Tehran warns Gulf neighbours against joining US 'economic D-Day'

Tehran has cautioned its Gulf neighbours against joining Donald Trump’s “economic D-Day” sanctions after the US said it would look to hit Iran’s financial interests.

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran will look to target the interests of Gulf countries that join the US president’s sanctions.

“If the countries surrounding Iran join the Americans in their economic war, not a drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and we will also target other oil export routes from the Persian Gulf,” Al-Jazeera reported him as saying on Saturday night.

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 21:19

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Troops could be withdrawn from the Persian Gulf, officials told The Washington Post, following months of attacks by Iranian forces that have targeted US bases across the region since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

While no formal review has been ordered by U.S. defence secretary Pete Hegseth, “decisions are going to have to be made on some of this stuff,” the official told The Post.

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Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 21:00

Watch: Trump sheds light on plan to increase Iran sanctions

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 20:00

Iran says the world has accepted it has defeated the US

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has called for the conflict with the US to end and claimed the world has already accepted that Iran has won.

Speaking at a meeting of doctors on Friday, he said: “The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,” according to IRNA news agency.

The remarks came as the Trump administration threatened a crushing financial campaign against Iran, promising an “economic D-Day” against the country.

President Donald Trump announced that the US would be imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 19:00

Federal judge vacates Trump policy that suspended processing of immigration visas from 75 countries - including Iran

A federal judge in New York has vacated a Trump administration policy that suspended the processing of visas from 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia, whose nationals the Trump administration deemed likely to require public assistance in the United States.

US District Judge Jeannette Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, set aside the policy Friday as "contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority by issuing the policy, which "runs afoul" of the Immigration and Nationality Act by mandating "the refusal of visas to eligible applicants without any basis in law," the judge ruled.

Ms Vargas said the policy also undermines the congressional requirement that puts consular officers at the forefront of any visa decision.

"Congress imbued these officers with exclusive authority and discretion to determine if an immigrant is eligible for a visa based upon review of specific and detailed criteria set forth in the statute," she wrote.

"The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme."

The policy was challenged by two nonprofit organizations along with 11 individuals, including six whose family members had been refused visas. The remaining five are outside the country and had filed "employment-based petitions" to come to the United States.

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 18:00

Strait of Hormuz traffic at virtual standstill despite Trumps claims

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has plunged to single digits as US-Iran peace talks have ground to a complete halt.

Only seven commodity vessels passed through the waterway on Thursday, some of the lowest numbers seen in weeks, according to Kpler data. Four ships entered the Gulf while only three exited.

This number was down from 14 on Wednesday.

No supertankers or liquefied natural gas carriers were recorded passing through the vital chokepoint through which one fifth of the world’s energy passes.

Between 130 to 140 vessels transited the passage every day, before US-Israeli strikes sparked the war with Iran on 28 February.

Sam Rkaina22 August 2026 17:10

Two US tanker aircraft leave Bulgaria a month after deployment upset Iran

Two US tanker aircraft ​have left Bulgaria’s Bezmer air base, Bulgaria's defence minister said on Saturday, nearly a month after their deployment ⁠in the Balkan country angered Iran.

The United States, which has been at war with Iran since February 28, requested their temporary ⁠deployment under an agreement ​governing the ⁠joint use of military facilities.

Iran said at the time that ⁠their deployment would constitute complicity in "aggression and ​war ⁠crimes", a charge that ‌Sofia dismissed.

The two US Air Force KC-135 planes left Bulgaria on Friday, Defence ‌Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told ‌reporters.

The US authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

The deployment of the aircraft, approved ⁠by Bulgaria's parliament on July 22, led to protests by nearby residents who feared the planes would be attacked by Iranian missiles and drones.

Stoyanov said all the aircraft's flights during their temporary deployment had ‌been training missions over allied countries and ​that Bulgaria had "no information ‌about direct threats to ⁠our national security."

"We are working in ⁠full coordination with the US government and had ‌prior information, ​which is why ‌all our decisions were well-founded," ​he said.

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 16:42

Repair of Iran's South Pars phase 14 refinery is 70% complete

The repair of Iran's South Pars Phase 14 gas refinery, hit during an Israeli attack in June last year, is 70% complete, the Pars Oil and Gas Company's chief executive said, according to Iran's oil ministry news agency SHANA.

The refinery would be fully restored by the end of the year, CEO Touraj Dehqani said, and the damaged section will be fully integrated into the production cycle, he added.

Sam Rkaina22 August 2026 16:10

Iran denounces new US plans for 'toughest sanctions in history'

Iran has strongly denounced US plans to announce new sanctions that could put further strain on the Islamic Republic's economy and have an impact on its most important trading partners including China.

After nearly six months of war, the conflict has reached a stalemate with sides not firing at each other but also showing no sign of pursuing peace talks.

Oil shipments are at a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran threatening to strike any unauthorised oil tankers that try to transit the vital waterway, and Iran's economy is already under immense pressure from sanctions.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday after threatening "the toughest sanctions in history" on Iran.

Bessent has also urged cooperation with Washington by China, which buys more than 80 per cent of Iran's shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler. In response, Beijing has urged diplomacy.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Saturday the imminent US announcement of new economic sanctions 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.

Nicole Wootton-Cane22 August 2026 15:32

Mother of Palestinian girl found dead after Israel fired on family car wants inquiry

The mother of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl found dead days after Israeli forces fired on her family’s car in Gaza City wants an independent inquiry into her death.

The widely publicized recording of Hind Rajab’s January 2024 phone call with her mother and emergency dispatchers made her one of the Israel-Hamas war’s most prominent casualties.

Israel’s military this week admitted to firing at the family’s car as it fled an Israeli invasion and firing toward an ambulance dispatched to help them.

It said it would launch a criminal investigation into its troops’ conduct. All six people in the car and two paramedics were killed. But both Rajab’s family and emergency responders from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society doubt the Israeli investigation can deliver justice.

Sam Rkaina22 August 2026 15:15