https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/308321/us-escorted-tankers-struck-in-hormuz-iran

US-escorted tankers struck in Hormuz: Iran
Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 01 August, 2026, 01:13


Strait of Hormuz. | File photo

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday that they had struck two tankers attempting to pass though the strategic Strait of Hormuz under the ‘air escort’ of the US military.

The IRGC said the ‘non-compliant oil tankers were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions’.

The Guards said the tankers had attempted to pass the strait via ‘an undeclared route’, the US-backed alternative to Tehran’s designated waterway closer to its own shores.

Iran has effectively maintained control over navigation through Hormuz since the outbreak of the war on February 28, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

On Thursday, the Guards said two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait had turned back after one caught fire.

Iran’s military said on Friday it launched drone strikes targeting US military facilities in Kuwait, as fighting resumed between Washington and Tehran in the Middle East war after a nearly week-long lull.

The army said in a statement it targeted ‘fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communications systems and equipment storage facilities at Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait’.

There was no immediate comment from the US Central Command.

The Iranian army said the strikes came ‘in response to the recent aggression by the terrorist US military against our country and its brutal attack on a residential home on Qeshm Island’.

Local media reported on Thursday that three members of a family were killed in US strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz waterway crucial for oil and gas trade.

The trade route normally carries around 20 per cent of global oil shipments and has been effectively closed by Iran since the outbreak of the war on February 28.

The US has carried out repeated strikes on Iran’s southern coastal provinces as it seeks to weaken Tehran’s control over the waterway.

Iranian state media said on Friday that the bodies of five members of the Islamic Revolutionary

Guard Corps killed in joint US-Saudi strikes in Iraq this week had been returned.

‘The bodies of five IRGC members killed in the recent US-Saudi attacks on Iraq were brought into the country through the Mehran border crossing,’ in western Ilam province, the IRNA state news agency reported.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to recent attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The strikes targeted positions belonging to the Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi armed coalition that includes several powerful pro-Iran groups, killing at least 20 militants, including the five Iranians.

The IRGC’s Quds Force oversees Iran’s operations abroad, and Guards members killed outside Iran are often affiliated with the unit. The United States killed the Quds Force’s commander Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad in 2020, along with Hashed al-Shaabi deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.​

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/308419/iran-accuses-us-of-escalating-tensions

Iran accuses US of escalating tensions
Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 02 August, 2026, 01:11


File photo

Iran’s military accused the United States of ‘escalating tensions’ in the Middle East on Saturday and warned countries in the region against cooperating with Washington during the ongoing conflict.

‘The United States is rapidly moving down the path of escalating tensions in the region,’ said Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s military central command.

‘Any country serving as defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war,’ he said in a statement read on state television.

The remarks came after US president Donald Trump reiterated threats to hit Iran ‘very hard’.

US media reported he was considering renewed heavy attacks as soon as this weekend, including against energy infrastructure targets.

This week, Iran and the US resumed overnight exchanges of fire after a days-long lull in fighting although there were no reported strikes overnight Friday to Saturday.

Meanwhile, US embassies in several Middle Eastern capitals warned American citizens to beware an ‘unforeseen escalation’ in the regional conflict and urged them to be ready to leave.

‘Americans in the region should consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation,’ said a security alert, versions of which were posted on social media by the US missions in Amman, Jerusalem, Muscat, Baghdad and Beirut.

The messages urged citizens to check flight details and to follow safety advice from local authorities.

‘Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions,’ it said.

Americans in Jordan were told not to visit US military bases there, which have recently come under Iranian missile attack, and in Israel they were urged to seek the location of the nearest bomb shelter.

‘The Iranian regime is unpredictable, as seen by its recent decisions to attack areas in the region without warning or provocations as well as to expand attacks to areas not previously targeted [such as Egypt],’ said a post on the US embassy Jerusalem site.

The US embassy in Beirut said that the mission remained on ‘ordered departure status’, meaning that non-emergency US government personnel were still relocated outside of Lebanon.

On Wednesday, a drone struck a US-owned gas vessel moored in an Egyptian port, causing a fire. Egypt is investigating but has not yet accused any group of launching the attack.

The Middle East war broke out on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, which has retaliated with missile and drone strikes across the region.​

Trump says he will hold off on fresh Iran attack in hope of quick deal

US president says he wants rapid deal on opening Strait of Hormuz. Iranian foreign minister had warned of 'proportionate response' to US attacks.

Reuters
Cairo
Published: 02 Aug 2026, 14: 54


US President Donald Trump gives thumbs-up as he walks to board Marine One following his arrival aboard Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, US, 31 July, 2026. REUTERS

President Donald Trump said late on Saturday the US would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and other Middle Eastern countries asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to "the Immediate, Complete and Total" reopening of the vital strait and "an end to Iran's nuclear threat," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He did not name the countries in the post, which followed a call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a US ally.

"Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL," Trump wrote.

Israel "joins me in this commitment," he said. Israel did not immediately respond on Sunday to a request for comment on the US president's posts.

Saudi Prince Seeks Dialogue, Iran on High State of Readiness

In his call with Trump, the Saudi crown prince, widely known as MBS, stressed the "necessity of prioritising dialogue to de-escalate tensions" in the Middle East, according to Saudi Arabia's state news agency. A White House official told Reuters that the two had spoken but did not provide details.

Trump's apparent de-escalation after days of threats of new attacks from each side marked the latest turn in the war the US and Israel launched five months ago. Attacks have spread across the Gulf to the Red Sea and even a Mediterranean facility in Egypt.

Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20 per cent of the world's oil and LNG before the war, causing energy prices to stir and stoking broader inflation.

Iran's semi-official Mehr news reported on Sunday that Iranian military officials, whom it did not identify, had dismissed Trump's claim that Tehran had sought to halt attacks as "a new lie" aimed at pressuring Gulf Arab states.

They said Iran's forces remained on the highest level of readiness whether the US escalated or withdrew, warning that if confrontation became unavoidable, the battlefield would determine the outcome.

Tehran had earlier warned the US against any “adventurous action” and said it would retaliate decisively to any fresh attacks on Iranian targets.

In his call with Trump, the Saudi crown prince, widely known as MBS, stressed the "necessity of prioritising dialogue to de-escalate tensions" in the Middle East, according to Saudi Arabia's state news agency. A White House official told Reuters that the two had spoken but did not provide details.

Pressure on Trump Grows as Oil Price Surges

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told senior Turkish and Pakistani officials in phone calls on Saturday that Tehran would respond decisively to any "aggression" and discussed the consequences of “destabilising actions" by the US, as well as prospects for heightened regional insecurity, he posted on the Telegram messaging platform.

Hours earlier, Kuwait's army said it had destroyed hostile drones launched by Iran against several vital facilities.

Araqchi said he told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that any attacks by the US and Israel or participation by regional countries in such actions would be met with a “proportionate response.”

At a cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump said he believed US negotiators, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, could reach a deal with Iran.

As an April ceasefire in the war unravelled last month, benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 24 per cent, and analysts polled by Reuters expect prices to rise further this year.

Trump has argued that his stated goal of keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the near term, but the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the war.

Adding to the energy industry's concerns, Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen in recent days began threatening the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait at the other end of the Red Sea from the Suez Canal, another export route for Saudi crude.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Saturday it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman. In one, an unknown projectile struck a tanker, damaging the engine room. In the other, the master of a tanker reported seeing a large splash and an explosion close to the vessel, though no damage was reported.​