Iran says Hormuz stays closed until US meets demands; Netanyahu rejects Gaza plan

Day 159: Oman condemns ship attacks

Day 158: Trump says Iran can’t ‘go on much longer’

Day 157: Iran says Oman deal alone won’t reopen Hormuz

Day 156: Iran says new Strait of Hormuz shipping route agreed with Oman

DAY 155: Resolving US-Iran conflict in 'progressive stages'

Day 154: Trump says Iran talks ongoing as IRGC warns of readiness

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States "corrects its behavior," issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway.

Iran's state broadcaster published the statement by the council's secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The United States must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The US must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It must "completely compensate" Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and "unconditionally" release frozen assets.

The US, which has wanted an acceptable deal first on the strait before ending the blockade, had no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi strongly condemned the dangerous Iranian attack targeting an ADNOC tanker from the United Arab Emirates while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Turkey's foreign minister said Saturday he expected Egypt to join a joint defence agreement with regional partners designed to stabilise the region that is grappling with the Middle East war.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the agreement on Friday against the backdrop of war between the United States and Iran, which has drawn in surrounding nations and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

The war has emboldened Iran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, both of which have attacked Saudi Arabia, and a drone last month hit US assets at an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told state news agency Anadolu he expected Egypt to join the "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement", calling the country a "natural partner on all issues".

The Pentagon is pressing the US defence industry to accelerate production of weapons to help replenish its diminished stockpile of munitions, including those depleted in the ongoing war with Iran.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Saturday that the department was actively focused on boosting munitions acquisitions to provide “the weapons our warfighters need at the pace the threat demands.” He confirmed department efforts in the last week to significantly speed the process but insisted it was part of a broader modernization effort that predated the five-month-old conflict.

Yemeni troops conducted a military operation targeting Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saturday, reports CNN. A spokesperson for the country’s armed forces condemned the group, saying it has “dragged Yemen into regional conflicts in service of foreign agendas and schemes”, it added.

The Houthis are among several Iranian proxies that have threatened to widen the conflict as the US and Israel remain at war with Iran.  

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.

The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone, and the strike was precise", adding the attack had been launched in response to Saudi incursions into territory in northwest Yemen.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts all of Tehran's demands.

"Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions," said Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi, as quoted by state TV, adding that "the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway".

The Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemned the Iranian attack on an oil tanker operated by ADNOC while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates reaffirmed Syria's solidarity with the United Arab Emirates and reiterated its rejection of any acts targeting the security of maritime navigation in international waterways.

The ministry stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty of states and safeguarding international trade routes in a manner that contributes to preserving regional security and stability.

Khorfakkan Port, affiliated with the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority, is set to receive a large RoRo vessel carrying 6,068 new energy vehicles produced by Chinese automaker BYD.

The vessel departed from Xiaomo International Logistics Port in Shenzhen, China, marking the launch of a direct maritime shipping route between the two sides.

The new route offers a strategic logistics solution for Chinese exports to the UAE and the wider Middle East, cutting maritime transit time between the two countries by three to five days and reducing potential disruptions in the shipment of vehicles and large equipment.

The shipment bound for Khorfakkan Port also set a new record at China's Xiaomo Port as the largest single vehicle shipment handled by the port.

Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency has released a 12-second, undated video showing Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, amid reports and speculation surrounding his health. The agency did not disclose when or where the footage was recorded.

The brief clip shows Khamenei seated and speaking with several officials and advisers. He appears composed throughout the footage, but the video provides no independent evidence regarding his current health. Mehr said it was the first video it had published of Khamenei since he became Supreme Leader.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had targeted "Saudi enemy" troops and equipment on Yemen's Red Sea coast city of Mokha after residents there said they heard blasts.

The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "carried out a large-scale and precise military operation targeting Saudi enemy troop concentrations and weapons depots in the Mokha area," using "a large number of ballistic missiles and drones".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian recently met with supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since assuming the post early in the Middle East war, Khamenei's office said Sunday.

"Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian met Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and spoke with him at the start of his third year in the presidency," the supreme leader's office said in a statement, without indicating the date of the meeting.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July 2024, had said in early May that he met with Khamenei, also without specifying the date, but the supreme leader's office did not issue any statements at the time.

The president had said on Wednesday that communication with Khamenei was "very difficult at the moment", and speculation has swirled about the supreme leader's health after he was reportedly wounded in strikes that killed his father.

Khamenei's office said the two "discussed in detail the country's issues and problems", including the "current military situation and future prospects".

Iran had been engaged in negotiations with Washington on ending the war launched by the US and Israel in February, but a preliminary deal fell apart, and its top diplomat has said talks are now limited to exchanging messages through mediators.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.

"I want to emphasise once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.

Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday killed at least four troops from the internationally-recognised government forces and injured 20 more personnel, two military sources told AFP.

The initial toll came from strikes on the Yemeni city of Mokha and surrounding areas, as well as Khokha, south of the port city of Hodeida, the sources said on condition of anonymity, after the Houthis announced they had targeted military forces and equipment on the Red Sea coast.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye is “purely defensive” and not aimed at any country.

Signed in Mecca on Friday, the pact says an external attack on one member will be considered an attack on all three.

Dar said the agreement aims to strengthen regional peace, stability and security and remains open to other countries willing to uphold its principles. Read more here

Images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in public will soon be released for the first time since his appointment in March, state-run Mizan news agency reported.

Mizan, citing Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi, said images would show Khamenei “among the people and out in the streets”, as well as meeting armed forces commanders.

The announcement comes amid months of speculation over the Supreme Leader’s health.

Netanyahu rejected a US-led Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas, taking fresh distance from President Donald Trump as he faces razor-tight elections.

