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US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructed a deal with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, as a vessel transiting the strategic waterway reported being struck by a projectile on Tuesday.- Iran negotiator ultimatum  -Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the United States meets Tehran’s demands, including lifting a naval blockade.

In a speech broadcast on state television, he listed the removal of the blockade, the lifting of oil sanctions and unfreezing of Iran’s assets abroad among the demands. He will visit Iraq on Wednesday for talks, as Baghdad faces pressure from Washington to disarm powerful Iran-backed armed factions.- Houthis target Saudi refinery -Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis targeted an oil refinery on Saudi Arabia’s southern Red Sea coast on Tuesday, rebel media reported, as the rebels ramp up attacks on the kingdom.

The Houthis “targeted the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a number of drones… in response to airspace violations over the governorates of Saada and Hajjah” in Yemen, Houthi news agency Saba said, citing a military source.- Vessel struck in Hormuz -An “unknown projectile” struck a vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, causing a crew casualty, a British maritime agency reported on Tuesday.”The impact caused damage to the engine room and resulted in a crew casualty,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on X. “The remaining crew are currently being assisted by the Omani Coast Guard.”Iran has imposed an effective blockade on the strait, frequently attacking commercial ships, and wants to charge users for passage, which the US fiercely opposes.- Explosion in Iraqi Kurdistan -An explosion at a petroleum products depot in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan injured 18 people, Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported Tuesday, without specifying the cause.

Hirsh Salim, deputy director general of health in Sulaimaniyah governorate, told the outlet that there were no fatalities.- ‘Positive’ US-Iran talks -Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner said the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active conversations”, while noting that “there’s really not a lot of trust between America and Iran after all these years”.

Kushner told Fox News that “President Trump is going to be very patient… he doesn’t want to rush to a deal”.”He’ll make the right deal when the right deal is ready,” he added. On Monday, Trump said Iranian officials “want to make a deal, but they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary”, before repeating his key demand that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”.- Trump threatens Oman -Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a US deal with Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway for Gulf exports, and called for Iran to surrender.”If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News on Monday, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks.

Tehran and Muscat have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements through the shipping route, and the foreign ministry in Tehran said earlier Monday that the two sides were working on a joint declaration.- Iraq to investigate Kurdistan PM attack -Iraq’s federal government said it would launch an investigation into an attack on the office of the autonomous Kurdistan region’s prime minister, which the regional authorities blamed on Iran.

Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack and called on Iran’s “Kurdish friends” to be “vigilant against false flags”. Earlier, Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said an investigation by the region’s counter-terrorism unit found that his “personal office and the home of the head of the Security and Intelligence Agency were targeted by Iranian drone attacks”.

There were no reported casualties in the attack.

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:56:02 GMT