Our coverage on Iran and the wider Middle East has now ended, and will resume tomorrow.
- US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory after Washington "finishes defeating" Iran. Trump made this statement during a political rally at a police academy in New York state. An unnamed White House official later clarified that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- But Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi fired back on Saturday in a post on X, stressing that the "Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian." He added that the "strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command."
- Trump has repeatedly said that the key energy waterway, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war, is under US control - an assertion the Islamic republic denies.
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Meanwhile, in Lebanon, an Israeli strike killed at least 11 people in the southern town of Ansar, ending a lull in hostilities that followed a US-brokered agreement signed in June. The deal calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon and for Hezbollah to disarm.