Aerial view of Iran’s coastline and Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023 (Nicolas Economou/Reuters)

UPDATES: US War on Iran, Day 249 — Trump Camp Threatens Attacks on November 4

UPDATE 0629 GMT:

Production is still suspended at the Khor Mor gasfield in Iraqi Kurdistan following a suspected drone attack on Sunday evening (see below).

The UAE-based joint operator of the site said a fire was extinguished.

More than 70% of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq is without power.

UPDATE, NOV 9:

The US again attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz overnight.

A provincial official said no vital infrastructure or services were affected. The targeted sites were at a distance from residential and commercial areas.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed navigational aid systems in the south of the Strait were destroyed and no unauthorized vessels transited the waterway overnight.

UPDATE 2222 GMT:

A drone attack has halted gas production at the Khor Mor field in the Sulaimaniyah governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Khor Mor is one of the main sources of gas used to power electricity plants in the Kurdistan region.

Omid Ahmed, the Kurdistan Regional Government Electrity Ministry’s spokesperson, said the attack will reduce electricity production in the national grid by almost 2.8 gigawatts.

The supply of gas to power plants in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal, and Duhok has been halted.

Ahmed said the Ministry is working to provide electricity to “sensitive and important sites such as hospitals and water stations”.

UPDATE 1908 GMT:

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says there has been no progress in talks to end the US war.

“The main reason is the US election results, which have obviously come as a shock to everyone,” Araghchi told reporters in Tehran. “It will take some time for things to settle down and for the atmosphere to become conducive to the mediators resuming their visits. We have to wait.”

UPDATE 1422 GMT:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say three oil tankers were set afire in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.

“Since the early hours of this morning, three noncompliant tankers have exploded and caught fire while they were sailing in the illegal channel in the Strait of Hormuz,” the Guards posted.

UPDATE 1025 GMT:

A tanker was set afire on Saturday night, prompting the evacuation of its crew, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations center.

The vessel was 15 km (8 nautical miles) northwest of Khasab, Oman.

UPDATE 1019 GMT:

Yemen’s Houthis say at least 72 people have been killed by Saudi airstrikes across eight provinces.

The group said the strikes were concentrated in the Bani Hushaish area, east of the Houthi-held capital Sana’a.

UPDATE 0718 GMT:

Iran has executed three more participants in January’s nationwide protests.

Hassan Dioband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh were convicted of involvement in attacks on public buildings and carrying out ⁠operations on behalf of Israel and the US.

Alongside China as the world’s leading executioner per capita, the Iranian regime has hanged scores of protesters during the US-Israel War.

UPDATE, NOV 8:

The Saudi-led coalition says its air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards Saudi capital Riyadh.

An administrative building belonging to State oil giant Saudi Aramco in Riyadh was damaged by falling debris, with no casualties, reported the Energy Ministry after multiple reports cited witnesses.

One witness saw blown-out windows across several floors of the Aramco Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the capital’s King Abdullah Financial District.

Hours earlier, the coalition said it downed another ballistic missile launched towards the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

UPDATE 1107 GMT:

Yemen’s Houthis claim Saudi strikes killed 22 people, most of them women and children, and wounded more than 30 in Sana’a Province.

They said operations to recover victims from the rubble are ongoing but “aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes”.

UPDATE 0839 GMT:

US Vice President J.D. Vance has been speaking almost daily with mediators such as Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and the head of Pakistan’s military Field Marshal Asim Munir, say “sources with direct knowledge”.

An opponent of the Iran War from its launch, Vance sent a letter to Tehran two weeks ago seeking to reopen talks. After Tuesday’s crushing defeat of the Trumpists in midterm elections, the Vice President said the war was a leading cause.

The sources said Donald Trump’s envoys, real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, are also involved in the effort for discussions.

Vance and the mediators have discussed the possibility of a working-level technical meeting between the US and Iran in coming days.

UPDATE, NOV 7:

The US has confirmed another set of “defensive” strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump said the “minor” attacks targeted an air defense system.

UPDATE 2235 GMT:

Iranian media report that two missiles struck Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

There is no official information yet on possible damage.

Witnesses said the two missiles hit the Suza area of Qeshm after the sound of an aircraft was heard.

UPDATE 1859 GMT:

The Yemen Government’s armed forces have accused the Houthis of a ballistic missile strike on a popular market in al-Waziiya in Taiz governorate, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.

The Houthis say a Saudi Arabian strike killed at least 30 people.

UPDATE 1854 GMT:

A crew member was killed by an apparent missile attack on the oil products tanker MT Velos, which was sailing without cargo towards Bahrain on Thursday.

The Greek manager of the vessel, Velos Tankers, said the ship appeared to have been hit by two unidentified projectiles about 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal in Qatar.

