US and Iran signal progress in diplomacy on reopening Hormuz

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The mayor of Al-Mansouri, in the Tyre district, Haider Madihli, told The New Arab that some families began leaving the town towards the city of Tire with the issuance of the Israeli warning, and the Civil Defense is also working to evacuate families.

Madihli pointed out that there are between 45 and 50 families remain in the town, noting that the number had reached about 120 families at the beginning of the ceasefire, and people’s movement was normal and they went to their lands, but the Israeli attacks that continued on the town, especially in the last ten days, prompted many to leave or go for some time to the town during daylight hours and then leave it.

Madihli pointed out that the event that was announced by Israel today takes place in the town of Majdal Zoun, which is above Al-Mansouri, noting that this town is constantly exposed to sound bombs and ongoing Israeli violations, and Israeli aircraft also dropped bombs between the towns of Al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, in the Al-Mashaa area.

Israel’s military launched what it called "precise strikes" in southern Lebanon in response to what it claims is a "blatant violation of the ceasefire" by Hezbollah.

Israel has been striking south Lebanon daily despite any agreement. 

The National Iranian Oil Company's bank accounts have been frozen by a state-owned lender over mounting debt, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday, underscoring the strain being felt by the country's most important source of revenue.

The Bank of Industry and Mine did not provide details on the amount owed or the accounts affected, according to Fars, which added that the move came despite provisions in Iran's budget law that deferred repayment of certain NIOC debts until the end of the Iranian calendar year in March 2027.

Separately, the head of the National Development Fund (NDF said NIOC would not be able to repay the fund a nearly $17 billion debt using proceeds from the Azadegan oilfield, one of the country's largest, as its development has been slowed by bureaucratic delays and administrative obstacles.

"The repayment of NIOC's debt via this route (Azadegan) won't work... There was hope for payment of debts via moves such as the cession of other oilfields but there is leniency and postponing due to the current conditions," Mehdi Ghazanfari was quoted as saying by the semi-official Borna news agency.

"We hope that with the end of the war and a return to normal, this issue will be solved," he said, referring to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Israel army tells residents to evacuate south Lebanon villages of Al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun and head about 1 km north away from their homes.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement yesterday evening, Tuesday, that he "very much looks forward" to his second meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to "discuss the ongoing work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and secure a permanent ceasefire."

He described this as "necessary to relieve cost of living pressures on British families."

Miliband is scheduled to meet today, Wednesday, with his American counterpart, who invited him, during their first meeting on the sidelines of the 33rd ministerial meeting of the Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) late last month, to visit Washington.

Egypt and Greece affirmed the importance of reaching a peaceful settlement and a comprehensive agreement between the United States and Iran in a way that contributes to reducing tension and preventing the widening of the cycle of escalation.

This came in a phone call made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, according to the Egyptian presidential spokesman.

Iranian Interior Minister Iskander Momeni and the new Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, Imran Ahmed Seddiqi, stressed, during a meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in Tehran, "the importance of strengthening coordination and developing bilateral relations."

For his part, the Pakistani ambassador stressed his country’s embassy’s readiness to support this path during the new phase, according to the IRNA agency.

Stock markets mostly climbed on Wednesday as investors digested a wave of company earnings that have broadly surpassed expectations, while assessing the chances of a US-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Asian equities benefited from a recent revival in technology stocks after a month-long rout, tracking gains on Wall Street on Tuesday that sent both the Dow and the S&P 500 to new records.

European markets were more subdued by midday as oil prices edged higher after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they had attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea.

That came after several markets, including Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan and Paris, reached fresh highs earlier in the session.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up $1.51, or 1.9%, at $80.87 a barrel by 1123 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 gained 90 cents, or 1.19%, to $76.67.

The Israeli army struck the area of the village of Majdal Zoun and the village of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday Tehran would support any initiative or decision taken by Palestinian leaders in ongoing indirect negotiations between militant group Hamas and Israel, Iranian state media reported.

At least 56 people have been executed in Iran on national security-related charges since March 19, including 27 in cases linked to protests at the start of the year, the UN human rights chief said on Wednesday.

Volker Türk added in the statement that there has been a rise in executions and death sentences since March and urged authorities to halt all executions and move towards abolition of the death penalty.

