🎥Lebanon president calls for US help after deadly Israeli strikes
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, with strikes in the south of the country killing at least 11 people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.
Oman says it evacuated 16 crew members of Saudi Sidr vessel attacked by Iran
Oman said it had evacuated 16 crew members from the Saudi-owned tanker Sidr, after it was attacked by Iran, according to a statement posted on X by its Maritime Security Centre.
The Sidr was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi oil that were reported hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz last Monday.
Saudi Arabia said last Wednesday that the attack on the tanker, owned by national shipping company Bahri, had killed two Filipino seafarers.
Israel vows war with PA in case of attack on settlements similar to Oct 7
🎥 Yemen govt forces, Houthi rebels battle for control of Red Sea gateway
Military sources in Yemen say more than 140 combatants were killed in fighting between its government and Houthi rebels in the southwest of the country over the weekend.
Days-long clashes have erupted in the country over control of a gateway to the Red Sea, marking the deadliest fighting in the Arabian Peninsula since a 2022 ceasefire between the two sides collapsed in July.
Yemen's Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of air raids, missile strikes
Qatar says Gulf cannot rely on US alone for security
Gulf nations cannot rely solely on the United States and other international alliances for their security and need to be more self-sufficient, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
"We need to realise in the Gulf that having international forces in the region, having a strategic alliance with the United States, is very important, but is not enough," he told the Hili Forum in the United Arab Emirates' capital.
"Self-sufficiency when it comes to security is the only way forward. Yes, we need our partners. Yes, we need our allies. But we cannot depend on them alone for our security," he added.
Iran will reciprocate if UN nuclear watchdog adopts resolution against it, official says
Iran will reciprocate if the UN nuclear watchdog adopts a resolution against it, Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a press briefing on Monday.
He added that European states seeking a UN resolution against Iran were "irrational" as the war with the United States has made nuclear facilities inaccessible.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of repeatedly violating ceasefire agreement
Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreement in recent days, as Lebanese state media reported 11 killed in overnight Israeli strikes in a southern village.
"Repeated drone attacks. Weapons storage. Terror infrastructure. Command centres embedded in civilian areas. Hezbollah continues attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon. These violations will not be accepted," Israel's foreign ministry wrote on X.
Iran warns South Korea against joining Gulf operations
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a post on X that South Korea's military participation or presence in operations in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz would be regarded as support for US "aggression" and would have serious consequences.
Iran war shows strategic alliance with the US is not enough, Qatari official says
The Iran war showed that Gulf Arab countries should not only depend on their strategic partnership with the United States for their security, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a panel on Monday at the Hili forum in Abu Dhabi.
"We need to realise in the Gulf that having international forces in the region, having a strategic alliance with the US is very important but is not enough. Self-sufficiency when it comes to security is the only way forward," Ansari said.
At least 9 killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, state media reports
At least nine people were killed, including two children, and five others were injured in Israeli strikes on a residential building in a town in southern Lebanon early on Monday, Lebanon's state news agency reported.
US denies that Iran struck an uncrewed US military ship in the Strait of Hormuz
The US military denied that Iran struck an uncrewed American military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the claim a “total lie". A top Iranian official said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed seven people and leveled a vacant hospital, according to Lebanese authorities, near an area that has become a flash point in fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Hormuz traffic dips to lowest since May after US, Iranian strikes on ships
An average of 10 commodity ships transited the Strait of Hormuz per day over the past 10 days, the lowest since May, according to shipping data on Monday, after US and Iranian strikes on tankers.
The 10-day moving average was 10 on Sunday, down from more than 15 on Friday and nearly 13 on Saturday, data from analytics firm Kpler found.
Only two vessels passed through the strait on Saturday while six went through on Sunday, mostly using the Iranian route.
Iran says it plans to announce a new 'exclusion zone' near the Strait of Hormuz
The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Sunday said Tehran plans to announce an "exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.
Mohsen Rezaei's comments to Iran's state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. Experts called the launches a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.
The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and “will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei said. "Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list.”
Oil extends gains after US and Iran strike ships
Oil prices extended gains on Monday as tit-for-tat strikes between the US. and Iran on vessels sailing in the Strait of Hormuz and other areas heightened concerns of a prolonged supply disruption from the Middle East.
Brent crude futures climbed 52 cents, or 0.54%, to $96.80 a barrel by 2354 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $92.14 a barrel, up 66 cents, or 0.72%.
Israel army orders evacuation of zone in south Lebanon ahead of strikes
The Israeli army demanded early Monday that residents of Deir Zahrani in southern Lebanon leave a specific zone ahead of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
"Hezbollah's terrorist activity compels the IDF to act forcefully against it," the army said, adding that it was targeting a "Hezbollah terrorist facility".
Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel later reported Israeli airstrikes on Deir Zahrani.
(the broadcaster with AFP, AP and Reuters)
