Iran war news highlights: US imposes new sanctions on Tehran's military oil sales amid reports of breakthrough in deal

Iran war news LIVE: The US military on Thursday accused Iran of violating a fragile ceasefire after Kuwait reported coming under attack in the latest escalation threatening efforts to end the war.

US Central Command said Kuwaiti forces intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, describing the attack on one of Washington’s closest Gulf allies as an “egregious ceasefire violation.”

Kuwait had earlier confirmed an attack on its territory, while Iran said it had retaliated for strikes carried out earlier this week by targeting a US base in a Gulf state that it did not identify.

Iran war news LIVE: Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes on a southern suburb of Beirut on Thursday, though the intended target was not immediately clear.

Iran war news LIVE: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that the United States and Israel were trying to destabilise the Islamic Republic through economic pressure, political isolation and internal divisions.

In a written message read on state television, Khamenei said Iran’s adversaries were seeking to “create divisions and disintegration” to make up for what he described as military defeats and force the country “to its knees.”

Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since taking office in March, said the campaign against Iran included what he called an “imposed war,” economic pressure and a political and propaganda siege.

Iran war news LIVE: Kuwait’s foreign ministry on Thursday condemned Iranian missile and drone attacks on its territory, calling them a serious escalation and a blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty and security.

The ministry demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally halt the attacks, saying Kuwait holds Tehran fully responsible for the escalation.

Iran war news LIVE: US Central Command said Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait at 10:17 p.m. ET on May 27, adding that the projectile was successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces, according to a Reuters report.

Iran war news LIVE: US forces deployed in war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a letter from US Central Command shared by Senator Ron Wyden.

According to the letter, CENTCOM received “multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil US personnel in theater.”

CENTCOM oversees US military operations in the Persian Gulf region, where American forces are facing heightened tensions with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran war news LIVE: The ceasefire brokered by the United States in Lebanon last month has brought little relief to civilians, as a widening Israeli campaign of air strikes and evacuation orders continues to force people from their homes.

The truce, announced on April 16 after nearly six weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, has failed to end hostilities.

Both sides have continued near-daily attacks while accusing each other of violating the agreement.

Iran war news LIVE: The United States and Iran exchanged strikes on Thursday in their most serious confrontation since the April ceasefire, raising fears over the stability of ongoing peace efforts and the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The latest escalation also pulled in US ally Kuwait, which said it was responding to incoming missile and drone fire. At the same time, fighting intensified sharply on the Lebanese front after Israel declared large parts of southern Lebanon a combat zone.

According to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, Iranian forces fired at four ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has blockaded since the war began in late February.

Iran war news LIVE: The United States struck Iranian military targets for the second time this week, while Kuwait said it had responded to missile and drone threats, underlining the fragility of the ceasefire and the difficulty of securing a broader peace deal that could restore global energy flows.

According to a US official, American forces shot down four Iranian drones targeting a commercial vessel and struck a launch unit near the Strait of Hormuz.

The official described the actions as defensive and maintained that the ceasefire remained intact.

Iran war news LIVE: Iran on Thursday condemned what it called repeated US violations following strikes on the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, warning that it would take all necessary steps to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei criticised what he described as “threatening rhetoric” by American officials against Iran and several countries in the region, according to a ministry statement.

Iran war news LIVE: Oil prices rose on Thursday while Asian stocks declined after fresh US strikes on Iran renewed concerns over the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East conflict.

The gains in oil prices reversed much of Wednesday’s losses, which had been driven by hopes of an imminent agreement to end the war and ease disruptions to shipping through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

A US official said the American military shot down four Iranian drones and struck a control centre in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas.

Iran war news LIVE: The Israeli military early Thursday pounded Lebanon's fourth largest city, killing at least eight people in its ongoing military escalation against the Hezbollah group ahead of crucial talks in Washington.

Several others were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

An Israeli soldier meanwhile in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack, the military said.

The intensification comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion in the Israeli military's attacks in Lebanon, apparently sparked by Hezbollah's use of fiber-optic exploding drones that have struck Israeli troops in Lebanon and reached some of Israel's northern border towns. (AP)

Iran war news LIVE: Iran's foreign ministry condemned on Thursday what it called violations by the United States after its strikes on the southern port city of Bandar Abbas and expressed solidarity with Oman after President Donald Trump threatened to "blow them up".

