Qatari mediators have traveled to Tehran again as part of efforts to reach a deal between the United States and Iran.
The talks were coordinated with the USA, reports the Reuters news agency. Qatar presented a draft peace plan to the leadership in Tehran on Sunday. However, a senior Iranian government official dismissed the proposals as unacceptable and said the Islamic Republic would stick to its position on the nuclear dispute. The government in Washington is demanding that this issue be included in the negotiations from the start. Iran, on the other hand, demands that the USA first end its port blockade and lift the sanctions against its oil exports.
According to media reports, US President Donald Trump received advice on how to proceed in the Iran war at a rare personal meeting with a high-ranking military chief. The Wall Street Journal writes, citing US officials, that the head of the US Regional Command for the Middle East (Centcom), Admiral Brad Cooper, presented Trump with military options in Iran on Thursday in the White House, among other things. The US newspaper interpreted this as a possible sign that a significant deployment of US military forces could be imminent.
The news portal Axios also reports, based on US officials, that Cooper's briefing for the president focused on the US naval blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas. Trump wanted to find out personally from the Centcom boss whether the blockade was working. Cooper also updated Trump on the operation in the Strait of Hormuz. The US Navy has been accompanying civilian ships through the strait for months to enable trade in oil and liquid gas again. According to the report, the conversation also discussed the US economic pressure campaign against Iran.
The British Maritime Safety Authority (UKMTO) reports a new attack tactic in the Strait of Hormuz. A fire broke out on a tanker after a small boat approached and planted limpet mines on the hull, UKMTO said, citing a verified report.
Explosions caused a fire in the engine room and made the ship temporarily unable to maneuver. The crew was safe and no environmental damage was reported, it said. The fire has been extinguished and the ship is on its way to a port.
Initially nothing was known about the perpetrators of the attack. Iran had recently intensified its attacks on ships, particularly along a southern route supported by the US Navy. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the US military has been protecting commercial freighters on the southern route for months with almost continuous air support.
The Saudi-led military coalition says it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the Houthi militia in Yemen in the Mecca region. This is the latest in a series of cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthis.
The Yemeni Houthi militia has rejected allegations. The Houthi military spokesman, Jahja Sari, said on X that there had currently been no deployment of the militia against Saudi Arabian territory. Basically, attacks on Saudi Arabia were directed against oil facilities and military bases. The Iran-aligned rebels have carried out a series of attacks on military facilities, airports and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia in the past. However, the group has repeatedly denied targeting Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have again attacked the Saudi Arabian oil refinery Ras Tanura. In addition, a facility belonging to the oil company Aramco in Abqaik and the King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh were attacked, the Houthis, who are allied with Iran, said. There was initially no confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
Ras Tanura is Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery and is located on the Persian Gulf. It has a capacity of 555,000 barrels of oil per day and was temporarily closed as a precautionary measure at the beginning of the Iran war. The Houthis said just this week that they had fired a ballistic missile at the facility.
After all votes have been counted, both Benjamin Netanyahu's government coalition and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition camp fell short of an absolute majority in Israel's parliamentary elections. The previous coalition of right-wing, right-wing extremist and religious parties has 53 seats in parliament (2022: 64 seats), as several Israeli media reported on the evening after the counting ended. For a majority, 61 seats would be needed.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's right-wing conservative Likud party will lose five seats, but remains the strongest party in parliament with 27 seats. According to the information, the center party Jashar, newly founded by Eisenkot, emerged from the election as the second strongest force with 21 seats. The opposition alliance therefore has a total of 48 mandates. The result leads to a stalemate in parliament - and to difficult formation of a government.
The US military has rejected Iran's claim that the country intercepted an American surveillance drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state television reported on Thursday that the Revolutionary Guards had tracked down, identified and taken over the control systems of the MQM-170 Outlaw drone as part of an “electronic warfare operation”. She then landed on Iranian territory.
It was not announced when the drone came into Iran's possession. Centcom, the US regional command responsible for the Middle East, said the report was false. Spokesman Tim Hawkins said the Revolutionary Guard has lied repeatedly in recent weeks and months, "and today is no different." He did not provide any further details.
US President Donald Trump rejects reports of a peace initiative by his Vice President JD Vance with Iran. Vance only contacted Iran about medical supplies, says Trump. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times newspapers had previously reported that Vance had offered to resume peace talks in a letter to the head of the Iranian Security Council, Mohsen Resai.
The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that Tehran had received a letter from Vance but had not yet responded. The USA and Israel have been at war with Iran since the end of February. The leadership in Tehran has long accused the USA of using sanctions to hinder the civilian population's access to medical supplies.
