round of strikes.

“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media.

Attacks followed more diplomatic talks about the strait

The latest flurry of shots from both sides followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday (July 11, 2026) to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war.

Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on February 28.

Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.

Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels.”

Iran accuses Washington of violating ceasefire deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said before the new round of strikes that he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.”

For decades, the world has considered the strait an international waterway. Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The U.S. urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters.

About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Iran’s top diplomat also accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Mr. Araghchi wrote on social media.

Trump says he responded to threats to kill him

Mr. Trump said he’s personally been the target of an Iranian plot, and he said the U.S. military would automatically retaliate if he was killed.

He wrote on social media early Saturday (July 11, 2026) that “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”

However, such retaliation would have to be ordered by Vice President J.D. Vance, who would become commander-in-chief if Mr. Trump were to be killed.

Mr. Trump said he was responding to threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei’s funeral, mourners held posters or banners calling for Mr. Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. President has declared the ceasefire over but said the U.S. would continue negotiations.

U.S. officials, speaking Friday (July 10, 2026) on condition of anonymity about the current situation with Iran, said the resumption of strikes even before the latest round came as a result of what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners who were trying to sabotage the ceasefire.

Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified under the new supreme leader.

After the U.S. wrapped up strikes on Thursday (July 9, 2026), more attacks reportedly hit Iran, raising questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

Israel didn’t claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday (July 8, 2026) retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strikes in Iran over two days — and before the ones in the wake of the warning shot — killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.

Published – July 12, 2026 08:08 am IST

The United States launched new strikes on Iran on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) after President Donald Trump vowed to hit “hard” following Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. Trump, while ordering retaliation against Tehran, said he expected the latest military flare-up to end quickly and left the door open to more talks.

U.S. Central Command said the strikes were carried out to degrade the ability of Iranian forces “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping,” CENTCOM said on X.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said explosions had been heard in the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Konarak and Chabahar.

Before ordering the latest strikes, Mr. Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over, prompting mediators Pakistan and Qatar and the United Nations to call for de-escalation.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint in the West Asia conflict, which began in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who is to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday (July 9, 2026).

Tehran insists on controlling the strait, saying it will charge fees for passage and threatening to hit vessels that deviate from its authorised route.

Its military struck at least three ships in recent days, prompting extensive U.S. strikes against Iranian targets on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), followed by retaliatory attacks from Iran on Gulf countries.

“We’re gonna hit ’em hard tonight,” Mr. Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara. “They violate the agreement every day.”

He added later, however, that “anything that happens is going to be over very quickly.”

Oil prices jumped eight percent after Mr. Trump’s earlier comments that the ceasefire was “over”.

‘Maximum restraint’

UN chief Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, called “on all parties to exercise maximum restraint” — as did Pakistan, a key mediator in the U.S.-Iran talks.

Iran said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Qatar’s Prime Minister had spoken over the phone on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) and “underscored the importance of using diplomatic means to resolve regional issues.”

Both the United States and Iran said they had hit dozens of targets in the initial wave of attacks.

Iranian state media reported a series of blasts in the coastal city of Bushehr, which hosts the country’s only civilian nuclear power plant and lies near Kharg island, the main oil terminal through which 90% of Iran’s crude exports transit.

Iranian state television said U.S. strikes killed eight military personnel.

CENTCOM said its forces had struck more than 80 targets on Tuesday, including Iranian air-defence systems, coastal radar sites and 60 IRGC small boats.

Tehran’s reply came quickly, with the Guards saying they hit dozens of U.S. military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Kuwait said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones, while the Iranian army said it had also attacked U.S. forces at Sheikh Isa air base in Bahrain.

The latest attacks launched by Iran did not result in any American casualties or cause major damage to facilities, a U.S. military official said on Wednesday (July 8, 2026).

“All missiles and drones fired by Iran were intercepted or failed to cause major damage,” the official told AFP.

Nawal Saad, a Bahraini civil servant, lamented that “the spectre of war is looming once more,” saying “I do not want to go through that experience of fear and anxiety again.”

