Latest war news. Talks on Hormuz in Istanbul postponed. Tehran: ‘Trump is showing signs of schizophrenia’

Six months after the start of the conflict, “the situation in the Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved” and “around 6,000 seafarers on board 400 vessels” are still stranded in the Persian Gulf. This was stated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, who, in a statement, called for “concrete solutions to restore freedom of navigation”.

To date, the IMO has recorded at least 70 attacks on international merchant ships, in which 19 seafarers were killed.

Despite the decline in violence compared with the start of the year, “the situation in southern Lebanon remains fragile”. This was emphasised today by the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which stated that “between 21 and 27 August, UN peacekeepers recorded 1,030 bullet trajectories, an average of 147 per day”.

“Behind these figures lies a continuing toll on civilian lives, with homes and vital infrastructure damaged and communities struggling to recover,” reads UNIFIL’s X account – “The peacekeepers continue to monitor and report on developments on the ground and are working with the parties to help prevent further escalation.”

Over the past two months, the US military has gradually eroded Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, to the extent that the US armed forces now effectively control most of it. This is according to statements made by US officials to Axios.

The American website notes, citing Israeli sources as well, that the decision to close the Strait of Hormuz was taken at the start of the Israeli-American conflict against Iran by the then commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy, General Alireza Tangsiri. Within the first 72 hours of the war, Iran announced the closure of the strait and warned that it would attack any oil tankers attempting to pass through it. Behind the scenes, however, Tangsiri also gave the order to lay naval mines in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), the main international shipping lane through the strait, according to Israeli and US officials. Tangsiri was killed three weeks later in an Israeli air raid on the port city of Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran.

A Hamas militant who had taken part in the attack on 7 October 2023 and a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were killed yesterday in strikes on Gaza City, the Israeli army has announced.

Ibrahim Nabil Ibrahim Bass was killed in an attack in the Shati refugee camp; according to the IDF, he was a Hamas commander who had infiltrated Israel on 7 October. In another attack, in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, Hamdi Ahmad Hamid Kahlil was targeted; he was identified by the army as a platoon commander in the Islamic Jihad’s surveillance unit.

A fake think tank registered in the US to spread Israeli propaganda, using artificial intelligence, published over half a million words online in nine days, passing them off as pseudo-academic analyses. This was revealed by an investigation carried out by The Guardian into the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, which does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address and lists no staff members or bylines on its articles. The think tank’s website sets out Israel’s position on issues such as the torture of Palestinian prisoners, the Jewish state’s war crimes and allegations of deliberately starving the population of Gaza, all presented as impartial research. The New York-based media production company Piro Inc registered the website with the US Department of Justice this month under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) – a 1938 law requiring anyone working on behalf of a foreign government to formally declare this – specifying that the material is distributed on behalf of the Israeli government. According to the British newspaper, the website is part of a campaign funded with tens of millions of dollars by the State of Israel and channelled through third parties such as the European firm Havas Media, to steer the chatbots’ responses in Israel’s favour.

Finland is to halt funding for UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees. This was announced by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Ville Tavio, who explained that Finland will continue to provide aid to the Palestinian people through other channels, and that the level of funding will not remain unchanged. The news was reported by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which wrote on its ‘X’ account that it ‘welcomes Finland’s decision to suspend its long-standing funding to UNRWA’. The Israeli ministry believes it is ‘positive to see that more and more countries are recognising the undeniable truth in light of the conclusive evidence of UNRWA staff involvement in the 7 October massacre and UNRWA’s inseparable ties to Hamas. UNRWA is a hotbed of terrorism. It is part of the problem, not the solution’.

Israel is reportedly seeking to postpone negotiations with Lebanon, citing the October elections as the reason. A Lebanese source told Al Jazeera this, adding that Israel’s claims regarding the failure to withdraw military units from the pilot zones in southern Lebanon also constitute a “delaying tactic to buy time”. The next round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon is due to take place in Rome in September. The source added that ‘there has been no negligence on the part of the Lebanese army, but we do not want internal bloodshed. ‘Israel does not want an international force in the south and is seeking direct contact with the Lebanese army.’ Regarding Hezbollah, the Lebanese source stated that the government in Beirut had asked the Shia group to begin consultations, which could prove useful in the negotiations. At present, however, there has been no response from Hezbollah. “There is international consensus that Hezbollah cannot be disarmed by force or quickly,” the source added.

Talks on the future of the Strait of Hormuz, organised by Turkey and Germany, which were due to take place on Sunday in Istanbul, have been postponed. The German government announced this, explaining that the talks had been postponed due to a scheduling conflict involving one of the participants. No new date has yet been set. The foreign ministers of Germany, Turkey, France and the UK were due to attend the Istanbul meeting. Meetings with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt were also scheduled. The talks were due to focus on regional security and freedom of navigation in the Strait, which has been blocked since the start of the war with Iran.

