US-Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz crisisPage 3 of 11
A military and diplomatic confrontation between the United States and Iran has escalated following US strikes and threats, with fighting affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, which Trump has rejected, while both sides continue talks. The conflict has drawn in regional players including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq, and has disrupted oil markets and aviation.
Seoul to seek parliamentary approval to extend anti-piracy Cheonghae unit’s area to about 650km from the vital strait after criticism from Donald Trump on Iran war support South Korea plans to expand the operations of its anti-piracy unit to waters closer to the strait of Hormuz, its defence ministry has said, after pressure from Donald Trump to provide support for his war in Iran. The government is to submit a motion to parliament that would expand the Cheonghae unit’s area of operation to waters near the port of Duqm in Oman, which is about 650km (403 miles) away from the strait. The motion also needs to be approved by President Lee Jae Myung and the cabinet. Continue reading...
President Trump has no regrets about his war with Iran, despite CBS News projecting that Democrats will win both the House and Senate in the midterm elections. Weijia Jiang reports.
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The US Treasury issued fresh sanctions on Wednesday against companies and individuals based in India and Turkey for their support of Iran, warning that it would continue to go after anyone who supported the Iranian government. The sanctions are part of the Trump administration's "Operation Economic Outcast," which aims to cut off Iran's ability to sell oil to fund the war with the US and Israel.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the Iran war had doomed Republicans in the midterm elections, moving to distance himself from the unpopular conflict ahead of a possible 2028 White House run. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said in a lengthy post on X — apparently referring to President Donald Trump’s remarks that the Iran war was “part of it” but that it was still justified. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” added Vance. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.” The Democratic wave in Tuesday’s midterms has raised major questions over Vance’s previous status as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2028 presidential election. He has not yet formally declared that he will run. Vance, a longtime vocal critic of US foreign interventionism, had reportedly been sceptical behind the scenes about the war on Iran that Trump and Israel launched in late February. Vance also acknowledged that Republican voters who backed Trump and himself two years ago had switched sides due to the war and its effects on the US economy. “The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026,” the vice president said. He said a pollster that he respected showed that the Iran war and the economy were key factors in voters abandoning Republicans. “In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats,” Vance wrote. “He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were: End the war Focus on cost of living/inflation Put America First Change our relationship to Israel.” Top Senate Democrat says Iran war ‘must end’ Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Iran war “must end” and suggested his party’s incoming majority in Congress could use their control over government funding to press for that goal. “The American people don’t know what the heck we’re fighting for in Iran,” Schumer tells journalists, adding that Trump has never made it clear and “changes his mind day to day, minute to minute”. “This war must end. It must end,” Schumer added. He later noted that the “power of the purse” is “one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people”. “Make no mistake: whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court and entangle him in legislative razor wire,” Schumer warns. “The days of Trump’s supplicant Senate are over.”
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Iran war has been worth it despite acknowledging its role in losses in US midterm elections in which his Republican party lost control of Congress.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Wednesday that anyone expecting a shift in US policy was “seriously mistaken”, hours after midterm elections dealt a blow to President Donald Trump. “Those who still harbour even the slightest hope that the behaviour of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” Khamenei said in a written statement published on his website. Democrats seized control of the US Congress in Tuesday’s midterms, reflecting anger over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring. Khamenei’s remarks come with diplomatic efforts underway to avert renewed fighting in the war, which broke out on February 28. US and Israeli leaders have in recent days threatened to resume attacks against Iran. “Should such aggressions be repeated, the war’s scope will become much wider,” said Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since he took power in March. Earlier, Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Americans had voted against war. “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” he posted on X. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Ghalibaf said. Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also hailed the election results, saying Trump had been “defeated both militarily and politically”. “We will certainly inflict further defeats on him,” he added.
Iran celebrates its claimed role in ‘regime change’ amid pressure on Trump to ‘finish the job’ with attack US midterms live – latest updates Iran this week unveiled a huge billboard and banners over Enqelab Square in central Tehran. The billboard pledged in English: “We will kill Trump” – elevating the degree of personal animus with which Donald Trump is viewed in official Iranian circles. The poster depicts the US president behind bars with his head bowed. And in a sense, given the US midterm election results on Tuesday, Iran has indeed killed Trump, or at least the second term of his presidency. Trump’s reverse is all the more piquant because it comes on the day Iran’s leadership celebrates the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, an event that ensnared Jimmy Carter, and a reminder of how Iran has ruined the prospects of more than one US president. Continue reading...
