A supertanker caught \u2060fire and was brought to a complete \u2060halt after \u2060hitting two naval mines in \u2060the southern strait of Hormuz, Iran state \u2060TV reported on Monday, \u200bciting \u200ca statement \u200cfrom the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n
The IRGC said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It \u200cdid not identify the vessel or provide information \u200babout its crew. It warned that other ships violating \u2060its security rules would face \u200bthe \u200bsame fate and \u200bsaid compliance with \u200bits regulations \u200cfor \u200bpassage \u200bthrough the strait was mandatory.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the US said it carried out airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the strait, with an American official saying the IRGC was preparing to launch rockets<\/a> with sea mines into the narrow waterway.<\/p>\n The IRGC said on Monday it attacked two US military airbases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing \u201cheavy damage\u201d, state media reported. Jordan\u2019s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.<\/p>\n Iran said later it had targeted US military personnel at an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump later claimed on social media that Iran\u2019s energy hub of Kharg Island was \u201cbeing blown to smithereens\u201d.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s supreme leader called the US and Israel<\/a> enemies of all Islamic nations. In a written message issued six months on from the start of the war, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also urged rulers of Muslim nations to \u201cknow your real enemy, understand its plans and confront it\u201d, the official Irna news agency reported.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Shin Bet security agency says it urgently evacuated prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s oldest son from the US due to a threat against him. In a brief statement the Associated Press obtained on Sunday, the Shin Bet confirmed there had been a \u201csignificant threat\u201d to Yair Netanyahu, without elaborating.<\/p>\n US treasury secretary Scott Bessent will step up efforts to isolate Iran economically as he hosts G20 counterparts this week, a US official has said.<\/p>\n Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is due to take part in a summit starting on Monday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional bloc that seeks to be a counter-influence to the west. Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and China\u2019s Xi Jinping, among other leaders, a Kremlin spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n UAE says Iran drone attack ‘dangerous escalation’<\/p>\n The UAE condemned an Iranian drone attack intercepted over its territorial waters, calling it a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement on X, the UAE\u2019s foreign ministry \u201cstrongly condemned the hostile Iranian attack on the country involving a drone that was intercepted by air defence systems over UAE territorial waters\u201d. The ministry also said the UAE reserved the \u201cfull and legitimate right to respond\u201d. See post at 09.51<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a \u201cserpent\u201d, accusing him of tricking Washington into launching the war.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the U.S. Administration into a war on Iran<\/a> on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he \u2018influenced\u2019 America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,\u201d Araghchi wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n \u201cIn English, he praises POTUS\u2019 leadership. Serpent,\u201d he added. A presentation by Netanyahu in the White House Situation Room in February<\/a> was key in convincing Trump to launch joint strikes against Iran \u2013 even despite the skepticism of his vice-president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment, the New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Netanyahu reportedly suggested that the Iranian regime could easily be toppled and it would be so weakened that it could not choke off the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n After launching the unprovoked war against Iran on 28 February, which many experts agree is illegal, Trump and Netanyahu fell out when it quickly became clear a quick regime change victory was unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n Since then, the two leader\u2019s relationship has become increasingly strained, with their goals sharply diverging, especially over the Israeli assault on Lebanon, which has threatened to derail US diplomatic efforts to end the war in Iran.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.43 EDT<\/p>\n In making the sanctions threat last Monday, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced an initial set of sanctions on 60 individuals, entities and vessels for alleged involvement in trade with Iran<\/a>, but there were no Chinese financial institutions on the list, despite their involvement in financing the Iranian oil trade. The omission reflected US caution.<\/p>\n Asked why the Trump administration<\/a> had not declared immediate sanctions and had stopped short of naming potential sanctions targets, Bessent replied: \u201cWhy would I want to blow up the global financial system?\u201d<\/p>\n Financial and trade experts say the administration is well aware of the risk of Chinese retaliation before a scheduled summit next month between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. China could strike back through financial markets or with limits on its export of critical minerals.