The ministry's spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran would "take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty" and condemned what he called "the threatening rhetoric of American officials against Iran and several regional countries." (AFP)

Iran war news LIVE: EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas warned Thursday that it was in no one's interest for the US war with Iran to continue, as the two sides traded fire in the worst clashes since an April ceasefire began.

"They are right now in between this very dangerous zone of war and peace, and it is not in anybody's interest that this war continues," Kallas told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Cyprus. (AFP)

Iran war news LIVE: The Israeli military said on Thursday that a soldier was killed a day earlier in a Hezbollah drone attack near the Lebanon border, raising the number of troops killed in the conflict with the Iran-backed group to 24.

In a statement, the military identified the soldier as 20-year-old Sergeant Rotem Yanai, who it said “fell during operational activity in northern Israel.”

It added that one reservist was seriously wounded and another moderately injured in the same incident.

The military told AFP that Yanai was killed by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah.

Iran war news LIVE: The official account of Consulate General of Iran in Hyderabad, India, mocked US President Donald Trump for not knowing the difference between sea and an ocean.

Sharing a post by Trump, the Iran social media handle said on X, "Obama was undoubtedly an enemy of the Iranians—there’s no doubt about that. Unlike Trump, however, Barack was educated and knew the difference between a “sea” and an “ocean.”

Iran war news LIVE: Deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that they are seeking the release of all of Iran’s funds by the US, and that it is Iran’s legal right.

Iran war news LIVE: Israeli military said on Thursday it had launched fresh strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after issuing evacuation warnings to residents.

A day earlier, Israel had declared all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River — including Tyre and regions roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border — as “combat zones,” urging civilians to leave ahead of attacks targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The broad warning, the first since the April 17 ceasefire, came as many in Lebanon were preparing to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Iran war news LIVE: EU top diplomat warns 'not in anybody's interest' for Iran war to continue

Iran war news LIVE: Israel said it hit the southern Lebanon city of Tyre after it warned that it would take action against Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel also declared all areas south of the Zahrani River, which lies roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border, as "combat zones".

Iran war news LIVE: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a sharp warning to Oman while speaking about ongoing negotiations with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying no country would be allowed to control the strategic waterway.

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to all nations and described it as “international waters” that cannot be controlled by any one country.

“We'll watch over it, but nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have,” Trump said.

He then issued a direct warning to Oman, saying, “They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it. It's international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow them up.” Read more.

Iran war news LIVE: The International Stabilization Force for Gaza was announced with great aplomb at the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace in February. The American general tapped to lead the 20,000-strong force said it would ensure “future prosperity and enduring peace” after the devastating Israel-Hamas war.

Three months on, he still has no force to lead as none of the five countries that pledged troops have come through with any significant contributions.

Efforts to shore up the fragile ceasefire have stalled as Hamas has refused to disarm and Israel has seized more territory while continuing to strike what it says are militant targets, often killing civilians.

The Iran war has meanwhile made it more difficult for Arab and Muslim leaders to openly cooperate with the United States and Israel, which many in the region view as aggressors, and the resulting global energy crisis has sapped their resources. (AP)

Iran war news LIVE: US President Donald Trump appeared to shut the door on a proposal that would allow either Russia or China to take custody of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile as part of a peace settlement.

“That would not make me comfortable,” the US president said.

Both Russia and China maintain close ties with Tehran, and nuclear experts have previously floated the possibility of one of the two countries acting as a third-party custodian for Iran’s uranium reserves to reduce proliferation risks.

But Trump’s remarks suggested strong resistance from Washington to that arrangement.

Iran war news LIVE: "Following this morning's aggression by the invading U.S. military against a location on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport using aerial projectiles, the American air base that served as the source of the attack was targeted at 4:50 am (0120 GMT)," the Guards said, according to IRIB.

IRGC did not specify which US base was targeted.

Iran war news LIVE:Hours after US struck Iranian drones near Bandar Abbas airport on late Wednesday night, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they targeted a US airbase at 0450 local time in retaliatory strikes, Tasnim news agency reported.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards did not mention where exactly is the US base they targeted.

The IRGC also called US' strikes an aggression and said that repeat of such strikes would draw a "more decisive" response and that the responsibility for the consequences lay with the "aggressor".