The Iranian singer and artist Mohsen Namjoo has returned to Iran from the United States, where he had been living in exile for several years after being sentenced to prison for setting verses from the Qur’an to music. This was reported by the official news agency IRNA.

At the height of the Israeli-American war against Iran, the artist repeatedly spoke out against “the attacks that are destroying the country” and accused the overseas-based opposition of being “warmongers”. However, in these statements – which went viral and sparked outrage amongst his opponents – he distanced himself from the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has condemned the latest US campaign of economic pressure against Tehran, warning all countries that taking part in it amounts to complicity in an act of “terrorism”.

In a statement, the Iranian ministry argued that US sanctions violate the United Nations Charter and described Washington’s declaration of economic war as a continuation of the military conflict waged against Iran by the United States and Israel.

JERUSALEM – Judaisation. Not only the West Bank, but also territories within the State of Israel with a significant Arab presence. Bezalel Smotrich’s latest strategy to regain support shifts his national-religious campaign from the West Bank to the outskirts of Israel: the Negev Desert in the south and Galilee in the north.

In a surprise announcement yesterday, the Finance Minister unveiled his party’s – Religious Zionism – manifesto ahead of the 27 October elections. The name is telling: ‘Yes, Judaisation’. So is the rhetoric. The slogan is ‘Ahmed is right to be afraid’. In a video created using artificial intelligence, a Palestinian from the West Bank phones an Israeli Arab and says: “Smotrich is coming to do to you what he has done to us. He will take control of the land, build towns and farms. For us, all is already lost.”

The Strait of Hormuz “is open”. US President Donald Trump reiterated this to Axios. “Iran’s response is very weak. They don’t want us to strike them again. That is the key point. The rest doesn’t matter,” Trump added. Overnight, Centcom commander Brad Cooper stated that “the internationally recognised shipping lanes in the Strait are free of Iranian naval mines”, describing the result as “an important milestone”. According to US officials quoted by Axios, between 20 and 30 oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz every night, around half the number seen before the conflict. A US official also reported that over the past month, Iran has struck around 2 per cent of the ships passing through the Strait, whilst continuing to attempt attacks which, in most cases, miss their target.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, has attacked US President Donald Trump, comparing his statements on the Strait of Hormuz to the symptoms of schizophrenia. “Schizophrenia is a complex and acute psychotic disorder, characterised by disturbances in thought and a distorted perception of reality,” wrote Gharibabadi on X, attaching to the post the image shared by Trump in which the Strait is presented as ‘new territory’ of the United States. “The most common symptoms are hallucinations and delusions,” added the deputy minister, who noted that psychologists recommend that such patients “be monitored and treated around the clock”.

The conference, planned as a German-Turkish initiative to discuss solutions for the Strait of Hormuz – which has been blocked due to the war in Iran – has been postponed. According to German government sources in Berlin, the reason is said to be scheduling issues affecting one of the participants. This is reported by the DPA. A new date has not yet been set for the meeting, which was due to take place in Turkey. Initially, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) and his counterparts from Turkey, France and Britain were due to meet the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt this Sunday in Istanbul. The discussions were to have focused on regional issues such as security and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The Trump administration is reportedly close to finalising a deal with Venezuela’s interim government to acquire a share of the South American country’s vast oil reserves, according to two US officials who spoke to Axios. This deal would double US oil reserves, drawing on a country that possesses the world’s largest proven reserves. “To call this deal huge would be an understatement,” said one of the officials. “It is colossal.”

The wars in Iran and Ukraine are contributing to the push for the agreement to be signed, as they have disrupted global oil supplies and driven up prices. The US strategic oil reserves are currently at their lowest level in 40 years. The details are still being finalised, but the discussions concern more than a dozen producing oil fields, not the entirety of Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels of proven reserves. According to Axios, the fields at the centre of the negotiations contain around 90 billion barrels of proven reserves – nearly a third of Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels – and a quantity that could more than double the oil reserves attributable to the United States.

Venice4Palestine is launching a new appeal to the Venice Biennale, the Venice International Film Festival and workers in the sector, calling for concrete action in support of Palestine. Among the demands is that the Palestinian flag be displayed during the Festival, to mark the inclusion in the official selection of the two Palestinian films *Al Mowaten Osama* by Ahmed Hassouna and *Hiwar ma’ albahr* by Muayad Alayan. The appeal calls for transparency throughout the film industry and for the suspension of agreements with bodies and institutions linked to the Israeli government. Signatories include Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, Roger Waters and Matteo Garrone.

