US-Iran war at six months: 82 ships redirected under US blockade, Hezbollah rejects Israel-Lebanon deal

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has admitted that US sanctions on his country are hurting its economy, despite just days ago insisting they would achieve nothing.

"Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don't know what to say," Pezeshkian told state TV in an interview late on Friday.

"We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions," he added.

On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent laid out plans for the "economic asphyxiation" of Iran, warning of dire consequences for countries that do not join the American campaign.

The new measures build on a sanctions regime by the US and allies that has been in place since 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew from an international deal struck with Tehran on its nuclear programme.

Pezeshkian said Friday that Iran's exports and imports had fallen by 25 to 35 percent in recent months as the US maintains a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The president said the price of petrol should be increased in Iran to account for the fall in trade.

Dr Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, has criticised media campaigns directed against the UAE, describing them as “desperate” and arguing that the country’s record of achievement is a stronger response than engaging with attacks against it. 

In a post on X on Saturday, Gargash said the campaigns were based on distortion and rumours set against determination and achievement. He argued that action ultimately carries more weight than reaction, and that confronting what he called a successful national model was difficult for those behind such campaigns. 

Iran's leadership has begun to admit the cost of six months of war with the United States. The supreme leader has told the government to deal with the resulting hardship at home, while President Masoud Pezeshkian said sanctions and the American naval blockade have cut the country's foreign trade by a third, Reuters reported.

Tehran gave no ground on Saturday. The government said it would absorb the pressure, keep pursuing a negotiated settlement and hold on to what it described as its control of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that gives Iran its main lever over global energy markets.

In a statement carried on state media, the government listed the economic fallout of the war and sanctions as its central concern. Its stated priorities include bringing down inflation, steadying markets, creating jobs, pushing investment into domestic manufacturing and weaning the economy off the dollar over time.

Talks remain deadlocked six months after the US and Israel opened the war, according to Reuters, and the Trump administration has widened its financial campaign against Tehran under a label it calls an "economic D-Day".

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.

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.

Day 176: Iran urges countries not to join US 'illegal' sanctions

Day 175: Trump hints US could sanction Chinese banks over Iran links

Day 174: Middle East War: Iran, Oman propose temporary Hormuz shipping corridor

Day 173: Trump says US clears Hormuz mines as Iran, Oman discuss temporary corridor
Day 172: Trump says Iran ‘collapsing’ as Xi urges diplomatic Mideast solution

Day 171: US sanctions pressure Iran as Hormuz tensions persist; Iran president admits country facing 'many problems'

Day 170: US-Iran tensions: Trump calls Hormuz ‘American territory’, warns Iran on nuclear weapons

Day 169: Oman, Iran discuss resuming talks on Strait of Hormuz

Day 168: US-Iran conflict: Trump says Iran situation is ‘so good

Day 167: Trump says no talks planned; UAE detects Iranian missiles

Day 166: Israel strikes Lebanon; Oman holds Hormuz talks

Day 165: US-Iran tensions rise over Trump’s Hormuz claim

Day 164: Iran demands faster US exit from Middle East

Day 163: 2 ADNOC vessels attacked in Hormuz; no injuries

Day 162: Trump says US has ‘total control’ of Strait of Hormuz

Day 161: Tehran: Hormuz stays shut as US-Iran diplomacy push continues

Day 160: Tehran reshuffles military