Reporting from Washington, DC, US
Donald Trump has made it clear there will be no attacks before the midterm elections. That’s next Tuesday.
But he has been in talks with the Israelis.
We saw Pete Hegseth in Tel Aviv in the last few days talking with Benjamin Netanyahu.
The speculation was that they were discussing the possibility of an attack before the midterms.
Donald Trump says he’s ruled that out. That’s simply not going to happen.
But he has been presented with a number of military options about what can happen next, and they range from low-level to using the mother of all bombs, MOAB.
He’s talked about this on the election trail during his rallies, that he could use this high-explosive device, and of course, he’s talked about wiping Iran off the face of the map.
He did that during his speech to the United Nations just last month.
But as far as the White House is concerned, they’re making the point that what happens next is really in the hands of the commander in chief, Donald Trump.
And they are saying very clearly that the conflict in Iran, as far as the United States is concerned, will be over soon, one way or the other.
US President Donald Trump has defended the war on Iran, claiming Tehran was responsible for starting it and dismissing an earlier ceasefire as a “waste of time”.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Corinth, Mississippi, Trump echoed a Republican lawmaker’s claim that “we didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us”.
Trump also defended the economic consequences of the military campaign, saying he had expected oil prices to rise much higher.
“I was fully prepared to do it because we really had no choice. Should’ve been done a long time ago,” he said.
Referring to an earlier ceasefire, Trump said he had never liked the arrangement.
“We did a little ceasefire, which I never liked very much,” he said. “We wanna be nice, but it was just a waste of time as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump also claimed Iran had developed missiles capable of reaching Europe and could target American cities.
“They’d hit San Diego, they’d hit Los Angeles, they’d hit our cities too,” he said.
Oil prices are dropping slightly, with Brent crude futures sliding 66 cents as of 00:00 GMT, or 0.57 percent, to $115.15 a barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 44 cents, or 0.43 percent, to trade at $101.32.
The decline comes as prospects for resolving the US-Israel war on Iran eased market anxiety over supply disruptions, though Brent hovered near a six-month high following attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The easing prices follow a diplomatic meeting in Tehran on Monday between Iranian officials and representatives from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan to defuse tensions across the region.
Riyadh noted that the discussions aimed to establish direct dialogue to avoid further military escalation, while Iranian state media reported that all four countries agreed to pursue ongoing talks to promote regional peace and stability.
Yemen’s government forces say they have carried out 1,276 operations targeting Houthi positions over the past 24 hours as part of their ongoing “Dawn of Yemen” offensive.
Military spokesperson Colonel Majed al-Nuzaili said the operations had “neutralised” about 382 Houthi commanders and fighters, without specifying how many were killed or wounded.
He said 140 military vehicles and heavy weapons had been destroyed or damaged, along with several weapons and ammunition depots.
According to al-Nuzaili, the operations targeted Houthi command centres, defensive positions, reinforcements and supply lines across several fronts.
In Taiz, government forces backed by local resistance fighters carried out surprise attacks with air support, while simultaneous operations continued in al-Jawf, Marib, al-Bayda and southern and southwestern fronts.
The spokesperson said the attacks had disrupted Houthi reinforcements and limited the group’s ability to move forces between front lines.
The Saudi-led coalition says its air defences have intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
In a post on X, the coalition’s spokesperson said the missiles were fired towards the region, without specifying their intended targets or reporting any casualties.
The announcement follows emergency warnings issued by the Saudi Civil Defence in the Eastern Province and al-Kharj governorate.
Reporting from Washington, DC, US
There has been no direct reaction from Washington to what is happening with the meeting of the Mecca Pact countries in Tehran.
What they [US officials] are saying is that Donald Trump is still in charge of all that is happening there, that he holds all the cards.
A senior US official wanted to make the point to us that President Trump will do what is best for the United States, and they continue to see the pressure working on Iran.
They are talking about the sanctions that are in place, the fact that the naval blockade is still in place. They say that is decimating the Iranian economy.
And also, you have to go back to Operation Epic Fury. They say that shows the United States took military action, which decimated the Iranian military — that their army effectively no longer exists, their navy is at the bottom of the sea, and their air force and air defences aren’t in place.
They say that will obviously continue, and Donald Trump will make the decision about what will happen, saying that the Iran war will finish soon.
Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence says emergency warnings have been issued and subsequently lifted in the Eastern Province and al-Kharj governorate.
In separate posts on X, the agency said the alerts were issued through the National Early Warning Platform to warn residents of potential danger.
The agency later announced that the danger had passed in both areas but urged residents to continue following safety instructions, avoid gathering in crowds or filming, and call 911 in case of an emergency.
Reporting from Tehran, Iran
Tehran hosted a Qatari delegation yesterday, and when we asked an Iranian official to comment on that, he said it was a sort of routine exchange between the two countries.
However, we’re not talking about routine timing, as the country deals with a dilemma: on the one hand, readiness for the continuation of the diplomatic trajectory, and on the other hand, the possibility of another round of confrontation.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ahead of the four-country meeting, said it was a very positive and important development.
And Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, ahead of his visit to Moscow, called for unity and coherence among Muslim-majority countries.
This meeting, alongside other diplomatic engagements, is being interpreted as a possibility for the revival of diplomacy.
However, it’s going to be the latest, if hopefully not the last, chance to revive diplomacy, as there is also the possibility of another round of confrontation in the region.
Palestinian children in Jenin have to crawl under Israeli military gates to get to and from school.
Such restrictions have disrupted education for 24,500 Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank this year.
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