US-Iran war at six months: 82 ships redirected under US blockade, Hezbollah rejects Israel-Lebanon deal
US embassies refill posts, Hormuz stays shut and Hezbollah vows no ‘surrender’
The war with Iran passed its six-month mark on Friday with no breakthrough in sight. American diplomats and some family members have begun returning to US embassies in the Middle East, with Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain lifting restrictions this week. At sea, CENTCOM says 82 commercial vessels have been redirected under the US blockade. In Beirut, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem rejected the Israel-Lebanon framework deal and said his group would not surrender, while the Israeli military carried out a rare airstrike in the occupied West Bank. Iran's foreign minister, meanwhile, said diplomacy remains possible if Washington drops its pressure campaign. Follow all the latest developments here:
Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, held two phone calls with Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.
In a statement carried by the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the calls discussed the latest regional developments and diplomatic efforts aimed at strengthening security and stability in the region and ensuring the safety and freedom of maritime navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
American diplomats and at least some of their family members are beginning to return to U.S. embassies in the Middle East after many were ordered to leave their posts during the early days of the war with Iran.
Although most embassies are not returning to full strength immediately, starting this week the State Department has begun to lift certain staffing and other restrictions on personnel.
The changes are not necessarily reflective of a shift in the Trump administration's policy toward Iran — now focused on economic rather than kinetic military warfare. Instead, the changes are mainly due to the legalities of human resources policy, which limits the time diplomats may be away from post while still being paid and collecting benefits for themselves and their families.
On Friday, the day the Iran war hit its six-month mark, embassies in Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain announced they would allow diplomats’ family members to return, although in Bahrain and Kuwait it applies only to those older than 18.
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CENTCOM forces have redirected 82 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure compliance as of Aug. 28. A US Sailor stands lookout watch aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) as the ship sails in regional waters enforcing the US blockade against Iran.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday again rejected a deal struck between Israel and Lebanon and said his Iran-backed group refused to "surrender" nearly six months after war erupted with Israel.
"We are against the framework agreement and call for its downfall," Qassem said in a televised address broadcast on the group's Al-Manar television channel.
Israel and Lebanon launched US-sponsored direct talks after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by attacking Israel, which responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.
At talks in late June, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework deal that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".
"The framework agreement is illegitimate, unlawful, humiliating, destructive to Lebanese sovereignty," Qassem said.
The Israeli military said it struck and killed three militants on Friday in the occupied West Bank, a rare airstrike in the Palestinian territory that has seen growing tension.
The West Bank, a partly semi-autonomous territory home to the Palestinian Authority, has seen soaring violence by Israeli settlers but has recently avoided Israeli military strikes that have devastated the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Military raids on Palestinian towns in the West Bank are common, but Israeli strikes have been rare since the start of 2025.
Iran left the door open to diplomacy, six months into a war with the United States that has upended the Middle East, but only if Washington abandons its pressure campaign.
"Putting diplomacy back on track isn't impossible. It hinges on US understanding of one simple fact: pressure doesn't work," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.
Diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by mediators including Pakistan and Qatar, have tried for months to bring an end to the war started by the US and Israel in late February to no avail.
While a ceasefire was agreed in April and a memorandum of understanding towards a final peace deal was signed in June, no agreement has been forthcoming and Washington has since declared "economic warfare" against Tehran.
In the latest effort to reinvigorate diplomacy, Araghchi met his Qatari counterpart on Thursday in the Iranian capital to discuss the Strait of Hormuz, closed by the Islamic republic at the start of the war, at the tail end of a week of intense Iranian talks with Oman and Pakistan.
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