Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of Iran deal as Kushner meets Netanyahu – Middle East crisis live

• US president Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a deal with Iran on the strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender. Referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks, Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”

• Two Iranian drones targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister’s office and the home of the autonomous region’s intelligence chief overnight, authorities said on Monday. Masrour Barzani said that 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 earlier today”.

• Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that a ۶۰-day deadline for negotiations included in June’s memorandum of understanding was “irrelevant” because the US had violated the deal early on. “We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the ۶۰-day provision irrelevant,” he said.

• Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner discussed putting an American general in charge of verifying Hamas’s disarmament on Monday, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no pullout from Gaza until then. Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, flew to the region after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war.

• Israeli flags planted on a main coastal highway in southern Lebanon are a violation of a UN security council resolution, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on ⁠Monday, urging all sides ⁠to avoid “provocative actions“. Israel’s military ​invaded a swathe of southern Lebanon during a war with Hezbollah earlier this year, establishing a self-declared security zone it says aims to shield northern Israel from attacks ⁠by the Iran-backed group.

• Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia. Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed group, said it had “succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles”.

• Israeli soldiers have stood guard as bulldozers demolished a Palestinian building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Authorities cited the apparent lack of a building permit to justify the destruction in Qalandia, south of Ramallah.

• The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen, urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale conflict,” Volker Türk said in a statement, as renewed fighting between the Houthi rebels and the government undermined a ۲۰۲۲ truce.

• Eight Muslim-majority countries have condemned Israel for rejecting Trump’s Gaza roadmap, saying it “fundamentally undermines the collective efforts undertaken to achieve a just and lasting peace.” The joint statement – signed by Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan – was issued during Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner’s visit to the Middle East.

Two Iranian drones targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister’s office and the home of the autonomous region’s intelligence chief overnight, authorities said on Monday.

Masrour Barzani said that 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 earlier today”.

“This is a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan region.”

There were no reported casualties in the attack.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner discussed putting an American general in charge of verifying Hamas’s disarmament on Monday, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no pullout from Gaza until then.

Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, flew to the region after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war.

Kushner, who has long family ties to Netanyahu, met with him in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks in Egypt with Hamas, which has publicly committed itself to the plan and to disarmament, winning praise from Trump but prompting deep scepticism in Israel.

The two sides “agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza”, a senior Israeli official told AFP.

Vessels near the strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, earlier on today.

Israeli flags planted on a main coastal highway in southern Lebanon are a violation of a UN security council resolution, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on ⁠Monday, urging all sides ⁠to avoid “provocative actions“.

Israel’s military ​invaded a swathe of southern Lebanon during a war with Hezbollah earlier this year, establishing a self-declared security zone it says aims to shield northern Israel from attacks ⁠by the Iran-backed group.

A video posted on Sunday by Israel’s Channel ۱۲ news journalist Amit Segal showed Israeli flags flying along the Naqoura-Tyre coastal road, a primary artery for southern Lebanon and ⁠a route used by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The footage appeared to have been taken from a military vehicle.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that a ۶۰-day deadline for negotiations included in June’s memorandum of understanding was “irrelevant” because the US had violated the deal early on.

“We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the ۶۰-day provision irrelevant,” he said.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.

Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed group, said it had “succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles”.

He went on to claim that the ship and number of other boats were sunk or burned, though the claim could not be independently verified.

Riyadh did not immediately respond to the announcement.

US forces currently stationed in the Kurdish region of Iraq have begun withdrawing ahead of a ۳۰ September deadline agreed upon between Washington and Baghdad to end the US military presence in Iraq.

Trump’s threat to bomb Oman is not the first. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that “Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”

Iran said it has reached an agreement with Oman over a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between the countries, and the sides are now working to finalise details for a joint statement.

Iranian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route.”

He did not elaborate, but details that have previously emerged suggest the deal would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman. Ships would transit without paying fees or tolls during an interim period.

The US has sought an acceptable deal on opening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran effectively closed the strait – through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war – after Israel and the U.S. attacked the country on ۲۸ February.

Baghaei conceded the talks with Oman have gone slowly, “but we had planned, and still plan, to finalise the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement.

Iran says it is working to finalise a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fully reopening the waterway has been a key US demand, and President Donald Trump has again threatened Oman.

The ۶۰-day negotiating period to find a peace deal between the US and Iran is soon expiring , with no word of an extension and both sides seemingly as far apart as they were at the start, AP report.

Meanwhile, Trump said the ۶۰-day deadline on talks to end the war was irrelevant and said there was no timeline, Fox News reporter Trey Yingst said. Trump said the US has a back channel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yingst added.

⁠Iran will ⁠escalate ⁠tensions in ​the Strait of ⁠Hormuz and wider ⁠region ​if ‌diplomacy ‌with the ‌US fails, a senior Iranian official ‌told Reuters on ​Monday, pointing to an ⁠Iranian policy ​shift relying ​on ​offence ​rather than ‌defence.

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a deal with Iran on the strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender.

Referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks, Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst:

If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.

He added that Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender,” according to Yingst’s post on X on his interview with the president.

Israeli soldiers have stood guard as bulldozers demolished a Palestinian building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Authorities cited the apparent lack of a building permit to justify the destruction in Qalandia, south of Ramallah.