According to Iranian sources, three oil tankers hit sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire. The ships had switched off their radar and navigation systems in the past 24 hours and tried to sail through the strait via an unauthorized route, state broadcasters reported on Thursday, citing the Revolutionary Guard.
It remained unclear what the ships were called and whether there were any deaths or injuries. The British Navy's Maritime Trade Authority (UKMTO) said a ship had spotted a burning vessel while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. It is not known how extensive the damage is and how the crew is doing.
According to a hospital statement, two people were killed in an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle in the Gaza Strip. There was also one injured person, representatives of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said on Thursday. The Israeli army did not initially comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party have stepped up their election fraud allegations against Arab parties. “The elections in Israel were stolen!” Likud claimed on Thursday without evidence. The alleged influence is aimed at ensuring that Parliament is “taken over by foreign countries”. Israel should be Islamized. No party is allowed to work with Arab-led parties.
Following the Arab parties' strong performance in Israel's parliamentary elections, both the police and the electoral commission have rejected allegations of voter fraud. So far there is no evidence to support claims that Arab parties “stole” the parliamentary election. However, there were calls from within the government coalition to postpone the constituent session of Parliament and, if necessary, to annul the results of the election.
Police Chief Daniel Levy announced that he would investigate any suspected crime thoroughly and impartially. According to the Haaretz daily newspaper, a senior police officer had previously described the allegations as pure propaganda tactics with no factual basis. According to the Electoral Commission, “to the best of our knowledge” there is no basis for claims of systematic interference with the elections.
Amid possible new military escalation in the Iran war, the British Maritime Safety Authority (UKMTO) reports a burning ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The captain of another ship reported the case as an eyewitness early on Thursday morning (local time), it said in a statement on X.
Nothing was initially known about the cause of the fire or the condition of the crew and the ship. According to UKMTO, the report comes from the coast off Oman in the bend of the Strait of Hormuz. The US Navy is said to have recently accompanied tankers through the strait there.
Iran's Fars news agency published a statement from the Revolutionary Guards saying three tankers had hit sea mines on the southern passage in the past 24 hours and were on fire. The information cannot be independently verified. It was not known whether the information was related to the UKMTO report.
Many people in Iran are preparing for the worst. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of the fact that he wants to overthrow the government in Tehran. US President Donald Trump has clearly stated that he wants to “finish the job”. Eight months after the first attacks began, a third aircraft carrier and thousands more soldiers are on their way to the region. Some observers believe it is possible that new attacks will occur once elections in Israel and the United States are completed.
In conversations with the AP news agency, many residents of Tehran reported increasing unrest. Some are preparing to leave the capital. Others stock up on supplies. Fereshte Hajipur, a 35-year-old mother of a small child, said she bought larger quantities of over-the-counter medicine and food out of fear of “possible war and larger bombs.”
According to media reports, the US side and mediators have made new efforts in the peace efforts in the Iran war. On the one hand, US Vice President JD Vance is said to have written a letter to Mohsen Resai, Secretary General of the Iranian Security Council, to determine the framework conditions for negotiations. On the other hand, the mediators around Qatar should pressure Iran to grant UN inspectors access to the bombed nuclear facilities. There is no official confirmation of this.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, Vance wants to use the letter to find out whether planned military strikes against Iran can still be averted through diplomatic channels. Recently it had been discussed again and again that the USA could possibly attack Iran with Israel after the US midterms on Tuesday. According to the report, the letter is about the framework conditions for negotiations, not a concrete proposal for an end to the war. When asked, US President Donald Trump denied the content of the letter. Vance's initiative is more about the fact that Iran needs help in obtaining medical supplies. “He asked me what I thought about it, I said: “If you want to do it, that’s fine”.
After Israel's parliamentary election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party accused Arab parties of "stealing" the election. The party said it had asked the authorities to investigate the allegations. She did not provide any concrete evidence. Likud accused the Arab parties of “serious crimes related to bribery, threats, violence, forgery and the use of banned software to mobilize voters.”
The Central Election Commission said it was examining Likud's submission like any other complaint from political parties about possible electoral irregularities. The acting head of the electoral commission, Dean Livne, said on Tuesday that the overall number of reports of irregularities or problems at polling stations was significantly lower than in previous elections.
US President Donald Trump has shown himself open to supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in forming a government. The Republican told the news portal “Axios” that he had not yet thought about supporting his ally in the search for a majority after the Knesset election. “I’ll take a look at it.” Netanyahu
