Trump says negotiations with Iran could resume ‘maybe at some point’

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that negotiations with Iran for a deal to cease hostilities could resume “maybe at some point,” also reiterating his assertion that the US has “complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Right now, I think the situation is so good,” Trump told reporters when asked about the Iran war, adding that the talks could resume “maybe at some point.”

Turning to Iran having a nuclear weapons capability, he said: “They have to get rid of it completely. They have to get rid of nuclear weapons. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. You know why? Cause they’d use it, and we’re not going to let them use it. So Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t.”

He said that “we have possession, complete control of the Strait (of Hormuz). I mean, outside of nuisance value, and there is nuisance value when they shoot a drone every once in a while.”

Will fully support armed forces, despite limitations and challenges: Iran’s Pezeshkian

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday said that the government would extend full support to the armed forces with “all our might” and that this support would “continue despite limitations and challenges,” according to the state news agency ISNA.

Speaking in a cabinet meeting, Pezeshkian stated that the government would “spare no effort to meet the needs of the armed forces”, adding that this was on the “government’s agenda”.

Iranian lawmaker says Tehran would respond in kind if US used nuclear weapon

An Iranian lawmaker said Tehran would respond in kind if the US used a nuclear weapon against Iran, commenting on a media report about the possibility of such an attack, according to local media on Wednesday.

Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, made the remarks in an interview with Iranian news outlet Khabar Online.

Asked how likely he considered a US nuclear attack on Iran, Maleki said: “I do not rule out an ill-considered action by (US President Donald) Trump, but I do not think he would dare to do such a thing, because such an action could plunge the world into a dangerous war.”

“If such an action is taken, the Islamic Republic of Iran will also respond, and its reaction will be proportionate to the type of weapon used against Iran,” he added.

Pressed on whether this meant Iran would use a nuclear weapon if the US attacked Iran with one, Maleki replied: “Whatever the US uses, Iran will respond to it.”

Maleki did not explicitly say that Iran possesses nuclear weapons.

The lawmaker also warned Washington against further military action, saying Iran has “multiple options” at its disposal and that any US move could draw a response “at the same level or even beyond.”

“Many of Iran’s weapons and military capabilities have not yet been unveiled,” Maleki said, arguing that Tehran has moved from a defensive posture to what he described as “active and offensive deterrence.”

Turning to stalled Tehran-Washington talks, Maleki accused Trump of failing to honour commitments under the memorandum of understanding between the two sides.

He said Iran would not return to negotiations unless Washington abides by its previous commitments, adding that issues, including the Strait of Hormuz, would otherwise remain unresolved.

Maleki said Iran’s talks with Oman are a separate bilateral track, adding that Tehran rejected US participation in those discussions.

NATO is prepared to address any threat, official says

NATO is prepared to address any threat and will always do what is necessary to defend all allies, a NATO official said on Wednesday in response to questions about a report in the Financial Times that Iran has allegedly weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war.

“As demonstrated earlier this year when NATO air defences successfully intercepted ballistic missiles heading to Turkiye from Iran on four separate occasions, our deterrence and defence posture is strong and effective,” the official said.

Iran weighs strikes on US military targets in Europe if war escalates: report

Iran has considered striking US military assets in Europe if US President Donald Trump escalates the war, as Tehran weighs options to expand the conflict beyond the Middle East, the Financial Times claimed in a report on Wednesday.

Citing two people close to the Iranian government, the British daily said Iranian forces had assessed potential strikes on US assets in southeastern European countries, including Bulgaria, which last month approved the use of its Bezmer air base by US refuelling aircraft.

Cyprus, where a British air base was hit by a drone in March, has also been considered among potential targets in the event of a renewed US offensive, according to one of the sources.

Iranian forces have separately examined the possibility of targeting subsea fibre-optic cables in the Strait of Hormuz in the event of further escalation, the report said.