Arab Foreign Ministers are heading to Amman as Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi hosts an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in the occupied West Bank, particularly Israeli settler attacks on Al-Aqsa mosque, and the ongoing genocide of Gaza.

Iranian state television quoted an informed source as saying that the potential agreement between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman on arrangements for the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz "is not related to the immediate reopening of the Strait."

The source added that if “US violations” continue, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened even if an Iranian-Omani agreement occurs, stressing that this depends on Washington changing its behaviour.

Gaza's health ministry reports two Palestinians have been killed and one other person wounded in Israeli attacks over the past day.

Since the so-called "ceasefire" with Israel began on last October,  1,254 people have been killed and 4,121 wounded by Israeli attacks.

Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on October 2023, at least 73,381 were killed, with 174,231 wounded, mostly women and children.

Israeli settler attacks and military repression in the occupied West Bank are advancing a long-standing annexation strategy accelerated since 7 October, writes Hani Al-Masri.

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The second day of talks between Israel and Lebanon in Rome has reportedly begun.

This is the seventh round of talks between the countries, with little optimism that Israel will withdrawal. 

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis noted on Wednesday that they attacked the eighth Saudi oil tanker since the start of the blockade on 22 July, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

The group "successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker 'Wafa' in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a number of ballistic missiles," Saree said in a video statement.

The Houthis declared they will escalate attacks in the northern Red Sea because Saudi Arabia is diverting its oil tankers there from the south in response to their blockade.

The blockade has threatened top oil exporter Saudi Arabia's ability to get its supplies to the world following Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off the kingdom's only other maritime route.

Saree said that the group's blockade had pushed Saudi Arabia to divert "its oil tankers towards the northern Red Sea".

So the group will now "escalate in targeting Saudi oil tankers in the northern Red Sea to close all access points and prevent their passage".

Ukraine’s 25 July strike on an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea marked a significant moment in the growing overlap between the war in Ukraine and the conflict involving Iran, the United States, and Israel.

Kyiv maintained that it targeted the vessel because it was transporting military equipment to Russia, which has relied heavily on Iranian drones and other military support since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Rejecting that claim, Iran described the ship as a civilian commercial vessel, condemning the attack as a “hostile and criminal” act after one Iranian sailor was killed and another injured.

In response, Tehran summoned Ukraine’s senior diplomat, accused Kyiv of violating international law, and called for international condemnation. Iran is reportedly considering military retaliation.

The incident is significant because it highlights how two separate conflicts are becoming increasingly interconnected.

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The Houthis' military spokesperson says the Saudi oil tanker Wafa has been targeted with ballistic missiles in the northern Red Sea off the coast of Yemen's Yanbu.

More than 800,000 people displaced by Israel's war on Lebanon have begun returning to their hometowns following a lull in Israeli attacks, the United Nations said.

The announcement late on Tuesday came as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of US-sponsored talks in Rome aimed at ending the fighting, which are scheduled to run until Thursday.

UN humanitarian agency the OCHA said "821,077 people had begun the return to their areas of origin as of 30 July", but added that more than 360,000 remained displaced, around 26,000 of them in government shelters.

Lebanon and Israel held a fresh round of US-sponsored talks in Rome on Tuesday, with Beirut seeking Israel's phased withdrawal from the country's south.

Convoys carrying delegations from the two countries arrived in the morning on Tuesday to the US embassy in the Italian capital, where discussions are scheduled to run until Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel did not agree to a US-backed plan for Gaza.

In a video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday night, Netanyahu said the team of US President Donald Trump "believes that they can bring about the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza. We are checking this. They sent us a draft—we did not agree to it, it is not our draft. We sent our comments."

Netanyahu met with the US-backed "Board of Peace" on Monday and received guarantees that the Israeli army would only be required to leave its current positions in Gaza after Hamas disarms.

But pressure has been growing on the premier from his far-right coalition partners to reject the deal.

US President Donald Trump said his administration had "very good discussions" with Iran during all-day negotiations on Tuesday, fuelling expectations of an imminent end to the five-month conflict.

Oil prices fell and stocks jumped in Asian trade on Wednesday after Wall Street hit record highs on hopes that a deal could soon be reached to restore traffic through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

"They had an all-day negotiation," Trump told Fox News' "@ Night" show.

The Strait of Hormuz "is going to be open very soon," Trump added. "If they back out again, they are going to get hit really hard."