Iran threatens US energy firms amid tanker attacks

The Israeli air force says it carried out a strike in Gaza City that killed Yousef Akilah, whom it identified as a commander of a Nukhba unit within Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas did not immediately comment on the claim.

Iran's foreign ministry on Monday warned South Korea against military deployment or involvement in US operations in the Strait of Hormuz, saying such a move would have "serious consequences".

On Friday, Seoul said it was considering "contributions" to US security efforts in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has largely controlled since the outbreak of war against the United States on February 28.

South Korea said it would consider the move provided that its own military readiness was not compromised, but added that no decision had been made.

On Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei warned South Korea against succumbing to what he called "US pressure and intimidation".

"Any military deployment or participation in operations by other countries in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz can only be regarded as direct support for the party responsible for that aggression and will have serious consequences," he said in a post on X.

Iran and the United States have continued to trade fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz, even after an April ceasefire brought the initial intense bombardment campaign to an end.

Negotiations between the two foes have stalled as they vied for control over Hormuz, which normally carries around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas exports.

Since the war erupted, traffic through the vital waterway has been virtually paralysed, disrupting global energy markets.

Iran has required vessels to seek permission to transit -- a move opposed by Washington and several regional countries -- insisting that there will be no return to the pre-war system of unrestricted navigation.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has called on states to halt arms transfers to Israel and urged companies to end business practices that support illegal settlements in Palestine.

“They need to end the transfer to Israel of arms that risk being used to violate international law. Companies also need to end business practices that support illegal settlements,” he said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was “appalled by Israeli proposals for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip”, as well as the “constant stream of dehumanising rhetoric” from some senior Israeli officials.

Speaking during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, Turk said Israel continued to restrict aid entering Gaza and had killed “more than 1,300 Palestinians in daily strikes despite the ceasefire that was announced almost a year ago”.

He also warned that Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank was “unfolding unobstructed despite the clear ruling of the International Court of Justice”.

“What more will it take for states to take action to prevent the entrenchment of occupation across land earmarked for Palestinians under the two-state solution?” Turk asked.

“Words of condemnation ring hollow in the face of deliberate violations and suffering.”

A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution "impossible".

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with implementing an October ceasefire plan, was speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi.

"I would say that if Gaza continues the way it is now, or does not move into implementing... the plan that we have under the comprehensive plan, the two-state solution will become practically impossible," he said.

"Because, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 percent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 percent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict," he added.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, the nascent unit that aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. It is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought skepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.

The West Bank has also seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory, home to some three million Palestinians.

"The only way that we can build back to that is if we have transitional governance, if we have decommissioning of weapons, if we have withdrawal in Gaza," he said.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned on Monday that the country’s latest military escalation could pave the way for a wider conflict and a return to large-scale fighting.

Amid growing reports of civilian casualties, displaced families and damage to civilian infrastructure, he called on all parties to cease hostilities and exercise maximum restraint.

In a statement addressing the latest escalation, the UN envoy said attacks launched by the Houthi movement across several fronts had intensified clashes, describing the development as extremely dangerous.

He warned that continued fighting would have serious consequences for civilians and further complicate efforts to reach a political settlement in Yemen.

Grundberg expressed grave concern over reports of civilian deaths and injuries, the displacement of families and damage to civilian infrastructure.

He noted that Yemenis had endured more than a decade of conflict, warning that a return to sustained, large-scale fighting would deepen the humanitarian crisis and undermine efforts to achieve peace.

The envoy stressed that Yemenis’ aspirations for security, effective state institutions and a future beyond years of war required a credible political process capable of addressing the political, security and economic issues at the heart of the conflict.

He urged all parties to halt hostilities, exercise maximum restraint and use existing channels to prevent further escalation, including the United Nations Military Coordination Committee. He also called on the parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Grundberg said he would continue engaging directly with the parties to contain the current escalation and preserve space for dialogue. He also called on regional and international actors to use their influence to help de-escalate the situation and support a return to political negotiations.

Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon, killing 12 people including women and children according to the Lebanese health ministry on Monday, in an intensification of violence after a weeks-long lull.

 Eleven people, including two children and four women, died in one attack on a building in Kfar Rumman that killed 11 people, the ministry said.

A separate attack in the same town killed a rescuer and wounded another, the ministry said. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency had previously reported two wounded rescuers.

The strikes, which came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, follow separate raids a day earlier that left 11 dead.

Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi on Monday said giving the UN nuclear agency access to key nuclear facilities in Iran would have "positive repercussions" for the Islamic republic as a draft resolution proposes referring Tehran to the UN Security Council.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel, joined by the United States, launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that included strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear facilities have also been hit in the latest war, which erupted on February 28, and the IAEA has repeatedly urged access.

"The best, shortest way for a positive outcome is for Iran to engage with us," Grossi told a press conference after opening the quarterly meeting of the IAEA board of governors.

A resolution drafted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany expected to be submitted and voted on this week seeks to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

The draft asks Grossi to "submit this resolution to all members of the agency and to the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations".

Asked whether such a referral was the right course of action, Grossi said that "my job with Iran continues, irrespective of the resolution".

Violence in the occupied West Bank flared on Monday as Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during a village raid by settlers from a nearby outpost and killed another Palestinian who entered an outpost and stabbed a settler, officials said.

It was the latest violence involving dozens of Israeli settler outposts across the West Bank, where attacks by settlers on Palestinians have drawn international condemnation and a rare order by Israel's leader to dismantle some of them.

News agency Reuters reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the order after pressure from Washington, whose envoy to Israel made a visit this weekend to a Palestinian town that has faced settler attacks and is home to many American citizens.

Israel on Monday threatened a "full-scale war" against the Palestinian Authority if it prepared an attack against Israeli forces or settlements similar to the one launched by Hamas from Gaza on October 7, 2023.

The remarks from Defence Minister Israel Katz came after a stabbing attack in the northern occupied West Bank, with the Israeli military saying it had shot and killed the Palestinian assailant.

Israeli attacks in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged after Hamas's October 2023 attack sparked the war in Gaza.

Recent months have seen soaring attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, often with little or no legal consequence.

"If... the Palestinian Authority's security mechanisms and related bodies initiate, or we know with certainty that they are about to initiate, a terror attack in the style of October 7 against IDF forces and Jewish settlements -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the [Israeli forces] to prepare for the opening of a full-scale war," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement from his office.

Katz said the military campaign would target the "senior leadership and mechanisms" of the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as well as "all terror infrastructure" in the territory.

He said it would include "targeted killings of senior figures" and the "evacuation of residents from the cities and villages from which terror activity is carried out", with a permanent Israeli military presence in those areas.

Katz said the operation would emulate the so-called "security zones" in which the Israeli military currently operates in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it shot and killed a Palestinian assailant who had stabbed an Israeli settler in the northern occupied West Bank.

Oman said it had evacuated 16 crew members from the Saudi-owned tanker Sidr, after it was attacked by Iran, according to a statement posted on X by its Maritime Security Centre.

The Sidr was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi oil that were reported hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz last Monday.

Saudi Arabia said last Wednesday that the attack on the tanker, owned by national shipping company Bahri, had killed two Filipino seafarers.

The vessel had 25 crew members aboard. The status of the seven not accounted for yet was not immediately clear.

The Jazan oil refinery, owned by the world's biggest oil company ​Saudi Aramco, was attacked on Monday and the damage is being ascertained, the Financial Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.

The New Arab could not independently verify the report.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan have called for increased joint efforts to contain the escalating tensions in the region and promote security and stability.

During a phone conversation, the two ministers discussed a number of regional developments, including the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran and Libya, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The ministry said Abdelatty and Fidan stressed the importance of coordinating efforts to prevent further escalation and support regional security and stability.

Hamas has described the stabbing of a settler in the occupied West Bank as a “heroic operation” and a “legitimate response to the ongoing crimes of the occupation and the extremist settlers”.

The Palestinian movement said it mourned the Palestinian who carried out the attack, after the Israeli military said its forces later shot him while he was in his vehicle.

Hamas said Palestinians would “not stand idly by in the face of the aggression, settlement, displacement, and targeting of their land and holy sites”.

The group called on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to “escalate the resistance” and oppose Israel’s efforts involving settlement expansion, annexation and displacement.

On Monday afternoon, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that a young man had been injured in the town of Qabalan, southeast of Nablus, while Israeli forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching him.

The Red Crescent said its teams were attempting to reach the injured man and were coordinating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to secure access for medical personnel.

Large numbers of Israeli occupation forces subsequently raided Qabalan and began besieging a house that Israeli authorities said belonged to the alleged perpetrator of a stabbing attack on a settler.

Khadija Aqra, a member of the Qabalan Municipality Council, told The New Arab: "Large forces of the occupation army are besieging the house of Fayez Muhammad Arabi Aqra at the entrance to the village of Qabalan."