One source told the Financial Times that Tehran was preparing options to expand the conflict if Trump followed through on previous threats to attack Iranian infrastructure.

“Should the US go too far, Iran will defend itself at any price, go beyond the region and hit Europe too,” the source said.

The report comes as negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled and prospects for renewed Tehran-Washington talks have dimmed.

Trump said Tuesday that there were “no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled” with Tehran.

Iranian military officials have previously warned that any military base used to launch attacks against Iranian territory could be considered a target.

The report also cited military experts as saying that Iran has missiles capable of reaching parts of southern and southeastern Europe, although their effectiveness and accuracy could decline at longer ranges.

Iran’s armed forces warn Gulf countries against assisting US military

Iran’s armed forces warned Gulf countries on Wednesday against assisting the US military, saying it would be tantamount to joining American military operations.

“We wish to warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor US military amounts to participation in the US military operation,” armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi said, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

Former Iranian leader Khatami rejects calls for conflict with US

Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has warned that some in Iran believe the nation’s “life and survival lie in war,” openly questioning the logic behind that stance, Al Jazeera reported, citing Iran’s Fars news agency.

“Some say: ‘First, we will teach America a lesson here, then we will go to the heart of America and fight it there.’ But what reality is this based on?” Khatami asked.

“My feelings were also wounded when they killed our commander, and one’s eyes could almost weep blood. But governing a society cannot be based on raw emotion,” he added. “We must consider what serves the ultimate interests of the country, the system, and Islam.”

UAE denies providing financial facilities to Iran after suspending trade

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday denied providing financial facilities to Iran, hours after announcing the suspension of trade and financial exchanges with Tehran until further notice.

UAE presidential diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash rejected the reports as false, describing claims that Abu Dhabi was providing financial facilities to Iran as part of “desperate media campaigns.”

The UAE is Iran’s second-largest trading partner globally after China and its largest trading partner in the Gulf and Arab world.

The value of non-oil trade between the two countries has recently ranged between $27 billion and $29.1 billion annually, with both sides having previously announced plans to raise the figure to $30 billion.

“Some directed platforms are circulating false information about the UAE,” Gargash said in a post on US social media company X.

He stressed that the UAE “continues to focus its efforts on dealing with developments in the region and preparing for what comes after this phase.”

“As for the rumours being circulated, such as those concerning the cancellation of workers’ residency permits or providing financial facilities to Iran and others, they are false information and part of desperate media campaigns,” he added.

“The UAE’s approach is that the best response to such claims is through action and achievements on the ground,” Gargash said.

The UAE announced on Tuesday that it was suspending all commercial activities with Iran until further notice, citing a regional escalation that had “undermined peace and security,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s strategic communications director.

The move came after the UAE Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses had detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward the country.

Hormuz traffic slows as uncertainty over waterway persists

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed, data showed on Wednesday, as most shipowners avoided the ​key waterway due to a lack of clear signalling about its reopening after a blockade during the Iran war.

Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, Kpler data showed by 07:58am PKT, down from ​nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily ​average of 11.

Inbound traffic included an empty very large crude ⁠carrier that followed the Omani side of the strait, as ​well as two tankers, one of medium-range and the other intermediate, ​the data showed.

Two medium-range fuel tankers and a post-Panamax vessel exited the strait.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said no talks were taking place with ​Iran and insisted the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting ​Iran’s assertion that it remained shut to shipping.

The waterway handled a fifth of ‌the ⁠world’s shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

As security concerns curb oil shipments to the world’s largest importer, two Chinese shipping giants that used to carry half its imports ​of Middle Eastern ​oil before ⁠the war have kept their tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since ​late July, say tanker tracker Vortexa and a ship ​broker.

At ⁠the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea, where Yemeni Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20, Kpler ⁠data showed ​30 weekend transits by commodity vessels, ​up from 19 in the prior week.

There were no tracked Saudi oil shipments.

