Qatar and other regional powers sought an off-ramp from the war with Iran on Thursday as another tanker attack was reported in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian government dismissed the Trump administration's latest sanctions.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon even as the country's strikes on Gaza drew a sharp rebuke from the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the territory.
Here's a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Diplomatic efforts by Qatar and Pakistan
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was in Tehran on Thursday as part of Qatar's efforts to resolve the conflict between the United States and Iran.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a post on X that Al Thani's meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi included talks on “the efforts being made to reduce escalation,” as well as a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to allow ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and clear the vital commercial waterway of dangerous mines.
Al Thani’s office said the prime minister emphasized the “necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the freedom of navigation” through the strait. He also met Thursday with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and its parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, underscored the longstanding ties between the two nations, noting that Iran supported Qatar during difficult times. Al Thani said Qatar has never hesitated to cooperate with Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he has “no time schedule” to wrap up the conflict that will reach the six-month mark on Friday.
Oil tanker attacked in Strait of Hormuz
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said Thursday that it had received a report of an oil tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
The monitoring agency, run by the British military, said that local authorities reported that the vessel was hit by an unknown projectile on Tuesday in the waters between Oman and Iran, causing it to catch fire.
The crew was reported to be safe and there have been no reports of environmental damage, the UKMTO said.
Oil continues to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, albeit well below prewar levels, shipping analysts say.
Ship traffic through the vital waterway increased last week compared to the prior week, with the number of oil and gas carriers up 50%, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The U.S. government has claimed that up to 9 million barrels a day are flowing through the strait “over short time periods,” but commodities analysts at ING bank cautioned that the figure “seems aggressive.”
Other ship-tracking estimates suggest it’s closer to 2 to 6 million barrels per day, ING said. Before the war, some 15 million barrels per day passed the strait.
Iran’s foreign ministry criticizes US sanctions
Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, wrote late Wednesday in a social media post that the U.S. had made a coalition with Bahrain, calling it a country with “virtually no meaningful economic exchange with Iran.”
In another social media post on Wednesday, Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf thanked China for rejecting the U.S. “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.
Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington.
Syria appoints former SDF leader to political position
Days after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced its dissolution, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa appointed the former SDF leader to a position as one of his advisers.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday announced that the SDF had completed a merger with the Syrian army and would cease to operate as an independent force. The Kurdish-led force, which once controlled the country’s northeast, lost most of its territory to a government offensive in January and then signed the deal to merge with the army.
The announcement by al-Sharaa’s office of Abdi's appointment came hours after a decree from the education ministry that Kurdish classes would be taught in public and private schools “in areas where Kurdish citizens constitute a significant percentage of the population.”
The inclusion of Kurdish as an official language of instruction had been one of Abdi’s main demands. Questions remain about the fate of the SDF’s all-female fighting units — a sensitive point in the integration talks as many of the Damascus leaders come from a conservative background and are opposed to women in combat. Discussions are underway about integrating the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) into the interior ministry as a counterterrorism force.
Israeli strikes kill 4 in Gaza
In Gaza, Israeli strikes left four people killed and several others wounded, local health officials said.
Three of the victims were killed in separate strikes in Gaza City, officials at Shifa hospital said. The fourth person was killed and others were injured in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, officials at Nasser hospital said.
Israel's military said the four strikes targeted Hamas militants.
Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump's Board of Peace, admonished Israel during a United Nations gathering over Israel's continued attacks on Wednesday.
Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Noa Furman, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is committed to Trump’s peace plan, but that Hamas’ “disarmament must come first."
Dutch diplomats removed from Gaza ceasefire efforts
Israel's foreign ministry is removing two Dutch diplomats from the Gaza ceasefire coordination center, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the decision was in response to "a series of anti-Israel measures taken by the Dutch government," including next month's implementation of a ban on the trade of Israeli products from the occupied West Bank and other areas.
Tom Berendsen, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, told The Associated Press in an email that he felt the removal of the diplomats was “unnecessary” but that his country stood by its decision “to ban products from illegal settlements.”
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon kill 1 woman
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday killed one woman and wounded six people, including a child, inside a home, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.
The strikes came after Israel blamed the militant Hezbollah group for firing two explosive drones.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops near the southern city of Nabatiyeh earlier Thursday, though the drones did not inflict any casualties among troops before one was shot down.
Pakistan and Kuwait reach military deal
Pakistan's military announced Thursday that it has agreed to assist Kuwait’s military with training, capacity building and border management.
The Pakistani armed forces said the deal was signed by Kuwait’s defense minister during a visit to the garrison city of Rawalpindi focused on bilateral defense relations and security cooperation.
Gulf states, long reliant on American protection, have been considering alternative security arrangements in the wake of the war between Iran and the U.S. In early August, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey.
Pakistan said Thursday that it was also continuing diplomatic efforts with Iran, citing a recent visit to Tehran focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.