UPDATE 1629 GMT:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claim air defenses destroyed a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

UPDATE 1613 GMT:

Iranian negotiators are reviewing proposals to limit Tehran’s nuclear program, claim “a US official and a diplomat familiar with the matter”.

The sources said the proposals were presented by Qatari mediators in several rounds of negotiations with the Iranians in Tehran and Doha over the past week.

The proposals address Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium but would not require complete dismantlement of the program. Iran would receive significant sanctions relief from the US.

UPDATE 0954 GMT:

Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has urged Donald Trump to refrain from further airstrikes inside Iran.

In the call, the Qatari ruler stressed the importance of avoiding further escalation, ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and securing energy supplies.

UPDATE 0830 GMT:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say two oil tankers are afire after they struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz on “unauthorized” routes.

“These two tankers had turned off all their navigation and identification systems and were attempting to exit with the support of the aggressive and terrorist US military. After being struck by mines, they caught fire and were stopped,” the Guards said.

They repeated that the waterway remains closed and “no changes will be made until the seven conditions [presented to the US] are met. The US military’s attempts to “force oil tankers to pass through unauthorized and mine-contaminated areas will only result in repeated and disgraceful failures”, they asserted.

UPDATE, NOV 6:

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says its air defenses intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Najran in Saudi Arabia.

“Debris fell as a result of the interception, and damage is being assessed,” posted spokesperson Turki al-Maliki.

UPDATE 1827 GMT:

After dropping around 10% in a week, the price of Brent oil has rebounded to $97.92 per barrel, a rise of 3.5% on the day.

UPDATE 1825 GMT:

Israeli forces have attacked the town of al-Mansouri in the Tyre district in southern Lebanon.

UPDATE 1138 GMT:

US diesel reserves have fallen below 100 million barrels for the first time in more than 20 years.

Diesel prices remain at $6.27 per gallon, around 75% higher than last year and close to an all-time record.

UPDATE 0956 GMT:

A tanker has been struck by two unidentified projectiles 50 nautical miles (92.6km) north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, reports the UK Maritime Trade Operations center.

The incident occurred at 2.20 a.m. local time. The status of the crew and the extent of the damage are unconfirmed.

UPDATE, NOV 5:

Oil prices are tumbling as the threat of renewed US strikes on Iran recedes.

Brent crude futures have fallen to $95.07, down almost 10% since last week, to their lowest point in two months.

Donald Trump had threatened strikes immediately after US midterm elections. However, Democrats surged in results for both the US Senate, and Vice President J.D. Vance — an opponent of the war from its launch in late February — publicly denounced it as the primary cause of Republican defeats.

UPDATE 0741 GMT:

Israeli forces shelled the towns of al-Mansouri and Wadi Zibqin in southern Lebanon.

The Israelis advanced into the town of Jabata al-Khashab in the northern Quneitra countryside in southwestern Syria with four military vehicles, conducting searches of homes.

UPDATE, NOV 4:

Iran has called the US response to its seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz “unconvincing”.

Tehran and the Trump camp have been indirect contact through Qatari mediators. Last week US Vice President J.D. Vance sent a message seeking the renewal of talks, and Iranian officials have been in talks with Qataris in Doha and Tehran since Saturday.

Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said:

America’s response to Iran’s rights and demands was not convincing, and they must fully and explicitly address Iran’s seven conditions and act upon them.

Only in this case will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened.

UPDATE 0629 GMT:

Iran has executed two more participants in January’s nationwide protests.

Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi were sentenced to death on allegations that they killed four police officers in Isfahan in central Iran on January 8.

Alongside China as the world’s leading executioner per capita, Iran has hanged scores of people involved in January’s demonstrations over political and economic conditions. Iranian forces killed thousands of protesters during the unrest.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: In its first reported strikes since early September, the US military has attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian State media reported several explosions. An American official framed the assault as “defensive” with the targeting of “Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against US assets”.

Officials said the US has carried out small-scale strikes for several weeks. Some said they seek to prevent Iran from having the freedom to attack commercial ships in the Strait.

The assaults were purposefully kept secret, so there was no signal of intent for a major military campaign, the officials explained.

They claimed that on Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched a surface-to-air missile at a US fighter jet, which fired back in self-defense. American forces intercepted a Guards missile launched from Qeshm on commercial shipping.

The Trump Administration has sent out conflicting signals in recent days about the renewal of widespread attacks. Donald Trump and other officials have pointed to a campaign after Tuesday’s US midterm elections.

However, Vice President J.D. Vance has sent a message to Iran proposing a resumption of talks. Iranian officials spent three days with Qatari mediators in Doha over the weekend, and the Qatari officials will continue the discussions in Tehran on Tuesday.

On Monday, Trump backed away from a return to widespread strikes. He told journalists, “We had a war with Iran. We won. I don’t know if you even call it a war because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months.”