South Korean minister says Trump appears to be pressuring Seoul over Iran, investment

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump’s order to curb joint military drills appeared aimed in part at pressuring Seoul to support US efforts in the Iran war, alongside other unresolved issues such as investment.

“I think President Trump’s message includes pressure over several pending issues concerning the South Korean government, as well as a message to North Korea and an intention by the United States to break a stalemate in the Iran war,” Cho said.

One potential source of friction could be South Korea’s pledge to invest $350 billion in the United States under a trade deal signed last year, Cho said.

Seoul has yet to announce details of the investment plan, although Cho said Washington had sent Seoul a proposal outlining projects that could be considered.

“We could not move faster on the investment plan as we had to consider factors such as commercial viability and take legal procedures,” Cho said. He cited other unexpected problems, without elaborating.

South Korea and the United States announced on Wednesday that they will shorten annual military drills to five days from 11 and scale back some field training, following Trump’s order on a substantial reduction in US participation.

South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who attended the same hearing, said he believes Trump was moving closer to potentially arranging a new meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by curtailing exercises that have long angered Pyongyang.

UAE says two missiles detected earlier launched from Iran

The United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said on Tuesday that it had detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, the first such incident reported since a May 4 strike on the Fujairah port.

In a statement later, the ministry said the missiles targeted “maritime traffic” based on its assessments. Both missiles fell into the sea, it said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei rejected early on Wednesday the statement by the UAE, describing it as “baseless.”

In a statement issued after the missile threat, the UAE said it had suspended all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, citing an escalation that it said undermined regional and international peace and security.

Read: Tehran accuses US of ‘squeezing Iran’ in effort to wrest concessions

The missile launch comes as a 60-day window for US-Iranian peace talks expired on Monday without a breakthrough, raising fears of a new escalation in the conflict that has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since February.

“The defence ministry affirms its full readiness to deal with any threats and firmly confront anything that aims to destabilise the state’s security,” it said in a statement.

The UAE’s interior ministry sent a phone alert earlier on Tuesday to residents stating that the situation was safe and people should resume normal activities after an earlier alert warning of a missile threat.

The UAE had accused Iran recently of attacking its state-owned ADNOC vessels while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attacks on ADNOC vessels. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have previously ​threatened action against vessels transiting the strait if they are linked to Tehran’s adversaries ​or fail to comply with Iranian directives.

Iranian parliament speaker arrives in Baghdad for regional, bilateral talks

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday at the head of a high-level delegation, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

Iraq’s parliament media office said First Deputy Speaker Adnan Fayhan received Qalibaf and his delegation at Baghdad International Airport.

Before departing Tehran, Ghalibaf said the visit, made at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, would focus on expanding cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad in economic, political, cultural, social and security fields, according to his official Telegram channel.

He said he was also scheduled to meet senior Iraqi officials, including the president, as well as economic and cultural figures.

Ghalibaf described relations between Iran and Iraq as “very important and fundamental” to regional developments, saying the region would witness a “new order” in the future.

US, UAE discuss regional security, Strait of Hormuz

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone Tuesday with United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan about regional security, the State Department said.

“The two discussed several regional security issues, including Lebanon, as well as continued US-UAE coordination to hold Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable for ongoing attacks,” the department said in a statement.

During the call, Rubio underscored the importance of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the statement said.

Read more: Iran threatens to go on offensive in Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy with US fails

Earlier on Tuesday, the UAE suspended all trade exchanges and financial transactions with Iran “until further notice” after saying that Iran fired two ballistic missiles towards the Gulf state.

Cargo ship hit by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s west coast: UKMTO

A cargo ship was struck by multiple unidentified projectiles off Yemen’s western coast, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said Tuesday.

UKMTO said it received a report of the incident about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) southeast of Mokha.

The vessel was unmanned at the time of the incident, but the damage resulted in a “complete constructive loss,” it said.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

UKMTO urged vessels transiting the area to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.