Nov 3 (Reuters) - The United States has no immediate plans to strike Iran, President Donald Trump told the Financial Times. In an interview with the FT on Tuesday, Trump suggested he was content with the state of the stand-off with Iran. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” Trump said in the six-minute telephone interview. (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City; Editing by Chris Reese)
The Houthi group announced on Monday that it had targeted Dammam Airport in Saudi Arabia with two drones, as part of their ongoing military operations against the kingdom, Reuters reported. The group also claimed to have targeted a military aircraft at Jazan Airport in Saudi Arabia – however, there has been no confirmation from the … The post Houthis announce attacks on Dammam and Jazan airports appeared first on Egypt Independent.
US President Donald Trump signaled progress on Tuesday in talks with Iran to avoid a return to war, as Tehran reported “intensive” exchanges while offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions. The fresh diplomatic signals came ahead of US midterm elections on Tuesday, in which Trump’s Republican Party is pushing to retain control of Congress, faced with voter dissatisfaction over the conflict and the soaring fuel prices it has triggered. A deal with Tehran “could happen,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible.” But hours later, Washington’s diplomatic overtures were dashed by a report that the United States had attacked Iran, in what the Wall Street Journal said was the latest in a string of limited strikes it secretly carried out against the Islamic republic in recent weeks. Iranian state media reported five explosions in rapid succession on Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz. The US Central Command did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Earlier, oil prices plunged by more than seven per cent on Monday on optimism over a possible end to the eight-month-old conflict. The WSJ report came shortly before polls opened in the midterms, in which Democrats expect to win at least partial control of Congress and impose political constraints on Trump for the first time in two years. Reopen the strait Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that indirect talks with Washington were taking place via mediators. “Given the sensitivity and gravity of the current situation, consultations and deliberations are very intensive,” Araghchi told state media. “Qatar and Pakistan are playing a very active mediating role in these negotiations.” Vice President JD Vance said both he and Trump were optimistic about securing an agreement. “We’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more,” Vance told reporters on Monday. China also urged a return to diplomacy, while Iran’s security chief discussed the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier, the Axios news outlet reported that Vance had sent a letter to Iranian national security chief Mohsen Rezaei about possible new talks, marking the highest-level move in months. Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the messages received from Washington were “an acknowledgement of our victory.” A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was ready to open the Hormuz strait, an export conduit for the energy-rich Gulf, within two days — as long as Washington agreed to its list of demands. In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports. “The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran’s good-faith approach,” Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a briefing. Chinese President Xi Jinping also discussed the war with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq in Beijing on Monday – the first visit to China by the Gulf nation’s head of state since diplomatic ties were established. “The two sides called for resolving disputes through political and diplomatic means, urging the United States and Iran to pursue a peaceful path, achieve a ceasefire (and) prevent war entirely,” an Omani statement said. ‘No compromises’ China held meetings with Iranian and Saudi officials in Beijing on Monday as well. Beijing supports Tehran in “safeguarding its own sovereignty and security,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to a Chinese statement. Bagheri told Wang that “Tehran’s stance on defending its national security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity remains unchanged, and that Iran will make no compromises in this regard,” state TV reported. In an interview with Al Jazeera released on Sunday, Araghchi said Washington must accept a new route agreed between Iran and Oman for transiting the strait. He said Washington must also remove sanctions imposed recently and reduce American troop numbers in the region. Trump has kept up his threats against Tehran, saying on Sunday that the United States may have to give Iran “the hammer” at some unspecified time. On Saturday, the US leader said he still had to “take care” of one or two targets including Pickaxe mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility. Baqaei warned that any act of aggression against Iran “will be met with a powerful, immediate and comprehensive response. “
Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions on the island in the strait of Hormuz, coming on the eve of crucial US midterms The US launched limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday, according to reports in US media, hours after US vice-president JD Vance said he was optimistic diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction. The strikes were reported as being “defensive”, and not thought to be a signal of a return to full hostilities, but came on the eve of crucial midterm elections in which Donald Trump’s Republican party is expected to be punished by voters for the cascading effect the war has had on the US cost of living. Continue reading...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for another wave of strikes on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States, according to two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter. A return to full-scale war with Iran could help Netanyahu to form an emergency government after he and his far-right allies lost their parliamentary majority in last week’s elections. US President Donald Trump has alternated between threatening major strikes while pushing...
