Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on the geographic coordinates for a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, and a joint announcement is being finalised, provided certain third parties do not interfere, Iran’s foreign ministry has said.
Esmaeil Baghaei said any such agreement between Iran and Oman would not, by itself, guarantee security in the strategic waterway.
The proposed deal would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters, in one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran.
Despite the apparent step towards yielding to Iranian demands, the sources pushed back against assertions by US president Donald Trump that a deal reopening the strait was imminent, saying important details still had to be agreed.
Mr Trump has said there was an “all-day negotiation” on Tuesday with Iran, characterising the talks positively, while also threatening to hit the country “really hard” if a deal was not reached.
During his recent cabinet meeting, Trump told reporters that the Strait of Hormuz was “going to be open very soon”. But he warned if that did not happen, Iran would be hit hard.
Tanker reports two explosions in Strait of Hormuz
A tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the Strait of Hormuz off Oman on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said early on Thursday, adding that the vessel and its crew were safe.
UKMTO said in an advisory that the incident occurred about 9 nautical miles southeast of Oman’s Kumzar, and that no environmental damage had been reported.
Shweta Sharma6 August 2026 03:49
JD Vance has a message to critics of his negotiating efforts with Iran
JD Vance has told critics of his negotiating efforts with Tehran that “the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people”.
The US vice president told Fox News Laura Ingraham that Iran has a “fractured system.”
“So there are people in their system who want the war to be over, and there are also people within their system who are crazy radicals who want the war to continue.
“Our job is to navigate through that and get the best outcome for the American people, but for the president of the United States as well”, Vance said.
Rachel Dobkin6 August 2026 03:03
Pentagon chief blamed his deputy when Trump confronted him about weapons shortages: report
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth blamed his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, when US President Donald Trump confronted him about extreme weapons shortages, according to a new report.
Trump asked Hegseth to explain why he had apparently been misled on the shortages, which could limit military operations in Iran, at Camp David last week, The Washington Post reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Hegseth blamed Feinberg for the shortages and for not ensuring Trump was fully informed of the issue, according to the Post’s sources.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the reporting “100% fake news”.
“Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth”, she said.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell also denied the reporting.
“Secretary Hegseth did not mislead anyone about our munitions posture, and he did not blame Deputy Secretary Feinberg. These claims about depleted stockpiles, internal disagreements, the Secretary’s position on Iran…are equally fictional”, he said.
The Independent has reached out to the White House and Pentagon for comment.
Rachel Dobkin6 August 2026 01:58
Trump issues latest threat to Iran: ‘I don’t want to kill people’
Donald Trump has issued his latest threat to Iran during an event in Las Vegas.
“I’d rather make a deal because I don’t want to kill people”, the US president said.
“We were all set for the biggest attack since World War II, and they called me, and they say ‘Please, don’t do it. Let’s talk. And then, they say, ‘we’ve never said that'”, Trump continued.
Rachel Dobkin6 August 2026 00:54
Houthis claim to have attacked Saudi oil tankers
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis say they have launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom’s Red Sea port city of Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not say when the attacks took place.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since last month in response to what they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.
Jane Dalton6 August 2026 00:30
Israel hits Lebanese targets
For the first time in weeks, Israel’s military has told residents of an area of Lebanon to evacuate their homes.
The military said the warning for the village of Mansouri was in response to what it described as “a blatant violation of the ceasefire” by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
The military later said it was conducting “precise strikes” in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and 12 wounded in an Israeli strike in the town of Tebnine.
Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome for a second day to discuss implementation of a deal under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
Jane Dalton5 August 2026 23:30
Iran executes at least 56 people in five months, says UN rights chief
At least 56 people have been executed in Iran on national security-related charges since 19 March, including 27 in cases linked to the protests at the start of the year, according to the UN rights chief.
Volker Turk said: “I am alarmed by the rise in executions and death sentences issued in Iran since March, and that capital punishment continues to be used to instil fear among the population and suppress dissent.”
Iranian authorities killed thousands of people during anti-government protests in January, Iran’s worst domestic unrest in decades.
Jane Dalton5 August 2026 22:31
Iran warns of retaliation against energy infrastructure
Iran has warned Gulf states that any new US attack on its territory would trigger retaliation against critical energy infrastructure across the region, according to five sources, as Tehran seeks to raise the cost of military action by threatening Washington’s closest regional allies.
The warning was delivered through a flurry of high-level diplomatic contacts after President Donald Trump threatened on July 28 to strike Iran’s energy network and infrastructure, the sources said.
Two senior Iranian officials, two Gulf sources and a senior regional diplomat with knowledge of the discussions said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke with his Saudi, Turkish and Qatari counterparts, as well as Pakistan’s army chief. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Araqchi urged Washington’s Gulf allies to use their influence with Trump to dissuade him from launching renewed strikes, the senior diplomat said, warning that any attack on Iran would prompt retaliation against US assets and energy facilities across the Gulf.
Jane Dalton5 August 2026 21:30
US lifts sanctions on three Iran-linked companies
The US has lifted sanctions on three Iran-linked companies, but a Treasury official said it came after an appeal and was not indicative of any shift in US policy toward the Islamic Republic.
One company is Fly Baghdad Airlines, sanctioned in January 2024 for allegedly providing assistance to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Iran–backed armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Sanctions also were lifted on Iraq Express and another Fly Baghdad-linked firm.
Jane Dalton5 August 2026 20:30
Houthis claim to have attacked Saudi oil tankers
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis say they have launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom’s Red Sea port city of Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia on either incident.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not say when the attacks took place.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since last month in response to what they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.
Jane Dalton5 August 2026 20:05