‘Seafarers stranded’

Oman, which sits on the other side of Hormuz from Iran, condemned the targeting of Bahrain and Kuwait as well as the strikes on ships, but without blaming Iran.

The former mediator has not blamed Iran for attacks throughout the war, in an effort to maintain its neutrality, which is being tested by talks with Tehran over the administration of Hormuz.

Washington wants free passage for ships while Iran is insisting on fees and has refused to allow vessels to pass through Omani waters.

All three vessels recently struck were sailing close to Oman, which had proposed a temporary transit corridor hugging its coastline.

Maritime traffic had tentatively resumed after Washington and Tehran signed the deal to end hostilities last month.

But almost 6,000 seafarers remain stranded in the area, International Maritime Organisation chief Arsenio Dominguez said Wednesday (July 8, 2026).

Published – July 09, 2026 03:09 am IST

Two days after a U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast, Iran on Friday warned that the attack on an “unarmed ship cannot go with impunity.”

The Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, was returning home after participating in the Milan multilateral naval exercise hosted by India. At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack, which marked a major escalation in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran outside of the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who is visiting India, emphasised that the IRIS Dena was in a non-combat configuration, returning from the Milan naval exercises and the U.S. action against it was a serious violation of international law.

“This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” he said

Iran-Israel war LIVE updates – March 6, 2026

“It is very unfortunate. Many of the young Iranian sailors who were attending these exercises lost their lives. It cannot go with impunity for those who actually did that,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue.

IRIS Dena was part of Indian Navy’s premier multilateral maritime exercise Milan. The warship had also featured in the International Fleet Review in Vishakapatnam last month.

Mr. Khatibzadeh, blasting the U.S. for killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said “cherry-picking” of international law cannot be acceptable.

“Unfortunately, principles of international law have been attacked, and we have to stand together against these atrocities. Americans have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth can actually have diplomatic normalisation with other countries,” he said.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister said Tehran’s priority now is to “exercise ultimate resistance against the aggressor.” “We are under attack, under invasion by Americans and Israelis, and they are trying to impose maximum damage to Iran. As we are speaking, my fellow citizens are under constant attack,” he said.

“Tehran is under constant attack, and we have no option but to resist to the last bullet that we do have and to the last soldier that we have. This is a very heroic, very nationalistic battle for us, and we have to stop the aggressor,” he said.

Mr. Khatibzadeh also responded to a question on India’s position on the West Asia crisis.

“Iran and India have all civilisational roots with each other. We are Indo-Persian culture and civilisation and it is very much in line with this cultural civilisational heritage, and we attach great importance to Iran-India relations,” he said.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister described Iran’s fight against the US and Israel as “resistance for the history, for the region, for the world, for the principles of international law.”

“We are going to resist, and this is for the record of history. Iranians are sacrificing because rogue, reckless behaviour is happening against Iran. This is what we are doing. I think the moment they stop the aggression, we are going to have a new dynamism in the region,” he said.

The Iranian Supreme Leader was killed in an Israel-U.S. strike on February 28.

India on Thursday condoled the killing of Khamenei against the backdrop of scathing criticism of the government by opposition parties for its silence on the assassination as well as on sinking of the Iranian ship by the US off the Sri Lankan coast.

Following the military offensive, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks mainly targeting Israel and American military bases in several Gulf countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

In the last three days, the conflict has widened significantly with attacks and counter-attacks by both sides, triggering fears of a prolonged war in West Asia.

Published – March 06, 2026 01:14 pm IST

The UAE said on Sunday it was closing its embassy in Tehran and recalling the Emirati ambassador after Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone campaign in the Gulf killed four people and wounded dozens more.

The move marks the strongest condemnation yet by a Gulf state since Tehran began targeting the region with a barrage of strikes.

“These hostile attacks against civilian sites, including residential areas, airports, ports, and service facilities, endangered innocent civilians in a serious and irresponsible escalation,” the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.

-AFP