After more than a week of gradually escalating criticism of the plan, Netanyahu explicitly opposed it in the face of pushback from his right-wing base.

"Israel rejects the 15-point document," Netanyahu said, referring to a plan signed off on by Hamas in late July.

The Israeli military "will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu described Trump, with whom he has also had a growing break on Iran, as "our greatest friend in the White House" - but quickly made clear he was willing to challenge him.

He said Israel was raising its objections to the Gaza plan with the United States.

"They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters," he said.

The US Department of Defence has urged military contractors to accelerate weapons production amid concerns over stockpiles as the Iran war continues, CNN reported.

A memo from Deputy Defence Secretary Steve Feinberg gives defence companies 21 days to submit plans for faster deliveries and increased production of critical weapons. The memo was first reported by The Washington Post.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the move is part of efforts to rebuild the US defence industrial base and speed up weapons production.

He said the push could also shape the fiscal 2028 defence budget, while the fiscal 2027 budget could accelerate the effort sooner.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States complied with a list of demands, including paying compensation for war damage.

Iran has effectively blockaded the crucial energy conduit since the United States and Israel attacked it in late February, and wants to charge tolls for passage, striking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.

Attacks in the waterway, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire, and mediators have urged both sides to return to the terms of a subsequent June memorandum that set out a path for peace talks.

Iran's security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr had laid out on Saturday a list of conditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq".

He also demanded the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Trump signalled he is prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from ordering more military strikes even as Tehran issues tough demands.

"We are low-keying it," Trump said, according to the news outlet Axios, which said it spoke to him in a brief phone call.

Only a week ago Trump made the latest of his series of threats to hit Iran hard, only to back off, as he presses for a deal to end the war he started along with Israel on February 28.

Axios said Trump did not express any frustration Sunday with Iran's delaying an agreement to open up the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that the US first end its blockade of Iranian ports and lift oil sanctions, as per the memorandum of understanding the two countries signed in June.

The strait's blockage by Iran since the war started has sent fuel prices soaring and rattled the world economy, putting pressure on the Trump administration as midterm elections in November grow nearer.

"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," Trump was quoted as saying.

Trump also said oil prices are falling so American consumers are feeling less pain from the war.

"It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," Trump said of US dealings with Iran.

The former commander in chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, has been named head of the country's highest national security body, the Iranian presidency announced on Sunday.

"In light of the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr from his position as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and his appointment to new functions, President Masoud Pezeshkian has named Mohsen Rezaei as the head of this body," presidency spokesman Mehdi Tabatabaei said on X.

Rezaei, 71, led the Guards from 1981 to 1997 - a tenure that included almost all of the Iran-Iraq war - before going on to occupy several high-ranking political posts. He then served as military adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Rezaei declared in July that control of the Strait of Hormuz, now at the centre of the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States, was "more important than dozens of atomic bombs".

His predecessor, Zolghadr, was also a former Guards commander and took up leadership of the council in March.

He will now become a political adviser to Khamenei, according to a statement released by the supreme leader's office on Sunday.

Reports circulating on social media early on Monday claim that Iran has launched multiple missiles from the area of Sirik in southern Iran, striking an oil tanker off the coast of Oman.

The vessel was reportedly transiting the US-backed southern shipping corridor of the Strait of Hormuz and is said to be on fire.

The post, timestamped around 21:23 UTC on August 9, 2026 (1:23 am Gulf Standard Time on Monday), has been widely shared and amplified by other accounts monitoring regional conflicts and markets.

Some secondary posts describe the tanker being hit by "multiple missiles" (one account claimed four) and noted possible additional targeting of another vessel, along with unconfirmed reports of a US MQ-9 drone being downed over southern Iran.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has called for the implementation of all provisions of the Gaza roadmap, including a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave and sustained humanitarian aid delivery. Abdelatty made the call during a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace Director-General Nikolay Mladenov, as per Anadolu news agency.

According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement, Abdelatty and Mladenov discussed developments in Gaza and efforts to implement Trump's peace plan. The two officials also reviewed arrangements for the deployment of the International Stabilisation Force, which is expected to monitor security during the transitional period.

Abdelatty emphasised the need for ensuring the "full, safe and sustainable" delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and said that a complete Israeli withdrawal would help pave the way for the second phase of the roadmap, including early recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Oil prices were higher in early Asian trading Monday as uncertainty over a possible agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz continued to outweigh hopes for a quick return to normal shipping.

At 8:33 am Tokyo on Monday (Aug. 10, 2026), market data on OilPrice.com showed West Texas Intermediate crude at $78.71 a barrel, up 53 cents, or 0.68%; Brent crude at $84.28, up 73 cents, or 0.87%; and Murban crude at $80.25, up 72 cents, or 0.91%.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards insisted late on Sunday that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US complied with a list of demands, including paying compensation for war damage.

Iran's effective blockade of the crucial energy conduit has rattled allies, roiled markets and driven up prices, but US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was "low-keying it" in his approach to Tehran, suggesting he believed he could wait them out economically.

Yemeni government forces and medical sources reported that Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a large-scale missile and drone assault on the Red Sea port city of al-Mokha (also spelled Makha or Mocha) late on Sunday, August 9, 2026, killing at least seven people — including three civilians and four to eight military personnel — and wounding around 30–32 others.

The Yemeni military stated that four armed forces members and three civilians were killed and 30 others injured in the strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, the commercial port, and armed forces positions.

Air defences intercepted and shot down 11 Houthi drones. Later medical and AFP-cited figures raised the toll to at least 11 dead (three civilians and eight military personnel) and 32 wounded (including six civilians), with all civilian casualties linked to hits on the port.

We are closing this live coverage. For the latest updates, click here.