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Israel has continued to clash with Hezbollah despite Donald Trump urging Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war
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Donald Trump accused Iran of a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement on Friday, claiming Tehran fired at least four kamikaze drones at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president said in a post on Truth Social that one drone damaged a cargo ship, but the other three were “knocked down”. He did not name the ship, but it came hours after a Taiwanese-operated ship was fired on by Iran.
“Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement,” the president said.
The UN shipping agency temporarily paused its scheme to evacuate hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers from the Gulf after the Taiwanese ship was damaged in the attack close to the Omani side of the waterway.
Despite talks to resolve the conflict, regional tensions were stoked again as Israel warned that its military is “ready to finish the job” in Iran if attacked again, amid mounting pressure over its clashes with Hezbollah in spite of a ceasefire agreement.
Katz issued the threat after Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said on Thursday that if Israel did not withdraw voluntarily from south Lebanon, it would eventually be forced to leave in defeat.
Israel has warned that its military is “ready to finish the job” in Iran if attacked again, amid mounting pressure over its clashes with Hezbollah in spite of a ceasefire agreement.
Defence minister Israel Katz wrote on social media on Friday that Tehran would “commit its biggest mistake” if it attacks Israel, following threats from the leader of a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Neither Hormuz nor attacks on civilians will help them; nothing will stop us. Our forces are ready to finish the job,” he said.
Katz issued the threat after Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said on Thursday that if Israel did not withdraw voluntarily from south Lebanon, it would eventually be forced to leave in defeat.
Despite a renewed ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel has continued operations across the border.
Israeli forces dropped leaflets over a town in southern Lebanon on Friday ordering residents to leave, Lebanese state media reported, in a first such order issued since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
Israel and Lebanon are expected to sign a framework agreement in Washington on Friday, senior Israeli officials said.
The Israeli officials did not provide further details.
The UN’s International Maritime Organisation paused its plans to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after a vessel reported an attack.
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine said on Friday its ship was hit close to Oman by an “unknown object” while on a route recommended by the British navy agency UKMTO.
Two US officials told Reuters that Iran had fired on the ship, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Tehran established to manage requests for ships to travel through the strait, said vessels outside routes it has set will not be guaranteed safe passage.
The IMO was helping to get hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers out of the strait where they had been stranded for months since the start of the war on February 28.
It decided “to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
The IMO said the ship in the suspected attack was not part of its evacuation initiative, a voluntary option it launched on Tuesday to enable ships and their crew to sail out of the Gulf using two routes — one via Iranian waters and the other via Omani waters, with US oversight.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry said on Friday that OPEC has begun gradually restoring Iraq’s pre-war production allocations, a move it said would strengthen Iraq’s output capacity and support recovery of its oil sector.
In a statement carried by the state news agency, the ministry said Baghdad supported a reassessment of OPEC production quotas to better reflect member states’ conditions, including Iraq’s economic and security circumstances. It added that Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi had not discussed the possibility of Iraq leaving OPEC.
A missile alert sounded across Dubai Friday only to be swiftly cancelled by authorities, indicating the warning was likely issued by mistake.
The text message, issued by the UAE’s Interior Ministry, caused widespread alarm among residents, after Iranian missiles and drones targeted the UAE during the height of the Iran war.
The warning was issued just after 5:15 p.m. local time but authorities told the public shortly afterward to “disregard the previous warning,” while offering no immediate explanation for what triggered the notification.
Donald Trump accused Iran of a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement on Friday, accusing them of firing at least four kamikaze drones at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
He claimed on Truth Social that one drone damaged a cargo ship, but the other three were “knocked down”.
“Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement,” he said.
There will likely be a more serious situation on European jet fuel supplies at the end of summer, EU Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen said on Friday.
“We will, of course, monitor this, and if member states then want to release national reserves … we will … help facilitate and coordinate those efforts”, Jorgensen said.
The United Arab Emirates on Friday issued a message telling residents to disregard an alert that had appeared a little while earlier suggesting there might be a missile threat.
Authorities subsequently issued another message saying, “Please disregard the previous warning,” without providing any further explanation.
It later blamed the incident on a technical malfunction which it said sent incorrect warning messages.
Israel’s defence minister has warned Iran that it is “ready to finish the job” if attacked again.
Israel Katz wrote on social media on Friday that Tehran would “commit its biggest mistake” if it reopens hostilities.
“Neither Hormuz nor attacks on civilians will help them; nothing will stop us. Our forces are ready to finish the job.”
Katz issued the threat after Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said on Thursday that if Israel did not withdraw voluntarily from south Lebanon, it would eventually be forced to leave in defeat.
Despite a renewed ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel has continued operations across the border.
Israeli forces dropped leaflets over a town in southern Lebanon on Friday ordering residents to leave, Lebanese state media reported, in a first such order issued since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
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