<\/p>\n Iran has been economically wrecked by the war and the accompanying US blockade, but it maintained its defiance in response to Bessent\u2019s threats of total isolation. You can read more here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is due to host meetings of the G20 finance ministers in North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday. He will attempt to rally countries around Washington\u2019s new economic strategy against Iran<\/a>, which is continuing to disrupt the global economy by blocking traffic through the strategic strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Bessent has been at the heart of the US\u2019s efforts to economically isolate Iran after the Trump administration<\/a> recently signalled a shift away from military strikes which failed to force Tehran\u2019s capitulation or collapse (this lull in direct strikes was broken yesterday).<\/p>\n Last week, the US threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, while Tehran vowed retaliation<\/a> against any country that took part in the US-led isolation campaign.<\/p>\n But there remains huge uncertainty over how the US president, Donald Trump, will handle China, Iran\u2019s biggest trading partner and leading buyer of its oil.<\/p>\n Speaking ahead of the G20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent told the Associated Press that he would speak to his Chinese counterparts during the talks, adding that \u201call options are on the table\u201d in terms of sanctioning Beijing for its continued purchases.<\/p>\n Scott Bessent rejected the idea that the Trump administration was reluctant to confront China. Photograph: Gerald Herbert\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n According to Fars news agency, Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said after the US assault on Larak Island last night that:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe foreigners must be cut off from the region and learn a serious lesson so that they do not repeat their aggressions.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>UAE denies Iranian claim that al-Minhad airbase was targeted in attack<\/p>\n The UAE\u2019s defence ministry said in a social media post published two hours ago that the country\u2019s air force intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters on Monday. The ministry said the armed forces remain on high alert to combat any future threats.<\/p>\n It came after Iran\u2019s army \u2060said it \u2060launched a drone attack on US forces in \u200bthe United Arab Emirates\u2019 al Minhad airbase early on Monday. It said the attack was in \u200cresponse to the US striking Iran\u2019s Larak island, which sits very close to Iran\u2019s coastline in the strait of Hormuz, on Sunday.<\/p>\n The IRGC said the US attack on Larak island killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and vowed \u201cresponse and punishment\u201d. A US official claimed the strikes were launched after \u201cIslamic \u2060Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n However, in a second social media post this morning, the UAE\u2019s defence ministry denied the claim that the al Minhad airbase in Dubai had been targeted with missiles, saying it was \u201cunfounded\u201d. Iran also said it had struck US military bases in Jordan in response to the Larak assault. As we mentioned in the opening post<\/a>, Jordan\u2019s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Head of National Iranian Oil Company dismisses Trump\u2019s claim of Kharg Island attack<\/p>\n Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post \u2013 featuring an AI video showing oil infrastructure exploding \u2013 that Iran\u2019s energy hub of Kharg island was being \u201cblown to smithereens\u201d, without any supporting evidence.<\/p>\n Hamid Bovard, \u2060CEO of \u2060the \u200bNational Iranian Oil Company, mocked Trump\u2019s post, saying that oil operations there are continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,\u201d Nournews cited him as \u200csaying, adding that the island had been bombed repeatedly by US and Israeli \u2060forces in the past, but oil \u200bworkers \u200bhad not \u200ballowed operations to stop \u201ceven \u200bfor \u200ca moment\u201d.<\/p>\n Kharg Island is a major Iranian energy hub responsible for handling about 90% of Iran\u2019s crude oil exports, making it among the country\u2019s most sensitive economic targets.<\/p>\n Trump has previously threatened to seize the island, which hosts vast storage facilities, but has rowed back on his threats, perhaps knowing that any takeover would require the US to put boots on the ground, exposing American forces to Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n locator<\/a>Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.17 EDT<\/p>\n US and Iran trade strikes for first time in a month<\/p>\n Welcome to our live coverage as hostilities between the US and Iran flared again for the first time in a month, with American strikes on Iran<\/a> prompting retaliation from Tehran.<\/p>\n A supertanker caught \u2060fire and was brought to a complete \u2060halt after \u2060hitting two naval mines in \u2060the southern strait of Hormuz, Iran state \u2060TV reported on Monday, \u200bciting \u200ca statement \u200cfrom the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n The IRGC said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It \u200cdid not identify the vessel or provide information \u200babout its crew. It warned that other ships violating \u2060its security rules would face \u200bthe \u200bsame fate and \u200bsaid compliance with \u200bits regulations \u200cfor \u200bpassage \u200bthrough the strait was mandatory.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the US said it carried out airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the strait, with an American official saying the IRGC was preparing to launch rockets<\/a> with sea mines into the narrow waterway.<\/p>\n The IRGC said on Monday it attacked two US military airbases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing \u201cheavy damage\u201d, state media reported. Jordan\u2019s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.<\/p>\n Iran said later it had targeted US military personnel at an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump later claimed on social media that Iran\u2019s energy hub of Kharg Island was \u201cbeing blown to smithereens\u201d.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n![\"Julian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Julian_Borger.png\")
Julian Borger<\/p>\n