US-Iran war: Conflict, Ceasefire and Diplomacy

Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei has mocked Trump’s declaration of the Strait of Hormuz as a US territory.

Rezaei, Iran’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X: “The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile [11,265km] distance between Washington and the Strait itself”.

“Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf,” he added.

Iran has rejected accusations from the United Arab Emirates that it had launched two ballistic missiles at the country, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei calling the claim “baseless”, Al Jazeera reported, citing a statement. 

Baghaei said he “completely rejected” the UAE’s allegation and expressed regret over what he described as accusations against Iran, saying such behaviour “is contrary to the principle of good neighbourliness” and undermines efforts to build trust and prevent escalating insecurity in the region.

“Accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran contradicts the principle of good neighborliness and hinders efforts to build trust among the countries of the region,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its official Telegram channel.

Baghaei called on “all regional parties” to refrain from making unsubstantiated accusations against Iran. “We call on all regional parties to avoid baseless accusations against Iran,” the ministry said.

The spokesperson said any assessment of the situation must account for what he called the continued “malicious actions” of the United States and Israel against regional peace and security, pointing to what he described as a history of false-flag operations in the region.

The United Arab Emirates has suspended all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ministry cited regional escalation that it said had undermined regional and international peace and security.

An explosion occurred at dawn on Tuesday at a gas export pipeline at the Al-Jabsah gas plant in northeastern Syria, the state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company said, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

The company said initial investigations indicated that the blast was the result of a "deliberate act of sabotage".

No injuries were reported among workers, it added.

France will expel two Iranian diplomats in the coming days, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday in a post on X.

Barrot's comments came a day after Iran's Foreign Ministry said two French embassy employees involved in a diplomatic dispute in Tehran in July would not be allowed to return to Iran.

Last month, the French Foreign Ministry said the two French embassy staff members had been detained and physically intimidated by Iranian security services in Tehran.

Iran's ambassador to Kuwait met four Iranian nationals who have been detained in Kuwait for three months, state media quoted Iran's embassy in Kuwait as saying on Tuesday.

The meeting came a few days after an Iranian military official accused Kuwait of withholding information about the fate of the four detainees.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has criticised the US approach towards Iran, saying Washington's strategy of applying greater pressure would not secure concessions from Tehran.

Ghalibaf said Americans appeared to believe that “squeezing Iran harder” would force Tehran to accept demands that were never part of the existing agreement.

"Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made,” Ghalibaf posted on X.

A cargo vessel was struck by multiple unknown projectiles 40 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's Mocha on Monday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday.

The vessel, which was unmanned at the time of the incident, suffered "complete constructive loss," the UKMTO said.

The UAE's interior ministry sent a phone alert on Tuesday that the situation was currently safe and to resume normal activities after an earlier alert warning of a missile threat.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has hit back at US President Donald Trump over his remarks regarding the Strait of Hormuz.

"Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man," Gharibabadi said.