Iran launched renewed attacks on US Gulf allies on Saturday after the United States completed a seventh consecutive night of strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure, marking a sharp escalation one week after a fragile ceasefire collapsed, said media reports.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned a proposal to impose a 20% transit fee on cargo shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Washington would instead pursue trade and investment agreements with Gulf states amid escalating tensions with Iran.
Indirect talks between the United States and Iran concluded in Doha on Wednesday with only limited progress, as both sides agreed to suspend negotiations until after the funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran and the US concluded a round of indirect talks on Wednesday with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they said had been resolved when an interim deal was announced two weeks ago. Sources said negotiators spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US and Iran held indirect technical talks in Doha on Wednesday as they seek to agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks and an Iranian official said.
Iran and US continued their attacks in the Gulf as each accused the other of violating an increasingly precarious 14-point interim deal signed recently to end their four-month-old war. Iran early today launched missiles and drones on US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, said media reports.
A severe heatwave affecting several European countries has caused the deaths of 74 people by drowning in France since June 18, coinciding with Germany recording a new temperature record for the second consecutive day, reaching 41.5 degrees Celsius, said media reports.
A tanker was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, as US-Iran tensions flared over the vital global energy shipping route, said media reports. Bahrain was also targeted in a drone attack in Tehran’s likely response to overnight airstrikes by the US.
The US military launched a new series of airstrikes on Friday after Tehran struck a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz with a drone, thus presenting a fresh test for the fragile ceasefire, said media reports, even as Israel and Lebanon reached a framework deal for peace.
Rescue teams continued to search through the rubble of collapsed buildings across Venezuela on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes struck near the capital, Caracas, leaving at least 235 people dead and thousands injured.
