Iran won't allow military vessels to transit through the Strait of Hormuz under an agreement that the Islamic Republic is negotiating with Oman, Iran's deputy foreign minister said.
The top diplomats of the two countries met to discuss managing commercial shipping traffic in the vital waterway, which remains largely shut down nearly six months after the Iran war began.
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Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in Gaza continued, testing the already fragile ceasefire with Hamas.
Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Iran and Oman have reached a potential agreement for managing ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz that would exclude military vessels from traversing the vital waterway.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television late Tuesday that commercial shipping traffic into the Persian Gulf would pass through Iranian waters, while the outbound route would pass partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman’s waters.
He said the routes would be temporary, and that Iran and Oman must discuss a permanent maritime traffic plan within 30 to 60 days. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way,” as his administration opposes parts of the evolving deal.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected in Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials on “ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue,” Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on X.
The discussions, confirmed by Tehran, will also address “freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to return to the pre-war status quo, according to Majed Al Ansari, an agency spokesperson.
The U.S. president told Al Jazeera over the phone on Wednesday that he believes the United States is “winning very big” as the conflict with Iran nears the six-month mark.
"I have no time schedule; whatever it takes," he told the Qatar-based broadcaster.
In another interview Wednesday, Trump said he thinks Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Motjaba Khamenei, is “very seriously wounded,” but not dead.
Motjaba Khamenei became supreme leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed at the start of the war. The younger Khamenei was badly wounded in the attacks and has remained out of public view.
Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump’s Board of Peace, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that if the current U.S.-led ceasefire effort collapses, the only alternative is more war.
“That would not be a setback,” he said. “It would be a point of no return for everyone.”
Mladenov insisted the U.S.-proposed plan has not stalled, and “has moved from the negotiating table to the engineering table.”
Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador Noa Furman told the Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is committed to Trump’s 20-point peace plan but that Hamas' “disarmament must come first” before Gaza's reconstruction can begin.
She added that Israel was working closely with the U.S. and the Board of Peace to achieve this.
Some parents said children in Gaza are dismantling their kites after Israel threatened to ramp up strikes as the toys keep flying into southern Israel.
In the past, kites and balloons have been set aflame and launched across the Gaza border, igniting fields and property in Israeli communities. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has downplayed the danger the kites pose.
In tents near the Mediterranean Sea in southern Gaza, kids dismantled the plastic, cloth and wood contraptions as adults looked on.
“They’ve lost their simple dreams, their education, their childhood, the simple things they used to enjoy,” lamented resident Atiya Abu Samhan.
An Israeli strike on a tent for displaced people Wednesday in southern Gaza killed one person and wounded at least four, the territory’s Health Ministry official. The Israeli military said that it struck a “military operative,” without elaborating.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have reported a surge in deadly Israeli strikes, despite a fragile ceasefire in the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war. Israel has said that it targets Hamas and other militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his government, in an effort to ensure Israel's existence, has legalized more than 104 settlements and established 160 farming outposts in the West Bank since he took office again in 2022.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are largely considered illegal, but Netanyahu has made their expansion a priority in the lead-up to Israel’s upcoming election. About 3 million Palestinians live alongside more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied territory, which has seen a recent spike in violence as the Israeli presence expands.
Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest travel hubs, said Wednesday that it saw a sharp drop in passengers as the Iran war disrupted air travel across the Middle East.
The airport recorded 13 million passengers in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the total to about 31.5 million passengers for the first half of the year. That's down 31.3% compared to last year at the halfway mark.
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln will make a stop in Thailand after its grueling deployment in the Middle East, Thai officials said Tuesday, without specifying a date or port for security reasons.
The Lincoln’s lengthy record-setting deployment during the Iran war has raised concerns about deteriorating mental health among the crew.
