War in the Middle East: latest news. Araghchi: negotiations with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz are in their final stages

Iranian officials are aware of President Donald Trump’s “political vulnerability” and intend to exploit it, if necessary, ahead of the mid-term elections in November. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal, which, citing a diplomat in Tehran, adds that “should diplomacy fail, the IRGC is considering pre-emptive strikes even in the absence of an American offensive”, the diplomat said.

The Israeli army announced today that it had killed armed Palestinian militants affiliated with the “Army of Islam” and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a series of air strikes carried out on Saturday.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced today, in a statement marking the second anniversary of the death of the Hamas leader, that they will avenge the deaths of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ismail Haniyeh.

“The response to these serious crimes will be severe and decisive,” the statement reads. According to the Pasdaran, attempts to disarm Hamas will fail, and they promise that “Palestine’s ultimate victory over the occupiers is closer than the enemies imagine”.

War in the Middle East – 2 August 2026

There is no agreement on the part of Israel to suspend military attacks on Gaza. This was stated by the Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the security cabinet. Speaking on army radio, as reported by The Times of Israel, Cohen stated that “there has been no discussion within the cabinet in the last 72 hours” regarding the plan for Gaza. “Any armed actor operating, threatening or involved in terrorism will be eliminated,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet commented publicly on the plan put forward by the Board of Peace in recent days, which calls for the disarmament of Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, but two statements attributed to a ‘senior Israeli official’ have suggested that Jerusalem does not consider the proposal sufficient and is not prepared to withdraw its military forces. Cohen stated that he does not believe Hamas will adhere to the Board of Peace’s disarmament plan, despite the apparent agreement. “Of course we will ensure the opportunity” for it to succeed, Cohen added, emphasising that Israel prefers Hamas to disarm through diplomatic channels.

The countries of OPEC+ agreed at a meeting today to increase their oil production quotas in September in response to the crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East. “The seven countries in the group (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman) have decided to adjust production to 188,000 barrels per day,” they stated.

Young contract killers, recruited to carry out assassinations across Europe by the Foxtrot Network, an organised criminal group affiliated with the Iranian regime, known for its tactics of contract violence, and already responsible for 35 murders as well as numerous attacks against Israeli targets.

In a report, the BBC reveals that the gang recruits teenagers to carry out attacks in exchange for money, but it almost never has to pay because they are often caught.

Arab sources have told the Saudi newspaper Al-Arabiya that the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad has accepted the Peace Council’s plan for the disarmament of Gaza. Last week, Hamas officially gave its approval to the plan. Islamic Jihad, which is linked to and funded by Iran, is smaller and less powerful than Hamas, but remains an important player in the Strip nonetheless. The plan provides for terrorist groups to lay down their arms and for Israel to withdraw from the Strip, allowing a nascent technocratic government to assume a monopoly on arms and administrative power.

“Although the enemy’s recent statements are part of its psychological warfare, from our point of view every threat is real and credible.” This was stated by Iran’s acting Defence Minister Majid Ebn-e Reza.

“We will not be caught off guard, nor will we remain passive; instead, we will use these threats as a basis for increasing our military readiness, strengthening our deterrent power and enhancing our military capabilities,” he added, according to the IRNA news agency.

The Iranian news agency Mehr has described US President Donald Trump’s claim – that it was Tehran, together with ‘other Middle Eastern countries’, that asked him to refrain from further attacks against Iran – as a ‘lie’. Trump’s words “are nothing more than yet another lie”, writes Mehr, quoting military officials in Tehran, who say that the Iranian armed forces are “on high alert and ready for any eventuality”.

The semi-official Iranian news agency Fars quotes a member of the country’s negotiating team, who denies that an agreement has been reached on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Fars agency, the report circulated by the Israeli media – claiming that Tehran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, had accepted an agreement between the United States and Qatar to divide control of the strait between Iran and Oman – is ‘false’. The newspaper also quotes an Iranian military source who insists that the vital waterway remains closed to any vessel that does not coordinate with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The terms for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which were reportedly accepted by the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, during the night between Saturday and Sunday, following a proposal by mediators from Qatar and the United States, would stipulate that vessels entering the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz must pass through Iranian territorial waters, whilst those leaving must pass through Omani waters. This is according to reports by the Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, based on information provided by two diplomats familiar with the details of the negotiations.

Araqchi’s positive response was one of the reasons why President Trump agreed to call off the attack on Iran and, according to diplomatic sources, Oman is also said to have accepted the proposal, whilst seeking clarification from Iran as to whether Araqchi’s agreement also reflects the position of the Revolutionary Guards. Meanwhile, Qatari mediators are continuing talks with Iran to ensure that the Revolutionary Guards support the agreements reached.

