Iran attacks another commercial ship in Strait of Hormuz as Trump sends new warship to Middle East

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will ask fellow global finance ministers to "sever the economic leakage" of their financial ties to Iran during the upcoming G20 Summit in Asheville, North Carolina, a source familiar with Bessent's thinking told Fox News.

Bessent plans on discussing specific Iran-related activity that Treasury has identified in certain nations and will make clear that the U.S. will be uncompromising in its goal to target any illicit source of revenue for Iran, the source said.

Bessent is scheduled to have nearly a dozen bilateral meetings with foreign finance ministers at the G20 summit -- which will run from Aug. 31 to Sep. 1 -- where he will raise the Iranian issue directly with them, according to the source.

The planned move follows Bessent's Monday announcement of Operation Economic Outcast, a strategy to shut off any illicit revenue schemes that could benefit Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Approximately 40% of the damaged South Pars gas field has been restored, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed Zeraatkar said Thursday, Reuters reported, citing Fars news agency.

South Pars --- which was at one time responsible for up to 75% of Iran's domestic natural gas production, according to the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum --- was damaged during an Israeli airstrike in March.

South Pars, based in the Persian Gulf, is shared by Iran and Qatar and constitutes the world's largest offshore natural gas field.

Reuters contributed to this post.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Tehran on Thursday to discuss deescalating the U.S.-Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"During the meeting, the latest developments in the regional situation were reviewed, along with the efforts being made to reduce escalation and create appropriate conditions for dialogue, contributing to the enhancement of regional security and stability," the Qatari ministry wrote on X.

"The meeting also addressed the ongoing discussions regarding the proposed phased framework, which includes the establishment of a temporary joint navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, and agreement on the implementation of a joint project to clear the Strait of mines," the ministry wrote.

Iranian leaders have been negotiating with their Omani counterparts in recent days to reach an agreement on jointly managing traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and establishing the navigational corridor which Qatar's Foreign Ministry referred to.

The pair's meeting in Tehran, according to the ministry, also touched on ensuring regional stability.

"His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized, during the meeting, the necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the freedom of navigation, affirming the importance of continuing diplomatic efforts to reduce escalation and address differences through dialogue," Qatar's Foreign Ministry wrote.

Hours before the meeting, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization announced that an oil tanker had been struck with a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the second such attack on a commercial vessel this week.

Additionally, Iranian drone and missile strikes have targeted Qatar directly multiple times in the past year.

Outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the U.S. military blockade in the Arabian Sea will continue during her final interview on the job Thursday with Fox & Friends.

"As commander in chief, he, of course, continues to retain all options on the table," she said, referring to President Donald Trump, "and the naval blockade continues to be in effect as well, which has proven hugely successful.

"The United States is essentially controlling the Strait of Hormuz, which remains open thanks to President Trump and the United States military," Leavitt said.

Leavitt also shed some light on her thinking about Operation Economic Outcast, a U.S. plan to choke off Iran's financial resources through sanctions and seizures of illegal oil exports which Treasury Scott Bessent announced on Monday.

"Right now we're focused on Operation Economic Outcast, which Secretary Bessent announced this week, crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime and their economy, which we already know is in freefall," she said.

"They are in a devastating place. Inflation is over 100%. They can't pay their police. They can't pay their military. They're in a very weakened position already. And now Secretary Bessent and the president are continuing to pull every economic lever," Leavitt continued.

"And of course, this follows Operation Epic Fury, which was hugely successful in diminishing the Iranian regime's military completely, wiping out their navy, their air force, and really crippling their military infrastructure," Leavitt said.

"What President Trump's number one goal has been, and will always be, is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon, period. And so we've had Operation Epic Fury to destroy their military. Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy. No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way. We have not seen that yet," she said.

Trump announced Leavitt's departure on Aug. 12, writing in a post on Truth Social that she would be leaving her post to spend more time with her family.

Though her last day in the administration will be on Aug. 31, Leavitt maintained that she will continue to serve as an informal advisor to the president.

"I look forward to spending more time with them, but continuing to serve the president as a top advisor on the outside. I'm grateful to him that he still wants me to stick around, just in a way that I can spend more time with family," she told Fox & Friends

The USS Theodore Roosevelt will soon leave port in San Diego for the Middle East, naval officers told reporters Wednesday.

Families of the ship's crew and strike group are already preparing for a deployment that will last at least seven months as the Roosevelt prepares to relieve the USS George Washington, which entered U.S. 5th Fleet last week.

“They know they’re going to be there longer than seven months," Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman told U.S. Naval Institute News (USNI).

"Their [commanding officer] is giving them eight months to plan on," Perryman added.

“I would prefer, you know, seven-month deployments. I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that. But the enemy gets a vote,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle also said.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians, U.S. naval deployments have averaged 8.5 months, according to the USNI News carrier deployment database.

The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) broke a post-Cold War record in May when it returned home after a 326-day deployment. The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), currently on station in the Arabian Sea, is not far behind, as it has been deployed for 279 days.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) issued a warning Thursday after an oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman.

"Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished," the organization wrote in its warning.

"All crew are reported as safe and accounted for and there has been no report of environmental impact," the warning continued.

"Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO," the message concluded.

The tanker's incident was the second strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz this week after another projectile struck a Liberian-flagged tanker's engine room on Monday.

When President Donald Trump announced last week that he would subject Iran to unprecedented economic pressure, critics crowed that this shift was tantamount to an admission that Operation Epic Fury had failed. Yet such a policy is not only completely consistent with the president’s approach during his first term, but has a significantly greater chance of working because of Epic Fury’s actual military success.

Now, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement of the so-called "D-Day" sanctions of Operation Economic Outcast, the pressure on Iran is about to become intolerable, giving Trump overwhelming leverage to force the nuclear deal he wants on Tehran.

Between 2019 and 2021, Trump directed the implementation of the Maximum Pressure campaign against Iran. The most aggressive sanctions program in modern history, it was designed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon by starving it of the economic resources to build one.

This is an excerpt from an opinion article by Victoria Coates.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is expected to visit Tehran on Thursday on a diplomatic mission to "de-escalate" tensions between Iran and the U.S.

Doha announced Al Thani would be visiting Tehran in an effort to "discuss ways to de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.”

Qatar has served as a key backchannel between the U.S. and Iran throughout the war, playing a pivotal role in organizing the diplomatic process that led to the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two nations, though the MOU has since expired.

Azerbaijan is having to navigate a sensitive security environment, dominated by Iran to its south, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

Despite Baku’s official neutrality, the South Caucasus nation faces vulnerability as Tehran views it with suspicion over its reliance on Israeli weapons—a tension that escalated when Iranian drones struck the Nakhchivan exclave along their shared border in March.

One drone hit the passenger terminal at Nakhchivan International Airport, and another fell near a school in the nearby village of Shakarabad on March 5.

Simultaneously, Baku has to balance its ties with Turkey, economic relations with Russia, and ongoing peace efforts with Armenia, the outlet said.

International law and security researcher Farid Shukurlu told the Jerusalem Post the tension stems from Tehran rather than the public: “Even though Azerbaijan's position was formally neutrality, the country was still targeted by the IRGC in the Nakhchivan enclave.”

Shukurlu also said, “The military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is at an all-time high.”