Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks with Donald Trump at the Royal Court in Riyadh in May 2025 (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

UPDATE 1913 GMT:

Coast guards rescued the 14 crew of an Indian-flagged commercial ship that sank in the Red Sea after an attack on Tuesday.

The MSV Faize Noore Oliya were struck south of the port city of Hodeida.

Yemen’s internationally-recognized government blamed Iran-backed Houthi insurgents, who declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports last month.

UPDATE 1744 GMT:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says talks with Oman over “mechanisms” for the Strait of Hormuz have “been assessed positively at both the technical and political levels”.

“Iran is working with Oman to develop the necessary mechanisms for future arrangements governing the management of maritime traffic through this strategic waterway,” he asserted.

UPDATE 1408 GMT:

The global price of Brent crude oil has fallen almost 5%, to below $80 per barrel, after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that the Trump Administration could soon reach a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent stands at $79.83.

The main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate has dropped almost 5.5% to $76 per barrel.

In an interview with CNBC this morning, Bessent said: “We are in talks with the Iranians, and I think there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the Strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was more cautious in remarks to reporters, “There’s been progress made in those talks, but not finality yet.”

Bessent: "We've seen President Trump last week threaten what would have been the largest military campaign since World War 2 against the Iranians, and now because of that we are in talks with the Iranians. I think there's a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 4, 2026 at 12:51 PM

UPDATE 0945 GMT:

Türkiye has called for urgent measures to protect civilian shipping in the Black Sea after drone attacks on two Turkish-owned vessels.

The Yaşar and Nadezhda were attacked after leaving Russia’s Novorossiysk port on Monday evening. Several crew members were injured.

“The safety of our citizens is our first priority, and their condition is being closely monitored,” the Foreign Ministry said. It warned further escalation could have wider consequences, including for food security.

UPDATE 0940 GMT:

The Liberia-flagged dry bulk ship Minoan Pioneer has been hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessel was struck in the engine room, setting a fire in the accommodation area, while sailing close to Oman’s coast.

The ship’s 3rd engineer is missing.

UPDATE, AUG 4:

Twenty vessels — 12 tankers and eight bulk carriers — passed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf on Monday.

The number was the same as Sunday’s. Of the 20 crossings, there were 12 exits and eight entries. Transponders were active on most ships.

In the Strait of Hormuz, six vessels – three tankers and three bulk carriers – crossed, down from seven on Sunday.

UPDATE 1434 GMT:

Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days, foregoing passage through the Bab al-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.

The empty tankers were returning from destinations in Asia. They faced the blockade on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports by Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis.

UPDATE 0707 GMT:

The US used a 2,000-pound bomb in a strike last Thursday on a densely-populated neighborhood on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

Analysis of videos, photographs, and satellite imagery by the newspaper and weapons experts established that the crater’s size and munition fragments are consistent with a Mark 84, one of the largest conventional bombs used by the American military.

Iranian officials said the strike hit a residential home, killing a couple and their 2-year-old child.

UPDATE 0654 GMT:

US Central Command is e-mailing military analysts, seeking “new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran”.

A senior officer in CENTCOM’s intelligence branch sent the requests last Wednesday.

CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Timothy Hawkins said the command has a history of working innovatively. He declared CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper “reaches out to members of our great team, regardless of rank, to achieve the highest levels of operational performance possible”.

UPDATE 0627 GMT:

The global price of Brent crude oil has fallen by almost 5.5% after Donald Trump said his Administration is resuming talks with Iran.

Brent stands at $83.16 per barrel this morning.

UPDATE 0557 GMT:

Maritime intelligence firm Windward says 22 Chinese-linked vessels have passed the Bab el-Mandeb straits and called at Saudi ports despite a maritime blockade announced by Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis on July 20.

Windward said “differential access rules” have been established for Beijing’s vessels.

The ships include a Hong Kong-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier which transited Bab al-Mandeb outbound between July 30 and 31. It had loaded around 2.14 million barrels of Basrah Medium crude at Iraq’s Al Basrah Oil Terminal between July 25 and 28, with Singapore listed as its destination.

Two ⁠tankers each laden with 1 million barrels of Saudi oil, the Suezmax tanker Lesvos and the VLCC Desh Vaibhav, exited the Red Sea through the strait with ‌their automatic identification systems (AIS) transponders switched off on Sunday.

Eighteen commodity vessels passed Bab el-Mandeb, on Sunday, down from 27 that on Saturday and 28 on Friday.

UPDATE 0552 GMT:

Iran has executed two more detainees, accusing them of sending sensitive military information and security location coordinates to Israel during the Israeli 12-day war in June 2025 and the current US-Israel War.

Tehran has hanged around 60 detainees during the US-Israel War, about 1/2 of them participants in nationwide protests in January.

UPDATE, AUG 3:

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday that a deal is close with Oman over management of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We are now going to reach an understanding on a route acceptable to both sides – neither the northern route nor the southern route – but one that respects the sovereign rights of both sides and safeguards our national interests and security,” Baghaei said on State TV.

The spokesman emphasized that the waterway “will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th” and the start of the US-Israel War.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier in the day that negotiations with Oman “were going through their final stages”.

Omani officials did not comment.

UPDATE 1747 GMT:

Iranian authorities have executed another participant in January’s nationwide protests.

Arvin Kheirkhahan, 19, was hanged in Shahrud Prison around 4 a.m. after being sentenced on charges of “enmity against God”.

Alongside China as the world’s leader in per capita executions, Iran has killed more than 50 detainees — almost 30 of them seized during the January protests over economic, political, and social issues — amid the US-Israel War.

UPDATE 0944 GMT:

A member of Iran’s negotiating team has denied that a deal has been reached over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

A report in Israeli media claiming that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi agreed to a US-Qatari proposal dividing control of the waterway is “false”, says the official.

An Iranian military source said the Strait remains closed to any ship that does not coordinate with the Revolutionary Guards.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Trump Administration has retreated from wider US strikes in its War on Iran, reportedly because of objections by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

US officials had declared the attacks would begin this weekend, lasting for at least several days. However, the Crown Prince “urged Trump to de-escalate and refrain from launching the strikes” in a phone call”, according to one source.

The Saudi’s intervention came as Iran threatened to retaliate decisively throughout the region if the US stepped us its assault. The Iranians fired drones on Kuwait on Saturday and attack two ships off Oman in the strait of Hormuz.

Mohammed bin Salman said that if Trump carried out his threat to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure or launch massive attack on other key infrastructure, Tehran could respond with similar operations. The Crown Prince sought clarity from Trump on the potential US actions.

The Saudis were reportedly infuriated that from the launch of the US-Israel Wars on February 28, they were not protected from Iran’s response including strikes and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Kingdom’s leaders were further upset when the Trump Administration did not “finish the job” with the removal of the regime, including Trump’s rejection of US ground operations.

Riyadh has continued to press for American military operations. Last week it joined the US in attacks on an Iraqi military organizations, the Popular Mobilization Units, which is backed by Iran. The assault — killing at least five Iranian military advisors and 20 Iraqi fighters — followed the reported coordination between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and the PMU in strikes on Saudi sites including oil facilities.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia has been looking for a settlement to end the war if the Americans do not remove the Iranian regime. The Kingdom has been the power behind Pakistan’s mediation throughout the conflict, according to multiple officials.

Trump posted late Saturday night that he was retreating from the strikes. He insisted that an emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”.

The reality TV star offered no evidence of an imminent settlement. Iranian officials said the claim was a “lie”.

UPDATES: US War on Iran, Day 159 — Trump “TACOs” and Bails Out on Wider US Strikes