"We hear heavy gunfire at the house, but we don't know what is going on exactly."

She added: "There are hundreds of soldiers and settlers who are now besieging the village, and they are spreading at its entrances."

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has threatened US energy companies with attacks after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Iranian tankers could be “destroy[ed]”.

Ghalibaf said US oil and gas companies operating across the region could be vulnerable to retaliation.

“It’s simple: the oil and gas production chain here is sprawling, accessible, and exposed. American oil and gas companies across these waters and facilities share that exposure,” he posted.

“Strike our assets, and you get struck.”

Ghalibaf accompanied his warning with an apparently AI-generated image depicting oil infrastructure and carrying the message: “The lost decade of the US economy is coming”.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Peru’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Tehran would have little impact, arguing that diplomatic ties between the two countries were effectively non-existent.

The comments came after Peru’s Foreign Ministry announced that it had cut diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing Tehran of inciting “an escalation of conflicts” in the Middle East and obstructing maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Referring to Peru’s longstanding pacifist position, the ministry said it “has made the decision to sever diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

Yemen's Houthis on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes on various areas of Yemen as the rebels push on with an offensive to seize territory bordering the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.

"The Saudi enemy targeted the provinces of Jawf, al-Bayda, Marib and Taiz with several airstrikes and cruise missiles," said the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Houthi movement.

 Two members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who claimed asylum in Australia have confirmed their pivotal refusal to sing the national anthem during the Women’s Asian Cup in March was a protest against Tehran.

The first media interview with Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, 34, and Fatemeh Pasandideh, 22, since they abandoned their team to become refugees was broadcast Sunday on Australia’s “60 Minutes” current affairs program.

"We just wanted to stand with our people. I was scared at times, but I just tried to do what was right and say that no one should be killed just for protesting,” Ramezanisadeh told Nine Network through an interpreter.

The team was criticized in Iran and branded as traitors in the media there for remaining silent when the Iranian national anthem was played ahead of their opening loss against South Korea on March 2.

Some saw it as an act of resistance, while others interpreted it as a show of mourning following the US and Israeli attacks on their homeland which began on Feb. 28. The team offered no public explanation.

The gesture led to demonstrators demanding the team be offered asylum in Australia before leaving Sydney on March 10.

Ramezanisadeh and Pasandideh said they were protesting Tehran’s brutal crackdown on nationwide demonstrations against Iran’s theocratic rule.

Ramezanisadeh said her silence “could have meant any form of torture” for her.

“But at that moment, the only thing that gave me peace and a clear conscience was not singing it. I wanted to sing the anthem with pride and from my heart. But because of the situation in Iran, I really couldn’t do it,” she said.

Pasandideh said through an interpreter of her own silence: “My people put their lives on the line and they were killed. Doing that was the absolute least we could do for them.”

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said the Strait of Hormuz must be treated as an international waterway, stressing that freedom of navigation should not be subject to negotiation under pressure.

Gargash said no single state should have control over the Strait of Hormuz, adding that it was unacceptable for oil tankers and other vessels to face continuous threats while passing through the strategic waterway.

He also emphasised the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation, saying: “Freedom of navigation is not a principle that could be negotiated under pressure.”

Gargash's comments come amid heightened tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and concerns over the safety of commercial shipping through the key global energy route.

The International Court of Justice is set to hear Germany’s objections to a case accusing Berlin of facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nicaragua brought the case in 2024, alleging Germany violated international law by providing political, financial and military support to Israel. Germany denies the allegations and argues that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction.

An eight-year-old Palestinian girl and her father were killed in an Israeli strike on their car in Gaza City as they returned home from her first day back at school.

Palestinian media identified the pair as Wafaa Alika and her father Youssef. Six other people were wounded in the attack, according to reports.

Israel has launched further attacks on Gaza despite the US-brokered ceasefire, saying it targeted alleged Hamas infrastructure overnight.

The Israeli military said the strikes came after one of its vehicles hit an explosive device behind the Yellow Line in northern Gaza. It reported no Israeli casualties from the incident.

At least 11 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Kfar Rumman in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

Nine people, including two infants, were killed when Israel struck a three-storey residential building overnight. Two paramedics were also killed in an Israeli drone strike on a civilian vehicle in the town.

Iran is set to announce a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz agreed with Oman “in the coming days”, according to top security official Mohsen Rezaei.

Tehran also plans to declare a restricted zone near the key waterway. The temporary Iran-Oman transit corridor is expected to be 11.3km wide, although details on when it will become operational remain unclear.