In an interview published on Fox News, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Iran’s military capabilities have been reduced and that Iranian officials “are now willing, and in some cases seem eager, to reach an agreement on denuclearisation”.

This statement was issued prior to Trump’s post on Truth Social, in which he claimed that Washington had agreed with Israel to suspend planned new attacks against Iran at the request of Tehran and other countries in the region, on condition that an agreement be reached swiftly.

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to nine between last night and dawn. This has been reported to Al Jazeera by sources at hospitals in Gaza. The victims included three children. The raids struck Gaza City, Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis, the sources said.

“Following the agreement reached by Hamas and the other Palestinian factions on the fifteen-point roadmap, the success of the agreement now depends on Israel’s full commitment to ending its daily attacks on Gaza.” This was written in X by Mohammed Dahlan, leader of the reformist al-Fatah movement, who is in exile in the United Arab Emirates and played a decisive role in the negotiations in Egypt regarding the implementation of the second phase of the Trump plan for Gaza.

“Jared Kushner has informed us that he is working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks on Gaza,” added Dahlan, emphasising that “our intensive contacts with the American side are continuing to ensure the faithful and full implementation of the agreement”.

Iranian military sources quoted by state media have dismissed as ‘false’ Donald Trump’s claim that he ordered a halt to the attacks after allies in the region had set out the terms of an agreement to end the war – an agreement that would include ‘the immediate, total and complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the Iranian nuclear threat’. The US President, the sources claim, is attempting to put pressure on the leaders of the Gulf states. Iranian forces are at the highest level of readiness. Should fighting resume, they will be ‘decisive’ and will demonstrate who holds the real power.

The Israeli army has stated that it killed Salem Jamal Abd al-Rahman Abu Labad, commander of a cell of Hamas’s Nukhba special forces, in a raid carried out yesterday in the south of the Gaza Strip. This is reported by the Times of Israel and Al Jazeera. According to the authorities, Abu Labad is believed to have taken part in the October 2023 attack on Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel. In another attack, which took place on Friday in central Gaza, the army also claimed to have killed Muhammad Abd al-Nasser Muhammad Khatib, commander of Hamas’s Maghazi Battalion. The IDF justified the raids, which took place during the ceasefire, stating that both terrorists were carrying out attacks against troops. “The terrorists were eliminated in precision air strikes to neutralise the threat,” the army added.

“After issuing threats on no fewer than three occasions, they have finally decided to call off the attack! We know full well – as do you – that the reason for the cancellation is the exhaustion of your air defence systems and your operational equipment in the region! You shouldn’t have turned against us.” This was posted on social media by Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Joint Command, the operational headquarters of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran is fully prepared to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security. This was stated by Tehran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, in a telephone conversation with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan. “Any hostile action by the United States and Israel, or the complicity of countries in the region, will be met with a proportionate response from Iran, and those responsible will bear the full responsibility for all the consequences,” he emphasised, according to a report by Mehr. Farhan also called for a de-escalation of tensions.

The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, spoke to Donald Trump by telephone during the night (Italian time) and expressed his concerns about the new large-scale attacks on Iran. This was reported by Axios, citing several sources, according to whom MBS had sought clarification on the raid. Another source reported that the Crown Prince urged Trump to de-escalate the situation and not to launch the attack.

«Gli Stati Uniti sono pronti a intervenire contro la Repubblica Islamica dell’Iran con livelli di terrore, forza e potenza militare mai visti dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Nonostante ciò, l’Iran e altri Paesi mediorientali ci hanno appena chiesto di sospendere qualsiasi attacco, in quanto i parametri di un accordo sono stati concordati. Questo includerebbe l’apertura immediata, completa e totale dello Stretto di Hormuz e la fine della minaccia nucleare iraniana. Sulla base di questa richiesta, ho accettato, per il futuro beneficio del mondo e, allo stesso modo, per la sopravvivenza di un Iran prospero e di successo, di annullare l’attacco, a condizione che si possa raggiungere rapidamente un accordo».

 Lo ha scritto il presidente Usa Donald Trump sul suo social Truth. «Lo Stato di Israele si unisce a me in questo impegno. Mettetevi al lavoro, tutti, e portate a termine l’operazione. Grazie per l’attenzione», ha aggiunto.

Dall’account Truth Social @realDonaldTrump

Further reading

Latest war news. US ready to strike again. Tehran: ‘Madmen, we’ve already won’

01 August 2026