The Iranian defence industry has developed “new weapons, equipment, technologies and tactics to maintain the element of surprise, which will be unveiled on the battlefield”. According to the Iranian news outlet Press TV, this was stated by Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in Tehran. ““The Iranian defence industry has moved beyond mere copying and reverse engineering,” he added, “and is now independently developing certain technologies for drones and ballistic missiles. The enemy and certain foreign countries had claimed, prior to the Ramadan War, that they were copying Iranian drone and weapons designs.”

Getting diplomacy “back on track” is not impossible, but it depends on the United States’ ability to realise that putting pressure on Iran does not work. This was stated by the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi.

“Getting diplomacy back on track is not impossible. It depends on the United States understanding one simple fact: pressure does not work,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The United States should build trust, speak respectfully, recognise our rights and honour its commitments,” the minister added.

US President Donald Trump continues to insist that the Strait of Hormuz is American territory. In a post on his social media platform Truth, he published an image entitled ‘US Territories’ showing various flags, including those of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Marshall Islands, alongside an illustration of the Strait of Hormuz, which is labelled as ‘new’ territory.

“The blockade and the economic marginalisation will crush Iran’s already fragile economy. The United States has exported 130 million barrels of oil over the last 14 days. Iran: 0.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote this on X.

“We, too, for that matter, do not want a toll to be introduced (for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, ed.), but this is an issue that will need to be discussed further,” said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with the RBC television channel.

The minister added that the Strait of Hormuz remained completely open until 28 February this year, that is, before the United States and Israel launched their aggression against Iran. He also pointed out that the issue of tolls for passage through the strait had not been discussed “until the United States and Israel took this initiative”.

The United Nations Human Rights Office has criticised the Trump administration’s decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, describing it as a “disproportionate and unnecessary” restriction on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This was reported by the Reuters news agency.

On Wednesday, Washington added Palestine Action to its list of terrorist organisations, claiming that the decision forms part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to combat left-wing groups as part of his counter-terrorism policy. The Israeli Foreign Ministry welcomed the move.

There are around 50,000 US military personnel deployed in US operations in the Middle East. This was stated by the commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper.

“Many of our 50,000 US military personnel operating across the region are doing an exceptional job of enforcing the naval blockade against Iran, whilst at the same time ensuring the flow of commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” said Cooper.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will step up efforts to economically isolate Iran at next week’s G20 Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, an event overshadowed by wars and trade tensions. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s 20 leading economies will meet next Monday and Tuesday to kick off the talks, which are the first of several ministerial meetings in 2026, in preparation for the G20 Leaders’ Summit that President Donald Trump will host in Florida in December. In Asheville, US officials will emphasise to G20 countries the importance of complying with sanctions against Iran, a US Treasury official has reported, indicating that Bessent will make direct appeals to his counterparts during bilateral meetings, without, however, specifying who they are scheduled to meet or whether China – the leading buyer of Iranian oil – is among the participants. Also on the agenda are issues such as industrial overcapacity, the promotion of more robust economic growth and the creation of reliable supply chains for critical resources such as energy. Although the G20 talks have expanded to cover issues such as climate change and global health, analysts predict that this year Washington will advocate a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, which entails a renewed focus on debt, trade, financial stability and banking regulation. The upcoming meeting, however, comes at a time when US global leadership is being put to the test. Concerns are mounting over US debt levels, whilst the massive tariffs imposed by Trump on rivals and historic allies, such as Canada, have made relations particularly strained. Against a backdrop of uncertainty over the course of the conflict between the US and Iran. The G20 comprises 19 nations plus the EU and the African Union: this year, under the US presidency, South Africa has been excluded from the G20, whilst Washington has invited Poland to take a seat at the negotiating table.

Donald Trump continues to refer to the Strait of Hormuz as “a new American territory”. In a collage of flags posted on Truth, the tycoon mentions a number of US territories, including Guam, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and American Samoa, alongside the ‘new’ addition, represented by a stylised image of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Israeli army fired two artillery shells between the town of Beit Jinn and the Red Hills, on the western outskirts of Damascus, according to the country’s official news agency, Sana. The two shells landed on farmland and no injuries were reported, the agency added. This was reported by Al Jazeera. Syria continues to demand Israel’s complete withdrawal from its territory, insisting that all measures taken by Israeli forces in the areas under their control are null and void under international law, Sana reported, adding that Damascus has also called on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities and compel Israel to withdraw completely from southern Syria.

US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, the most senior US military commander in the Middle East and head of the US Central Command (Centcom), has stated that the international shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz have been cleared of mines.

“Today, international shipping routes are open and we are pressing ahead with vigour,” he said in a video posted on social media.