Iran-US war latest: Trump says Tehran not ready to make ‘right deal’ after threatening ‘Economic D-Day’

Iranian army says threats will get a ‘devastating response’

The chief of staff ​of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, promised yesterday that Iran would respond to enemy threats militarily with “crushing, punishing and ‌devastating responses”.

Still, President Masoud Pezeshkian called for a diplomatic solution.

“It would be ⁠better to end the war today, when we are powerful and have dignity, and the whole world acknowledges our victory and emphasizes ⁠that America, contrary to all regulations, attacked our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure and is hated in the world,” Pezeshkian said, according to the ISNA news agency.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 12:30

US military presence in Middle East could be cut back after Iran war ends: report

The Pentagon is considering reducing US military presence in the Middle East following the conclusion of the Iran war, according to a report.

Troops could be withdrawn from the Persian Gulf, officials told The Washington Post, following months of attacks by Iranian forces that have targeted US bases across the region since the war began in late February.

The Pentagon’s policy office is evaluating US regional presence, with US Central Command (Centcom) and Joint Staff also looking at the situation, a senior Pentagon official told the outlet.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 11:45

Here’s why Gaza peace deals keep unravelling

Donald Trump’s Board of Peace published a 15-point roadmap for Gaza in late July in which Hamas would hand its weapons to a committee of Palestinian technocrats, certified by an international verification body, and Israel would withdraw from the strip in phases.

After Israel officially rejected the plan on August 9, US envoy Jared Kushner flew to the Egyptian coast to meet Hamas representatives.

From there, he travelled to Jerusalem where it was proposed the weapons would instead be handed over under the supervision of an American general. This change to the disarmament process is a clear illustration of what has gone wrong with each agreement reached over Gaza since January 2025: none have established, in advance, who certifies compliance.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 11:00

Iran says Trump’s sanctions ‘assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty’

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said this morning that the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions on Iran was an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations”.

“Such secondary sanctions ⁠find no foundation in international law,” he said in a post on X.

US president Donald Trump, who has warned of economic consequences ​against any ⁠country that provides “any type of lifeline to Iran,” said ‌yesterday that Washington was observing “what happens” in the conflict.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 10:30

Iran asks Qatar to transfer ‘detained pilots’ to hospital on land

Iran has claimed that Qatar was holding its pilots captive in “poor physical condition” on water.

Iranian officials have called on Qatar to transfer the detained pilots to a hospital on land, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Qatar on Tuesday said that an Iranian delegation travelled to Doha and collected the remains of one of its pilots.

However, Tehran has claimed that three pilots who went missing after their aircraft entered Qatari airspace and were shot down in March were still in the country.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 10:00

Pentagon says more than 750 US troops wounded and 18 killed in Iran war

The Pentagon says 756 US service members have been wounded and 18 killed in the war against Iran since late February, bringing total US military casualties to 774.

The figures, per the Defence Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) data, were updated after the Pentagon added 50 wounded personnel to its casualty database.

Iran grants Iraq permission for its oil tankers to pass through Hormuz

Iran has agreed to allow some Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, after Iraqi parliament speaker Haibat al-Halbousi requested special permission from his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

According to Iran’s official IRNA news agency, the move is aimed at protecting Iraq’s oil exports and economic interests, but Iran has not said how many tankers will be allowed through or for how long.

Maroosha Muzaffar22 August 2026 09:15

Reza Pahlavi condemns Iran fuel price hikes

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, has criticised the government’s proposed fuel price increases, calling them an “unforgivable mistake” that would worsen hardship for Iranians.

In a post on X, Pahlavi wrote: “While the Islamic Republic squanders the nation’s resources on foreign terrorists and domestic oppressors, the regime’s officials and their cronies compete with one another in plundering national wealth, and the regime’s ineptitude in governing the country has broken the backs of households and impoverished Iranians. Imposing fuel price hikes on the people is an unforgivable mistake and a profound betrayal. Fuel prices cannot be compared to those in other countries when Iranians’ incomes are in rials and below the poverty line.

“Fuel and energy issues are managed on a daily basis without crisis in nearly every country in the world, even many with far fewer resources than Iran.”

He continued: “On one hand, the IRGC smuggling mafia siphons off tens of millions of litres of Iran’s capital daily through tankers, pipelines, and smuggling docks; on the other, the automotive mafia foists low-quality, high-consumption vehicles on the nation. This criminal sect, incapable of solving the problem, uses its propaganda apparatus to shift the burden of fuel shortages onto the people, portraying them as the cause of increased consumption and fuel smuggling.

“The Islamic Republic is an incompetent, corrupt, and anti-Iranian regime that is itself the root of these disorders and will never be capable of resolving them.”

Maroosha Muzaffar22 August 2026 08:45

Iran army warns of ‘broader’ response to any attack

Iran’s military has adopted a more “offensive” approach from a “defensive” one following the experience of recent wars, army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said, according to Iranian state media.

Akraminia said: “Our country’s military doctrine was defensive in the past, but gradually during these two wars, we witnessed the military doctrine moving from a defensive posture towards an offensive one.”

He said that the change “does not mean carrying out preemptive operations against the enemy.

“We will respond to any act of aggression immediately and on a broader scale than the aggression itself.”

According to Akraminia, Iran has restored military equipment damaged in previous fighting and brought additional systems into operation. “We are working continuously so that if the enemy again makes a miscalculation, we can deliver a more crushing response than before,” he said.

Akraminia also said Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz had become a “decisive geopolitical influence” following the war, while pointing to a new Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defence partnership as evidence of what he described as waning US influence in the region.

Maroosha Muzaffar22 August 2026 08:13

Israel faces backlash over building of gallows site for hanging Palestinians

Israel’s far-right national security minister is facing a major backlash over the construction of a gallows site to execute Palestinians sentenced to death at a prison in Israel.

Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video online showing the construction of the facility in an unidentified location, which will include viewing booths for the family members of victims to witness executions.

It follows the passage of a highly controversial “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law” earlier this year that made death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in ​military courts of deadly attacks.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar22 August 2026 07:30